EDITORIAL: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s typically aggressive remarks about Pakistan, on the anniversary of the Kargil war, ought to have convinced doves on both sides that BJP losing its absolute majority after the last general election in no way opens the door to a more peaceful and progressive relationship between the two countries.
Rather, Modi sounded as if he was still on the campaign trail, talking more about Pakistan than India and stoking that same drumbeat of terror that keeps his hardline extremist support base focused on his narrow agenda.
That’s a shame, because Islamabad had once again extended the olive branch after a coalition setup emerged in Delhi, hoping that Modi would be mindful that his single-minded approach of whipping up extremist sentiment was not working any longer.
But that’s clearly not the case and nothing seems to have changed in the BJP’s hierarchy, especially its talking points. That forced the Pakistani foreign office to issue a snub of its own, pointing out that Modi’s “bravado and jingoism” do nothing but undermine regional peace and therefore were “totally counter-productive” for the resolution of the real disputes between the two countries, especially the core issue of Kashmir.
“The Indian leaders’ rhetorical statements cannot deflect international attention from India’s heavy-handed approach to suppress the Kashmiri people’s just struggle for realisation of their fundamental rights and freedoms, particularly their inalienable right to self-determination,” the FO very rightly pointed out. It also, quite naturally, said that instead of trying to malign Pakistan, India should reflect on its own campaign of “orchestrating targeted assassinations, subversion and terrorism in foreign territories”, something that has drawn severe criticism from foreign governments, especially the United States’ and Canada’s, where Indian intelligence agents have been gunning down Sikh leaders and creating a controversy that invokes all sorts of clauses of international law, including state-sponsored targeted assassinations and indeed terrorism.
The world should note that now it cannot blame both countries for the breakdown in the subcontinent. Pakistan has been trying to talk peace for more than 20 years, and India has always sabotaged all initiatives. The best chance came when president Musharraf, also head of the army, travelled to India and offered a four-point peace plan, beginning with de-militarisation in which neither country could try to secure an unfair advantage. Yet the Indians didn’t let that happen either. And now, Delhi rules out any third-party mediation because it is a “bilateral issue” yet refuses to come to the table with Pakistan, while tightening the noose around Kashmir all the time.
The subcontinent is home to one of the world’s largest and poorest populations. Things can improve dramatically if only Pakistan and India make peace and open commerce across the border. But that would suck the air out of the universe of belligerents like RSS and BJP, who are now the biggest and most politically empowered demographic across the border. That’s why it’s safe to assume that there’s no chance of meaningful progress in the foreseeable future; at least not till BJP is in power. It has no intention of revisiting its policy now, and it will definitely need this toxic rhetoric when it goes to the polls again in five years.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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