INDIAN Prime Minister Narendra Modi is notorious for making false and misleading statements, for which he also often draws domestic criticism. His address to the nation – the first since dropping constitutional bombshell on occupied Kashmir amidst a military lockdown – was nothing different but aimed at distorting the facts and history about the disputed territory of Kashmir. The purpose definitely was to hoodwink not only his own people but the international community.
In his remarks, Modi stated that the India-occupied Kashmir (IoK) was stripped of its autonomy to free it from ‘terrorism and separatism’. This is not the first time that Modi has tried to link the ongoing freedom movement in the occupied territory with terrorism to malign the legitimate struggle of the Kashmiri people for their right to self-determination. But such ploys has not succeeded in the past nor will in future as despite scrapping the special status of IoK, the reality about Kashmir has not changed and the truth is that it is a disputed territory and its solution lies only in UN Security Council Resolutions that accept the right of self-determination of Kashmiri people. So such kind of statement is totally contrary to ground realities. Then in his speech, Modi also tried to lure the Kashmiri people with the development prospects and conduct of what he said free and fair elections in the territory. History is testimony to the fact that the ordinary Kashmiri people have never accepted the sham polls. Their struggle is not for development packages but to get themselves free from the cruel Indian clutches and they will not accept anything short of freedom. What a contradiction was in the remarks of Modi that whilst he was talking about making occupied Kashmir hub of tourism, the migrants were fleeing the territory due to security lockdown which has been put in place out of fear of a backlash. Already protests have erupted in Kargil and the situation definitely will get out of control of Indian authorities once it lifts the security lockdown. Instead of befooling himself and his nation, it will be better for Modi to understand the ground situation and move towards addressing this longstanding dispute, to which Pakistan and Kashmiri people are the main parties. This will augur well for the whole region.
