Riding the media frenzy and implementing Modi’s election agenda, India is bent upon starting a full scale war with Pakistan. The much needed oxygen for firing the flames of war is being provided by the Israeli and US pats on Indian backs. The pats may either be in shape of Israeli supplies of so called smart bombs which India claimed to have used in destroying Pakistani trees in Balakot in the name of destroying terrorist camps, or the statement of US Security Advisor John Bolton that supported India’s right of self-defense subsequent to Pulwama incident. USA continued to pat Indian shoulders by announcing inquiry into alleged misuse of F-16s by Pakistan against India. Though Pakistan denied using F-16 fighter falcons against India in locking high value targets on February 27, 2019, reports of USA’s dramatized inquiry provide enough material to weave hyena’s skin on a stray dog’s body to enable it to dare challenge the lion by firing on civilian population of Pakistan.
For USA and other countries, India is a preferable market because of its large population fast reaching the figure of one and half billion people. Indian politicians, diplomats, and media do have the jugglery to encash that market position to get their diction heard even if that diction is based on lies of the highest degree. One may well understand India’s market strength when he or she will note that even Saudi Arabia’s exports to India in 2017-18 worth $ 22 billion in comparison to its imports from India worth only $ 5.4 billion. The other Arab country in the gulf UAE with its swelling population of Indians has almost colored itself in the colors of India. Its bilateral trade had touched the peak in 2013 with $ 67 billion mark. India’s beauty and care industry, generally known as cosmetics industry, alone is estimated to worth $ 8 billion. That market position was manifested when India boastfully succeeded in getting its participants selected as Miss Universe or Miss World on the premise of getting the sponsors’ cosmetics sold to millions of Indian women. But under normal conditions, the market position or the cosmetics alone cannot win the support which India wanted to get from USA or the western countries pursuant to Pulwama incident. It appears that the vested interests of USA creeped in to push India towards actual war instead of the media war that Narendra Modi had originally planned.
When Pakistan responded with an emphatic ‘no’ to USA’s never ending ‘do more’ mantra, it adopted a hard line towards Pakistan, and stopped military and other assistance to it. It appeared that there would be an escalation of US drone attacks or hot-pursuit-ground-forces’ border violations inside Pakistan. However, apparently tired from its military expeditions, adventures and losses in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, USA decided to take some rest from active armed interventions. Therefore, instead of hurling fresh threats of sending Pakistan to ‘Stone Age’, it adopted a softer stance and sought its help in resolving the Afghanistan issue. Nevertheless, it seemed to enjoy India choosing the route of internecine conflict with Pakistan. While it may still continue to seek Pakistan’s support in resolution of Afghanistan issue, it would also prefer India doing the work of USA in ‘punishing’ Pakistan for resisting the ‘do more’ mantra. It however, understands that the full-scale war between India and Pakistan would ultimately end up both sides fully consuming their nuclear arsenal and thereby not only substantially destroying each other’s existence, but also causing widespread long-term radioactive radiation that would render most parts of the earth dangerous for majority of life forms including that of humans. Therefore even though USA would not lose anything directly in India-Pakistan war but it would try its best to keep the war limited to conventional format and keep alive Indian bogey to maintain pressure on Pakistan through continual LOC violations by Indian army and air force. Had USA not afraid of large scale radioactive radiations, it would have itself encouraged India to start nuclear war with Pakistan. It would have never bothered to think that India would also turn to ruins as a result of nuclear war. It could have easily described India’s destruction as collateral damage caused during punishing Pakistan. What India has missed is the fact that USA has a long history of ditching its friends once it uses them for its own benefits. And what USA and India have both missed is the reality that if India would continue its actions of ‘punishing’ Pakistan either because of its domestic exigencies or at the behest of USA, it would be hard for Pakistan to respect world’s wishes for keeping the war restricted to conventional-war format, and not to change the mode of the war to nuclear format and keep on defending itself from India’s aggression on terms and conditions of India or USA.
The world powers knew at their hearts that whatever happened in Pulwama was not a terrorist activity. It was only an illustration of ‘anger’ which the Kashmiris have against Indian hegemony. The world also knows that Kashmir is not an integral part of India despite its continual insistence. Kashmir is a recognized dispute that needs settlement either through United Nations resolution, third party mediation, bilateral negotiations or war. There are guns firing almost daily across the line of control (LOC) that need to be silenced. There is a civilian population on Pakistani side which is getting the brunt of Indian aggression in form of multiple deaths, as well as injuries to men, women and children which they proudly display on their bodies and chests as medals. However, the worst sufferers are the Kashmiris in Indian held Kashmir. The atrocities which the Indian army is committing there are beyond expression. Not only the bodies of Kashmiris are injured but their souls are also wounded.
The decades’ old tyranny of Indians however took a new turn in 2016 when they martyred Burhan Wani on 8th July. Burhan Wani’s martyrdom resulted in widespread protests, agitations and resistance which India has been trying to suppress since then with use of enormous state power. But India has failed to comprehend that it will never be able to suppress the Kashmiris and in the end it will have to settle the Kashmir issue peacefully as per the UN resolutions. Unfortunately however, when the incident of Pulwama took place, which was a purely home-grown reaction of Kashmiris to Indian atrocities in Kashmir, even the so-called independent broadcasting media houses of western world felt necessary to report it as a terrorist activity instead of treating it as freedom fight or reaction to Indian atrocities. Their negative reporting, along with voices coming out from USA asking Pakistan to end supporting terrorism, convinced even some Muslim countries to voice displeasing messages against ‘terrorism’ instead of asking India to stop atrocities in Kashmir or to settle the Kashmir issue. The western world that champions the cause of human rights around the world, however has failed to come forward in support of Kashmiris probably because they usually toe the policy line of US administration.
Nonetheless, India has missed the point that it is not the USA or the western countries that will engulf in the flames of war. It is India itself that has to directly suffer from this madness of war. The Indian media that is going crazy to the brink of foolishness may consider itself lucky if it could even broadcast the news of first day of nuclear war between India and Pakistan. Even if the war remains limited to use of conventional hardware instead of nuclear, India need to understand that time has changed: this is not 1971 when a substantial portion of Pakistan’s population in its eastern wing was thinking differently than the rest of the country; this is 2019 where every Pakistani is willing to fight for his/her country. They do not need to corroborate this fact through any survey report or index published by any so-called independent survey organization that too in all probability is heavily staffed with Indian workers. This time it is India who wants to govern a land whose population is hostile to Indian designs. This factor alone is sufficient to result in India’s utter defeat. However, the main thing which India misses is the fact that though Pakistanis are not the ones who want war, but if war is imposed on them almost all of them would like to join their armed forces in their fight with India, even if the war is going to be nuclear. Though nuclear war may also cause damage to Pakistan but before embracing martyrdom Pakistanis would assure complete and utter annihilation of India. Whereas Indians may consider killing their neighbors as ‘victory’, for Pakistanis even death is a victory if it comes while fighting the aggressors. Such death entitles each of them an honour of being a ‘martyr’ and a direct ticket to Jannah (heavens) which in itself is a coveted prize for a Muslim. Do the Indians have this courage or incentive to perish for their country?
The author has 28 years’ experience working in power sector. He can be reached at: asifabro@hotmail.com