India’s increasing bellicose posturing against Pakistan
Reportedly, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in his meeting with the UN Secretary General formally invited his attention to ceasefire violations at the LoC and Working Boundary by India and reiterated that India’s aggressive posture towards Pakistan constituted grave threat to the regional as well as international peace. He also urged the Secretary General to facilitate holding of a plebiscite in Kashmir. In his meeting with Secretary of State John Kerry also he raised the issue of ceasefire violations by India. The Prime Minister by sensitising the world body and the US about the Indian machinations and designs in a forceful manner did what he as a head of the government was supposed to do. In his address to the UN General Assembly also he mentioned Indian intervention in Pakistan and Indian threatening actions along the LoC. He presented the Kashmir case in its true perspective and rightly took a swipe at the UN for its failure to have the issue resolved in conformity with its resolutions. The address was a true reflection of the public sentiment regarding relations with India and the Indian machinations to destabilise Pakistan in view of the fact that the successive governments had failed to sensitise the world community and the UN about the grave dangers posed to the peace and stability in the region.
The UN Secretary General did not say a word about plebiscite in Kashmir and restricted himself to urging both sides to resolve the issues through dialogue and offering his good offices to defuse Indo-Pak tensions. The US Secretary of State also talked in the same vein on the ceasefire violations urging both Pakistan and India to engage in a dialogue and to take steps to de-escalate tension on the borders, though both of them appreciated efforts by Pakistan to fight terrorism. None of the two showed any interest in the resolution of the core issue of Kashmir which is the root-cause of all disputes between them, notwithstanding the fact that in the light of the UN resolutions on Kashmir, it was obligatory on the World Body and the international community to have this issue resolved. It is pertinent to mention that President Obama during his election campaign mentioned resolution of Kashmir dispute as one of his top priorities and even hinted at a mediatory role by the US.
The indifference and disinterest shown by UN and US to play a mediatory role in view of the failure of the bilateral mechanism under Simla Agreement to resolve the Kashmir conundrum, is really very regrettable and contrary to the peace making role of the world body. It would encourage India to continue its hostile posture towards Pakistan and deny the right of self-determination to the people of Kashmir. There are already ominous portents to suggest that India under Modi is poised to pursue the RSS agenda and move away from its secular creed by turning India into a Hindu state. The intellectual circles and media commentators within India have already started raising alarm over this transformation and believe that though Modi has failed to give India the promised transformation but he surely is toeing the line of RSS and shares its world view.
Kuldip Nayyar, a renowned journalist, in his recent article wrote, “It is sad to see on television channel RSS Chief Bagwat making it clear who is the boss when Prime Minister Modi met him and paraded his ministerial colleagues in front of him. True the electorate has given a majority to Modi but never did he say during his campaign that when it comes to country’s governance, the RSS would be very much there. The fact of the RSS saffronising the educational institutions and making appointment of its own men at key positions is visible. It suggests that Modi is implementing the RSS agenda slowly but relentlessly. The increasing impression inside and outside the government is that a soft-type of ‘Hinduvta’ has begun to prevail in governance.” The lynching of a Muslim for allegedly eating beef (cow meat) recently is a clear manifestation of the impact communal politics practiced by Modi government.
Another journalist Chandrahas Choudhury referring to pre-eminent role of RSS in Indian politics feels that a deliberate attempt is being made to alter the common sense of the republic and the organisation behind this holy war is called the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, a Hindu nationalist group established in 1925. Some sense of the kind of conservative, patriarchal order the RSS wants to bring into being in India is implicit in the kind of order it already has: membership is restricted to Hindu males.
Perhaps a brief insight into the history of RSS would be pertinent to highlight the lurking dangers, if through Modi government it is able to change the Indian narrative of a secular state. The RSS formed in 1925, ostensibly as a cultural entity dedicated to promoting and preserving Hindu values and culture, was inspired by the right-wing European parties, particularly the philosophy of Hitler in regards to ‘ purity of race’. The focus of this movement has been to establish Hindu ascendency. It opposed the independence movement against British and was deadly against the creation of Pakistan. It opposed the secular Indian constitution which guaranteed equal rights to the minorities and even the tri-color flag of India. The man who killed Gandhi was also a former member of the RSS. It repudiates the idea of India as a national state and believes in India for Hindus only with other communities living in subservience to the Hindu dominance. The RSS is essentially anti-Muslim and anti-Christian and has been responsible for acts of terrorism against them, including the demolition of Babri Mosque through its militant wing called ‘Bajrang Dal’.
What the Modi government does to India on the internal front may not be of immediate concern to Pakistan but its anti-Pakistan posture and bellicose blustering are certainly a worrying sign for her and a threat to the regional peace and progress. Pakistan therefore not only needs to keep sensitising the world community about the threats emanating from India to the regional peace and its own security but also prepare itself to face any eventuality, while remaining committed to giving peace a chance and resolving disputes through dialogue, preferably through mediatory efforts of either the UN or the US. The UN and the international community must also take notice of these developments before it is too late. Kashmir is undoubtedly a nuclear flash point as also repeatedly admitted by the world community and the US. It constitutes a grave threat to the regional and global peace, as rightly pointed out by the Prime Minister in his interaction with the UN Secretary General.
