Sultan M Hali
HAVING failed to subdue the residents of India-occupied Kashmir (IoK) with brute force and incarceration even after 90 days of lockdown, the repressive Modi regime is trying to rake up old cases and level charges against Kashmiri leadership. Yasin Malik, the founder of {banned} JKLF, is presently lodged in Tihar Jail for allegedly killing four IAF personnel and kidnapping Rubaiya Sayeed, the daughter of the then Home Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed in 1990. The TADA Court had earlier issued non-bailable warrants against Yasin Malik and seven others. It is despicable that Tihar prison authorities told the Special TADA Court in Jammu earlier this year that the Home Ministry had instructed them to not produce Yasin Malik in any court. The fascist regime of Narendra Modi is scared of producing the ailing and frail Yasin Malik before any court lest human rights activists chastise Indian authorities for the ruthless attitude towards Kashmiris.
China, Malaysia and Turkey openly condemned India at the 74th UNGA for its unilateral and unjust action against the IoK in violation of UN Resolutions. Turkey also supported Pakistan at the recent FATF conference in Paris. The government of India, on the one hand, has been blackballing Turkey and Malaysia on international forums for a while, now it is also trying to blackmail them through barring standing trade agreements. Travel advisory has been issued to Indians visiting Turkey in a bid to isolate it. In fact, Indian high handedness itself stands exposed. An Indian journalist, who testified before a US Committee discussing human rights situation in Kashmir, said Pakistan-sponsored terrorism has been completely overlooked by the world press for the past 30 years, evoking a sharp reaction from a US Congresswoman who questioned her objectivity while reporting. Following the criticism by American lawmaker Ilhan Omar, Aarti Tikoo Singh, who flew in to the US at the Congressional invitation to testify, accused her of being unfair and also alleged the Congress hearing was prejudiced, biased, a setup against India and in favor of Pakistan.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan’s aggressive and bold exposé of India at the 74th UNGA did not fall on deaf ears. Many Western governments may not have reacted in a knee-jerk manner but slowly and gradually the truth is sinking in. More and more western parliaments, foreign relations committees and human rights organizations are discussing the brusque Indian action of 5 August and passing resolutions and petitions addressed to the Modi Government to stop its unwarranted repression of the Kashmiris. Ilhan Omar is not the only US lawmaker who has criticized India, a fact which is undeniably pushing her to grip the reality that being India’s strategic ally, the US cannot cover her crimes against humanity.
Stung by the popular action of Pakistan to establish the Kartarpur Gurdwara Corridor on occasion of the 550th birth anniversary of the founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak Dev, Indian media is spinning tales of alleged collaboration between ISI and Sikh separatists. A fake news is being propagated started by DNA that ‘Pak’s ISI Join Hands With Pro-Khalistan Outfits, Forms New Terror Group KKRF.’ Quoting intelligence sources, it is being surmised that Pakistan has joined hands with pro-Khalistan groups to create unrest in J&K and Punjab in order to revive and intensify terror activities in the region. It is being alleged that Pakistan has formed Kashmir Khalistan Referendum Front (KKRF). It is true that in the near past and even on 27 October, Kashmir Black Day was observed all over the world; Sikhs joined Kashmiris, Pakistanis and other international human rights activists in various capitals of the world to condemn the Indian continued atrocities in the IoK. In order to discredit the protest rallies, India is spreading rumours. How can Pakistan create unrest in J&K or Indian Punjab when the Kashmiris of IoK remain under lockdown? Pakistan is preparing to welcome Sikh Yatrees to Guru Nanak’s 550th Anniversary in November; why would it rock the boat at this auspicious occasion and after so much investment?
Indian media is also trying to hoodwink the world and divert international attention from its own authoritarianism in IoK by proliferating false propaganda of unrest in Azad Jammu & Kashmir. Fake news of massive protests in AJK is being maliciously spread. The fact is that the AJK enjoys peace and development unlike the IoK. While Indian media has over the years tried to create fake narratives about the AJK. Keeping in line with policy statement given by PM Imran Khan, Pakistan will never favour a conflict unless forced upon her. There were indeed protests in AJK, but they were held because the people on this side of the divide wanted to march across the LoC to deliver much needed food, medicine and other items of necessity to their beleaguered brethren in the IoK, who are suffering for more than 90 days due to the oppressive lockdown.
Prime Minister Imran Khan has rightly barred the people from crossing over, firstly because they will be exposed to incessant artillery barrage by the brutal Indian forces, secondly the move may be misconstrued by India as military adventurism by Pakistan. The jingoistic Indian government, smarting under the debacle it faced on 26 and 27 February at the hands of Pakistan, is looking for an excuse to launch an attack. Even a tiny spark could ignite a full-fledged war between Pakistan and India, that are nuclear weapons equipped and the whole region could be devastated. So much for Chanakyan guile and deceit. No one is buying Indian fake news.
—The writer is retired PAF Group Captain and a TV talk show host.
