That side of war

By Ujjawal Krishnam

On 26th February, Indian authorities made high pitched claims of dropping bombs on Jaish e Mohammad(JeM) terrorist camps, with this was their aspiration that revenge of Pathankot suicide bombing has been taken with “nil” casualty. The dropping of payload in various sectors including in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province certainly constituted a severe violation of Pakistan’s airspace and sovereignty. Even if the question of airspace violation exists, the airstrike was not successful to boast on the international platform but ArunJaitley, India’s Finance Minister didn’t feel constrained to say that the next operation will be something like Geronimo.

Airstrikes escalated tensions at Indo-Pak border. On February 27, India and Pakistan both downed each other’s jets. Pakistan’s chief military spokesperson, Maj. Gen. Asif Ghafoor, claimed two Indian jets were downed. One fell inside Pakistan-administered Kashmir, while another went down in the Indian-administered Kashmir. One Indian pilot arrested by Pakistan was filmed against Geneva Conventions. Pakistan, on March 2, released the arrested pilot, Pakistan’s PM Imran Khan called it a gesture of peace. This was celebrated in India as the victory of Narendra Modi. In truth, release of Indian pilot can only be credited to the advent of technology. The viral video clips and images pressurized Pakistan to follow international norms. Again, if it is Modi’s victory then Indian national KulbhushanJadhav wouldn’t be in Pakistan’s jail facing death sentence. And if it was a gesture of peace, then Pakistan wouldn’t be acting as a safe haven to the most wanted like Dawood Ibrahim and Hafiz Saaed.

One thing is undoubtedly commendable about Pakistan— its intelligence. And something condemnable about India is also its intelligence. R&AW is truly in shambles today. Indian Air Force showed bravery but it is believed that inputs given to them were fallacious. If India has to work on something, it is its intelligence. Pakistan is now planning to lodge a U.N. complaint against India for ‘eco-terrorism’ over air strikes that damaged pine trees and brought the nuclear-armed nations to unrest.

Indians advocating for peace are being trolled, the recent victim is the wife of a CRPF soldier who died in the Pulwama attack who was trolled for ‘not wanting war’. Pulwama fallout seems to have united all Indians- criminals and non-criminals. A Pakistani prisoner was allegedly beaten to death by a group of inmates at the Jaipur Central Jail on February 20. This type of nationalism is not only toxic but also paradoxical and shocking—the one which united Indian murderers, kidnappers and rapists to kill one of their kind. The difference was just his nationality.

To be truthful, it must not be denied that Indian media has today almost nil journalistic ethics. Many of Indian journalists have become warmongers and fake news peddlers amid this chaos. After fake news on the killing of three hundred terrorists, it was about the crash of aircrafts. Either BJP has bribed these media men or media men haven’t learnt yet “how to report the truthful”. There was literally no news in Indian media about the arrested Indian pilot for six hours, many were lost in celebration of a failed strike with newsroom simulations. Some journalists even started calling videos fake without verifying them properly. It is agreeable that Indian media has almost zero base in Pakistan but it is not always nice to remain dependent on government sources to peddle hooliganism, after all it is not the sole aim-and-game of journalism? It is difficult time now for India as its media having lost basic principles is adding to the pain and escalation in the region.

Gentleman Asha’arRehman in his Dawn opinion has played well with the beautiful use of words. But at some junctures, it was felt by the author that gentleman has skipped several connotations associated with Indo-Pak dilemma. It is likely to observe that on both sides of the border exist the white horses of McCarthyism, jingoism and perpetual agony but selling soul is not an internal condition- it is a blame game which must be understood with unbiased mind.

I may disagree with Mr. Rehman on Kashmir nexus. Pakistan has never been a backer of Kashmir, it only wanted it to be a part; and to fulfil it, and Pakistan adopted the coercion to catalyse the accession of Kashmir. Who sent Pathans to raid and invade Baramulla in 1947? It was not an act of freedom but of suppression and bloodbath. Many might have forgotten that Benazir Bhutto was one who fuelled the exodus of Kashmiri Hindus from the valley. Unfortunately, the same Islamic extremist hands became the cause of her assassination. It is a general misconception among Pakistanis that there is a similarity between Bangladesh [formerly East Pakistan] and Kashmir. in reality, there was no religious extremism in East Pakistan, it was only the attempt to attain self-rule against the high commands of Pakistan in its eastern territory. Oppositely, there was no chasm in the valley before the religious fanaticism surfaced. If it was about self-rule, extremists and separatists hadn’t to put their own native Hindu brethren in exile. Pakistan should focus on Baloch revolt before Kashmir. The only good Imran can do for the valley is to ban the Islamic organizations which fund and perdle cross-border terrorism. This may set an example for India to follow.

