Beset with a string of insurgencies - which tend to gain strength by the day - India's Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh seems to have been left with no option but to shift blame, accusing outsiders for the state of ubiquitous internal insecurity, particularly Pakistan. Such an exercise in subterfuge is not new; it had been in vogue in the past also.
But what sets apart Dr Singh's speech, marking India's 64th independence day, was his critical focus on insurgencies and internal security, to the exclusion of more pressing problems like rampant inflation. However, there was an exception: he asked Indians to join preparations for the forthcoming Commonwealth Games to be held in New Delhi, in October, with full vigour - possibly to neutralise public anger over his government's alleged corruption in awarding the games' broadcast rights contract to a foreign company without proper tendering.
As his stature would demand, Prime Minister Singh made the standard offer to India's neighbours to resolve differences "through discussions"; also to Pakistan, but only if "they (Pakistanis) would not let their territory be used for acts of terrorism against India". "If this is not done, we cannot progress far in our dialogue with Pakistan". That's not something new from the Indian leadership; we have been hearing it as often as New Delhi needs to hang its domestic problems with the Pakistani peg. In fact, India has been working all these years trying to plant Trojan horses of terrorism in its neighbourhood. That India has set up diplomatic outlets in a number of Afghan cities close to the Pakistan border, to promote terrorism, and has extended hospitality to those wanted by the Pakistan government, one is struck by India's political duplicity.
If history is any guide, India has held together only as long as New Delhi exercised strong control over its diverse ethnic, cultural and economic territorial units. It was so during British and Mogul eras. But ever since its independence, in 1947, India is beset with indigenous uprisings, many of which seem to be now gathering strength and local support.
In fact, as Prime Minister Singh spoke to Indians from behind a bullet-proof glass, Maoists/Naxalites were active in 20 of India's 28 states. But what pushed Pakistan into his sight is the latest upsurge in the Kashmiris' freedom struggle, spearheaded by the youth. Given the nature of the present uprising - it's neither religious nor led by the pro-Pakistan political leaders - there is absolutely nothing that should help Indian government to pin the blame on Islamabad. Dr Singh's claim that India's democracy has the "generosity and flexibility" to be able to address the concerns of any area or group, sounds hollow when juxtaposed against the relentless killing of unarmed Muslim youth at the hands of fully armed troops and the unending curfews.
What discussions is Manmohan Singh is talking about when he claims Kashmir an 'integral part of India' and the Kashmiri youth wants nothing short of independence. Last month, Indian Army Chief General V K Singh, describing the killings of thousands of Kashmiris as "gains", had called upon the state authorities to build on those gains. If that is what the Indian prime minister would like to be the 'common ground' for talks with the Kashmiri youth, then he is sadly mistaken. They are not miscreants to be hunted down in the streets and killed, but are ordinary Kashmiris who are exercising their fundamental right of protest against the occupation of their land. Here is an indigenous movement and not a product of cross-border terrorism that Dr Singh was trying to stick on Pakistan. We expect that an occasion as auspicious as the day of independence is spared of blame-game and point scoring - much less from a person of Dr Manmohan Singh's stature.
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