The government of Indian Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi instead of relying on diplomacy to straighten things out, has deliberately chosen coercion with Pakistan, states an analysis published in Indian news outfit Hindustan Times.
Senior Indian journalist and political commentator Prem Shankar Jha said in the article that the Modi government has not bothered to hide its desire to “teach Pakistan a lesson”.
LoC VIOLATIONS:
Mentioning the recent episodes of exchange of fire between Pakistan and India along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir and Working Boundary, he said, “India’s response to Pakistani firing has been disproportionate.”
He said that contrary to a widely held belief in India, peace on the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir had always been relative, adding that “the Modi government has decisively closed the door to a return to diplomacy”.
Jha recalled that in 2011, there were 61 incidents of firing from both sides of the border and there was a similar number of incidents in the first 10 months of 2012 but added that the exchanges of fire in October this year were qualitatively different than the firing incidents in 2011 and 2012.
“Not only have these been the heaviest bombardments that villagers can remember, but most of it has been by India. In a single day, October 9, Indian forces fired more than 1,000 mortar shells into Pakistani Kashmir,” he reportedly said.
Jha said that the recent firings were different from the previous ones. Although it too may have started as a local exchange of fire, unlike the myriad exchanges of yesteryear, it has not been allowed to remain local, he added.
“Instead, in a manner disturbingly similar to the way the 150-year-old local dispute over the Babri Masjid in Faizabad was politicised by the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) in the 1980s, the Modi government has chosen to read a new aggressiveness in Nawaz Sharif’s government,” he said.
Unlike the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led governments, Modi has not hesitated to make domestic political capital out of an aggressive response to Pakistan, opined Jha.
MODI’S ‘AGGRESSIVE’ RESPONSE UNJUSTIFIED:
He pointed out that Modi chose to use the phrase of “enemy” for Pakistan at a pre-election political rally in Mumbai on October 9.
“An aggressive response to Pakistan would be justified if there was no doubt that it had opened unprovoked fire on Indian border posts first,” wrote Jha
“But we have only our own government’s word for this. Pakistan has stoutly denied opening fire first,” he added.
He said that the Indian media treated South Block’s press releases as a “gospel” without once publishing a Pakistani refutation.
Jha said the weak link in the Modi government’s construct is the absence of motive.
“Today, it has made India a prisoner of its own hawkish past,” wrote the Indian analyst.