Modi in Kashmir

Narendra Modi hasn't taken long to shed thin veneer of bonhomie he wore by according exceptionally warm welcome to his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif at his inauguration. Just one event and it looked as if there was a new dawn in Pak-India relationship. The long-stalled dialogue was restored, borders were being relaxed and promises were made for more such sessions. Pakistan had been looking for such a miraculous breakthrough - its best attempts at breaking the ice were being spurned by Modi's predecessor Manmohan Singh eliciting comments that he was too powerless to defy the Establishment. The heavy mandate given to the new Indian leader by the Indian people was thought to have sufficiently thickened the bone-density of his spine. From Pakistani perspective the Narendra Modi's rise to power had the right potential to turn the page on the bitter past. But that was not to be; the harsh realities on the ground and arrogant comments and statements made by the Indian leaders since then indicate that the broad smiles and warm handshakes at the Modi's inauguration were nothing more than a flash in the pan. In just two months the Narendra Modi government has proved that it is not a precious bit different from its predecessors as for as India's relations with Pakistan are concerned. After a brief lull the ceasefire line in Kashmir is hot again - Pakistani authorities say that since July this year Indian troops have committed 54 ceasefire violations. Only a couple of days after Pakistani force on the border accorded a hearty farewell to an Indian who had crossed the border by mistake, the Indian troops responded it by opening unprovoked fire on civilians in the Sialkot sector killing a women and injuring three others.
History shows that Indian Establishment has a patently anti-Pakistan mindset; for anything which goes against it in Occupied Kashmir - and there is no reason why it should not, given India's continued forced occupation and Kashmiris' resistance. No wonder then the very first spontaneous comment of General Dilbir Singh Suhag on assuming the command of Indian army was loaded with venom against Pakistan, unmistakably reflecting Indian Establishment's mindset against Pakistan - and as it was more of a boisterous shout of a street goon unlike the muted courage of a true soldier. He should know Pakistan has fought three wars with India and will not be shy of another. During his recent visits to Kargil and Leh, Narendra Modi too has parroted the same line, though a bit differently, couching it in words that should fit the Indian political narrative. 'There was a time when prime minister never visited this state. I have come here two times already. Your love has drawn me here', he told Indian troops in Leh. But he could not say the same thing about the people of Kashmir. They 'welcomed' him by a series of bomb-blasts as there was a complete shutter-down strike in the Valley. Ironically, and compulsively, he also promised a 'saffron revolution' in Occupied Kashmir mistaking the millions of Kashmiris, who have resisted Indian occupation for nearly three quarters of a century, at an enormous cost of life and limb and refuse to relent and give up, for his Hindutva voters. His pledge to effect infrastructural improvement in the areas he visited has a clear angle of augmenting the occupying security forces' fighting capabilities to confront the Kashmiri freedom fighters, and not the 'proxies' of Pakistan he claimed they are. Howsoever trained the proxies may be they cannot sustain a struggle as tough and long as the Kashmiris have. They are fighting for freedom and will have it. Narendra Modi should know the age of forced occupation of others' land is long over.