As the visiting Turkish President Erdogan called for a "multilateral dialogue" on Kashmir to prevent "more casualties" his hosts in New Delhi were left with no option but to drown his voice, which they did by raising a hue and cry that Pakistan mutilated the bodies of two Indian soldiers. India's propaganda specialists are good at raising the ante of mutilation of its soldiers' bodies. Not only would they raise it against Pakistan to malign it internationally, they would also seek to divert world's attention from the atrocities their soldiers commit against Kashmiri freedom fighters. And that kind of urgency was at hand as a high-level Turkish delegation arrived in India. Before meeting India's leadership, President Erdogan had spoken his mind on the situation in the occupied Kashmir: "We should not allow more casualties to occur. By having a multilateral dialogue [in which Turkey can be involved] we can seek to settle the issue once for all," he had told media. No doubt Turkey does want more trade with India, but essentially by rectifying the balance which at present is greatly skewed in India's favour. But no less concerned is the Turkish leadership about the plight of Kashmiri Muslims - a concern all the more poignant given two particular incidents that took place during President Erdogan's two-day stay in India. Teen-aged Kashmiri girls had taken to the streets in Srinagar, which the Washington Post described as the "new threat" to Indian occupation. Since a lot of protesting boys have been killed "now girls will go out and protest for freedom," said Nisha Zahoor, 18, who took up "stone pelting" during a standoff with paramilitary forces. An equally telling blow to India's so-called secularism was the killing of two Muslim boys by qawo rakhshaks (cow protectors) Hindutva vigilantes. These two grim incidents grabbed the attention of President Erdogan, and therefore there was a cause good enough for the Modi administration to raise the ante of mutilation of India soldiers by Pakistan troops on the Line of Control. Having put in place that diversionary backdrop to the talks with the visiting Turkish delegation Prime Minister, Prime Minister Modi felt confident enough to reject President Erdogan's call for a multilateral dialogue on the Kashmir dispute.
How the Turkish leadership should react to India's blunt talk is a question for Ankara to answer. Insofar as Pakistan is concerned, it has forcefully rejected the Indian claim of mutilation of its soldiers' bodies. In 2013, the Indian government had also accused Pakistan of beheading an Indian soldier, and that very claim was also rejected by India's largely independent media. And the claim being made now is equally fake and fabricated. Pakistan Army neither committed any ceasefire violation on the Line of Control nor did it send its BAT (Border Action Team) to the Buttal sector as claimed by India. Should India "retaliate" as threatened by its Defence Minister Arun Jaitley, rest assured he would get paid - swiftly and in full measure. India has been committing aggression against innocent people in Occupied Kashmir and Pakistan's villages along the LoC and the Working Boundary, said army chief General Qamar Bajwa during his recent visit to the LoC in Haji Pir sector. He advised the troops that they must respond, but their response has to be "purely in military domain [strictly] in accordance with our values".
Copyright Business Recorder, 2017
