Modi’s anti-Pakistan rhetoric
AMID Pakistan further plunge into a deepening economic crisis, an old speech of Narendra Modi is going viral in Pakistan. He crossed all the moral limits by saying that India had forced Pakistan to beg for money from around the world. On one occasion, Indian Minister of External Affairs S. Jaishankar indirectly referred to Pakistan as the “epicentre” of terrorism. Contrary to BJP neighbourhood as its top foreign policy priority, Modi has hardened India’s position towards Pakistan. The bilateral relationship between India and Pakistan has remained frosty since 2019 when the Indian Government revoked Article 370 of the Indian Constitution. The question arises: what are the motives of Modi-led BJP to avoid peace process with Pakistan?
Relations between India and Pakistan have often been strained over the Kashmir issue. The current BJP government in India had a tough stance against resuming peace talks with Pakistan, saying that ‘Terror and Talks cannot go together’. India’s policy vis-à-vis Pakistan under the Modi regime has been that of a virtual standoff and the issue of Kashmir is the main reason why any government in Pakistan is always hesitant to make the first move without an unequivocal commitment by India. Bilateral relations between the two countries reached an extremely low point following the Pulwama terror attack in 2019, leading India to retaliate with an air strike on Balakot.
New Delhi accuses Islamabad of providing logistical and financial support to the armed rebels fighting either for independence or for the merger of India-occupied Kashmir with Pakistan. The principal threat from Pakistan is another spectacular terror attack like the 2008 Mumbai attack which could be carried out by Pakistan-based militant groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) or Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM). The Indian security establishment’s view is that any such attack would likely be planned and coordinated by elements of the Pakistani security establishment, in particular its powerful intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) which the Indian Government has publicly accused of complicity in past terror attacks.
India has a dilemma: it deals with Pakistan’s civilian government but refuses to deal with the most powerful Pakistani institution in setting policy towards India – the army. No army-to-army talks between the two countries take place. There are questions over whether such talks would make sense for the Indian army which has far less influence over policy than its counterpart and whether the Pakistan army would even be inclined to talk to India, given that its raison d’être is a perceived existential threat from its neighbour.
Modi came to power in 2014 with a thumping win. Since then, senior BJP leaders have publicly promoted Hindu supremacy and ultra-nationalism and there has been an increase in violence against religious minorities, especially Muslims, marginalized communities and government critics. This hardly provides us with a sound platform to start dealing with a leader who has been a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) full-timer pracharak (ideologue, proponent of ideas) — a background that could psychologically inhibit him from moving forward with Pakistan.
The recent revelations by the so-called ex-governor of the India-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, Satya Pal Malik, have once again upheld Pakistan’s persistent stance regarding the Pulwama attack of February 2019. Mr Malik, in his interview with Wire reveals that the Pulwama attack was a result of India’s “incompetence” and that Modi wanted to blame Pakistan for the incident and gain electoral advantage therefrom. These disclosures demonstrate how the Indian government has repeatedly employed the notion of terrorism from Pakistan to promote its false, vicious narrative and Hindutva agenda to reap political benefits. Also, it highlights the Indian Government’s anti-Pakistan and anti-Kashmir narrative. During the 2019 general election in India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi used the Pulwama attack as a rallying point to garner support from voters. His repeated references to the attack helped him secure a larger majority in Parliament, ultimately resulting in his return to power.
Finally, South Asia is ripe for new forms of competition – and conflict. Hence, it may be concluded that as far as the BJP is concerned, it is least likely to give outright conciliation a chance in the Indo-Pak relations. However, Pakistan, too, must remain vigilant about any pre-2024 Indian elections provocation. Whether Pakistan-India relations dwell on shared peace or not, Pakistan has ample opportunities to steer clear of the trap of the Modi regime’s anti-Pakistan stance. By continuing to focus on enhancing bilateral ties with the Gulf, Central Asian States and beyond, Pakistan is more likely to gain the repute of being a pro-growth state, centrally fixated upon enhancing geo-economic partnerships in the long run.
—The writer is contributing columnist.
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