LOOKING every issue with the lens of geo-politics has gradually become a new norm for India. Pakistan phobia is the most appropriate tag for many of its unnecessary offending manoeuvres. Retaliatory irk keeps oozing out from every Indian gesture may it be the fields of diplomacy, entertainment and sports. This toxic Pakistan-centric Indian tendency needs to be comprehended carefully to avert the undesired multi-layered consequences. Bilateral engagement and multilateral forums are effective tools to pacify the unresolved disputes but Indian traditional arrogance always stumbles normalization opportunities.
Dysfunctional SAARC is a relevant example to gauge the depth of Indian non-flexibility towards Pakistan. In the past, India has been practically ruining the spirit of SAARC forum by convincing member countries for the boycott of sessions scheduled to be hosted by Pakistan. Such coercive meddling from Indian side eventually turned the SAARC in a frozen forum. During SAARC meeting held at Islamabad in 2016, the then Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh behaved arrogantly by walking out from the session once Pakistani counterpart Ch Nisar Ali Khan showed mirror in response to his baseless terror sponsoring allegations.
Many media observers noticed participation of Rajnath Singh in a formal event with rolled up sleeves and subsequent abrupt walk out as an obvious sign of undiplomatic arrogant behaviour of India. This bossy mindset is getting intense with every passing day and continues to spoil the already bleak options of peaceful coexistence. Despite serious concerns on Indian irrefutable involvement in terrorism and proxy sponsorship, Pakistan opted to participate in recent SCO meet of foreign ministers to strengthen the positive spirit of multilateral diplomatic engagements. However, rude behaviour of the Indian Foreign Minister with Pakistani counterpart was nothing less than disgusting display of undiplomatic approach.
It was obviously a well thought-out Indian strategy to counter in advance the much-expected objections from Pakistani side on the burning issues of IIOJK, Islamophobia and cross-border terror sponsorship. Stereotyped questions parroted by a mainstream Indian journalist during interview of Pak Foreign Minister were obviously reflecting the traditional arrogance of host state. Crafty response of Pakistani Foreign Minister during the media interactions and conference sufficiently debunked the overall sinister scheme of unfriendly host state. Besides media disinformation campaigns and fake news proliferation, Indian film industry, commonly known as Bollywood seems well configured with state sponsored propaganda war.
Targeted movies promoting the peculiar anti-Muslim ideology of RSS. Projection of Muslims as terrorists and Pakistan sponsored traitor is a common recipe for all propaganda movies. Recently released controversial movies titled ‘Kerala Stories’ and ’72 Hoorain’ specifically demonized the Muslim community by linking the concept of Jihad with terrorism. This propagation primarily is aimed at diverting the attention from the state sponsored atrocities in IIOJK. Accusing Pakistan is enough to prove indigenous Khalistan movement as a proxy. Sports events and religious tourism are effective sources to promote people-to-people contacts.
Unfortunately, BJP is not comfortable with such steps. Security establishment and BJP influenced media is extremely suspicious about Kartarpur corridor initiative of Pakistan. When it comes to sports, BJP led regime is always inclined to discredit the Pakistan with not so covert politicizing of the overall environment. Visa issuance to Pakistani Kabbadi team was intentionally delayed to ruin the spirit of connectivity linked to a game, which is equally popular on either sides of Punjab. Cricket in Pakistan, being the most popular sports, has always been in the crosshairs of India. Revival of international cricket in Pakistan apparently does not fit well in Indian strategic plan.
A bruised terror ridden and destabilized Pakistan suits well to BJP. Indian refusal to play Asia Cup matches in Pakistan on self-perceived over-exaggerated security threats is nothing but the continuation of spoiling strategy. Indian security concerns carry no weightage once teams of New Zeeland, England, West Indies and Sri Lanka had safe cricketing tours in recent times. Pakistan too has an option to demand venue change for upcoming world cup amid valid security concerns in India.
Terrorism and Pakistan specific extremism under BJP rule are two major issues. No one can forget, how charged crowd spoiled the 1997 world cup Indo-Pak quarterfinal and psychologically pressurized the Pakistani players. There is Maoist separatist insurgency in India. State players including security establishment of India always blames Pakistan for unrest in Kashmir which in fact lacks legal or constitutional governance mechanism. Manipur state is under brutal military operation where Christian minority and scheduled tribes are complaining state sponsored oppression. Grieved Sikhs are striving hard for liberation all across the world.
While accusing Pakistan, Indian state is cracking down on pro-Khalistan elements in Punjab as evident from recent hunt down operation against Amrit pal Singh. Above all, Pakistan has a case of Indian sponsored terrorism in the form of Khalbhoshan. So let’s not be very optimistic about peace in India. It is a country which lost its founder, one sitting PM and one former PM in hardcore acts of extremism. It is better to forego the bitter side and try to revive the positive side of sports. However, it seems impossible once Indian policy makers have politicized every bit of bilateralism.
—The writer is contributing columnist, based in Islamabad.
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