By Sajjad Shaukat
Since the leader of the
BJP and Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi came to power, as part of
anti-Muslim and anti-Pakistan approach, he has been giving impetus to Hindu
chauvinism. In line of his policy against Pakistan, India not only accelerated
unprovoked firing at the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir and Working Boundary
in Sialkot, but also suspended the Secretary level talks with Islamabad. In the
recent past, Modi regime has been raising baseless issue like Pathonkot terror
attack, (which was orchestrated by India), Mumbai mayhem and terrorism as
pre-conditions to advance the Pak-Indian dialogue. But, he ignored the fact
that on July 19, 2013, the Indian ex-investigating officer Satish Verma
disclosed that terror-attacks in Mumbai in November 26, 2008 and assault on
Indian Parliament in January 12, 2001 were carried out by the Indian government
to strengthen anti-terrorism laws.
However, Modi regime has
taken various steps to strengthen Indian illegal control on Kashmir. In this
regard, depending upon state terrorism, the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime
Minister Modi, on January 27, this year gave its approval for raising
17 Reserve Police Battalions (IRBPs) in the State of Jammu and Kashmir
(J&K) as well as states affected by Left-wing extremism.
Indian home ministry
said that of the total India Reserve Battalions (IRF), five will be in Jammu
and Kashmir, four in Chhattisgarh, three each in Jharkhand and Odisha and the
remaining two in Maharashtra. In Jammu and Kashmir, 60 per cent of the recruits
will be from border districts. The ministry elaborated, “For these battalions,
local youths will be recruited and to achieve this, the states will relax the
age and educational criteria, if required.” It further said that the cost of
raising each of the battalion will be around Indian Rupee, 61 crore and 75
percent of it will be provided by the Central Government.
Within a span of
approximately six months, Central Government of India has approved the demand
which reflects the surge of militants/insurgent activities in various regions
of India, particularly in the Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK). It also highlights
the manifestation of focus to curb militancy and raise the force level to meet
the challenges, which have been repeatedly expressed by Indian Home Minister
Rajnath Singh and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval.
Minister of Home Affairs
Rajnath Singh has also repeatedly highlighted his focus to build the capacity
of security forces engaged in fighting insurgency. The mentioned increase is a
part of overall drive against Naxal/Maoist hit states and especially IOK.
It is notable that Modi
regime hurriedly decided to forcibly annex disputed territory of the State of
Jammu and Kashmir, uncovering its intentions to wrap up the article 370 of the
Indian constitution which ensures a special status to J&K. Therefore, United
Nations Military Observer Group India and Pakistan in New Delhi was asked to
vacate official accommodation. In fact, BJP government‘s long term strategy is
to affect demographic changes in the Indian occupied Kashmir by composition of
the region—predominately with Hindu population.
During one year of
People’s Democratic Party (PDP)-BJP alliance government in the Indian Occupied
Kashmir, BJP in aid of RSS has furthered its agenda of complete integration of
Kashmir into India. Though legal experts of India and IOK High Court have
clarified the permanent status of Article 370 of Indian Constitution, BJP’s
agenda of trifurcations is still on table. In this context, BJP is in hot
pursuit of Mission 44+in IOK Assembly elections 2020. However, short of that,
BJP and RSS are busy in changing religious identity of the State. For example,
special concessions were given to expand the horizon of Amarnath Yatra to
project that Hindus have greater stakes in IOK than Muslims.
Special efforts are
being made for demographic engineering in the State. For instance, West
Pakistan Refugees have been recruited in the Indian Armed Forces from IOK
quota. Allocation of lands for separate cities for repatriating Hindu Pundits
and allocation of INR 2 million for rehabilitation of each Pundit family in the
Valley are aimed at creating Hindu constituencies in a thorough Muslim region
of the Valley through delimitations.
On the other hand, the
sectors of health, education, local infrastructure, social support and rural
development are being controlled by BJP MLAs (Members of the Legislative
Assembly). Major projects of the State are being announced and are implemented
in Hindu dominant-BJP constituencies to give a message that only BJP’s voters
are entitled to a standard living. Through these tactics, BJP is longing for
Mission 44+ in next IOK Assembly elections.
Kashmiri Hurriyat
leadership has been suppressed by the PDP-BJP government by not allowing them
to organize rallies for demanding freedom and expressing love for Pakistan.
Their leaders were detained in Police Stations or kept under house arrests
during all important events. Detention of Masarat Alam, even after acceptance
of bail by IOK High Court, exhibits coercive mechanics of Indian forces/police
in the State.
Indian malicious intent
is evident from the blame game against Pakistan for every internal security
issue, merely to avoid serious dialogue on bilateral issues as well as the
humanitarian crisis in Kashmir. Pakistan is committed to the just and
democratic solution of the Kashmir issue, which is plebiscite, however, India
has never been serious in resolution of the dispute, neither through bilateral
dialogue nor involving third party mediation nor by abiding by the UN
Resolutions.
In the wake of changing
regional and global dynamics, resolution of the issue has become a top most
priority, but unsensitized international community is perhaps waiting for
emergence of regional crises out of Kashmir dispute. As global players do not
find any interest in resolution of the dispute, it has become a humanitarian
issue in the region.
As a matter of fact,
Indian authorities are not willing to talk with Kashmiri people on political
grounds. New Delhi reached to a conclusion that only bullet is the right way of
dealing with Kashmiris, demanding their right of self-determination.
Surprisingly, Indian successive governments are trying to ignore the dynamics
of the freedom movement of Kashmiris for the sake of their alien rule.
But, New Delhi is still
showing its intransigence in order to resolve Kashmir dispute with Pakistan by
neglecting the fact that Kashmir remains a nuclear flashpoint between both the
neighbouring countries.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s
serious and sincere effort at the annual session of the United Nations in December
2015—the speech of Pakistan’s prime minister and his meeting with the American
president, highlighting the Kashmir dispute and demanding its solution has
infused a new spirit among the Kashmiri people.
Nonetheless, by exposing
the double standard of the US-led western countries which still remain silent
over the Indian injustices, Kashmiris are waging the war of liberation by
demanding their legitimate right of self-determination from India which has
been strengthening its illegal control on Kashmir.
Sajjad Shaukat writes on
international affairs and is author of the book: US vs Islamic Militants,
Invisible Balance of Power: Dangerous Shift in International Relations
Email:
sajjad_logic@yahoo.com
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