Hindutva, the hardline religious nationalist ideology of India is now a new trigger of terrorism. Hemant Karkare, the brave cop who was killed in 26/11 by Islamic terrorists was also the one who worked impartially to expose a new face of religious terrorism in India. After his death, NIA under BJP government acknowledged the shortcomings of ATS probes— was it at personal will?…India must introspect before calling a neighbour country a sponsor of terrorism. Before putting sanctions on Pakistan, Indian authorities failed to acknowledge in public that Pulwama was a severe failure of intelligence. Former R&AW Chief VikramSood said,” Pulwama like attacks don’t happen without a security lapse.”
Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), India’s ruling party, is backed by Hindu hardliners, not to repeat, and to maintain political capital it is expected by these fringe outfits to do back the same. The outfits like SanatanSanstha have been accused of assassinating the foot soldiers of free speech but BJP government has failed to ban them. The outfits like Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad harass the love birds in public places and what conscious Indians listen from the government is utmost silence.

RashatriyaSwayamsevakSangh, an analogue of Pakistan’s extremist outfits, was banned after assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. “All their speeches were full of communal poison, Sardar Patel wrote after banning the Sangh in 1948. “As a final result of the poison, the country had to suffer the sacrifice of the invaluable life of Gandhiji.” Gandhi’s murderer NathuramGodse was a former member of RSS, PM Narendra Modi also comes from the RSS cadre. RSS is well known for its warmongering and venomous anti-Muslim stand. RSS Chief taking a dig at the Army last year had said that it can deploy faster than Indian Army. And now when Indian pilot landed in Pakistan and faced mob action, there is tumultuous and worrying silence at RSS Headquarters. It is also one of the reasons why India is fuelled with this toxic instinct.

There are also speculations that this airstrike has several political aspects. Or, Modi Government willingly asked IAF to go inside and drop bombs in free space with nonspecific inputs, so propaganda machinery has been created to exaggerate a failed strike and encash votes. Indian media, as Richard Gilbert illustrated the fanaticism of Indian media, nothing stands there to disagree with.

There is also the other side of story. Praveen Swami’s investigation shows that a local resident sold the property to JeM head Masood Azhar’sbrother Abdul Rauf off the Bahawalpur-Karachi highway. Swami further claims that committed Pakistan’s military and intelligence establishment is committed to keep the Jaish untouchable—even as its political leadership promises the international community it will act. Report says that Bahawalpur Deputy Commissioner Shahzaib Saeed told a group of visiting journalists it was just “routine seminary having no link with the Jaish-e-Mohammed.” If this stands true, Pakistan government has lined up to lie. Pakistan has recently received the investment of $20 Billion from Saudi Arabia and it may not engage in any war on the border at present with its plundering economy. Pakistan may engage in a tactical covert war now. And it will be more threating to peace and integrity than a declared war.

Narendra Modi is known for misusing public institutions for political gain. Armed forces which used to remain independent of political farce have now strong influence of right wing ideology. The claim that key JeM militants Mufti Azhar Khan, Ibrahim Azhar, Maulana Ammar and MaulanaTalhaSaif were targeted in airstrike was actually baseless. PM Modi in his rallies promoted airstrikes as a key achievement of the government; set to contest General Elections in April, Modi may not leave any leaf unturned. On February 27, six IAF officers on their “routine” mission were also killed in a crash. The whitewashing, AmanSethi writes, was so determined that when external affairs ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar read out a brief press statement in the afternoon on 27 February, he didn’t even mention the crash. In sort, it is all Modi’s misadventure and strategic failure which is generating unnecessary warmongering and McCarthyist cult on Indian soil.

Imran Khan still maintains his sportsman spirit even if Indians deny his statesmanship. Modi should learn from the Pakistani counterpart, and even if he fails to, Modi should know that that the greatest achievement in his career has been to transform Imran Khan into a global leader. Indians expect little more sense from Imran and to knock off the vile Pulwama fallout politics Modi is playing. The consistent calls of Pakistan for peace despite uncouth airstrikes must be welcomed. India and Pakistan have no option left except of stepping back. India could continue with airstrikes if it hadn’t publicly politicised it. The only resolution at present is formation of joint-forces by both countries to address religious terrorism. Blame game may help in political run but this is not a permanent solution, Modi et al. and Khan et al.

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(Author is a journalist based in India. Feedback at: [email protected])