While our Prime Minister alongwith his courtiers seeks to convince the people of Pakistan that the case of Kashmir is being presented to the United States in particular and the rest of the world in general, India is going all out to present Pakistan as a promoter of terrorism in the region, and as a rogue state that has practically earned a lesson-teaching punishment.
Our army leadership’s resolute warning to India against any adventure in support of its nefarious designs has been quite timely. It will certainly not instill some ‘muscle’ in own Prime Minister’s ‘defacto’ Kashmir/India policy, but is likely to make Modi and company exercise caution, and not to supplement their fire-emitting oratory with any mad move on the ground. After meeting of the PM with the U.S Secretary of State John Kerry, our foreign policy handlers have broken this ‘heart-warming’ news to their people that the U.S government has been apprised of the Kashmir issue (as though John Kerry had not heard of the conflict before). John Kerry on his part has assured our PM that the U.S policy on Kashmir remains unchanged, and his government expects the two countries (India and Pakistan) to seek resolution of the conflict through dialogue.
Let us not fool ourselves. We can’t afford a war, but can certainly afford to tell the world that if it doesn’t intervene to stop Indian brutalities against the people of Kashmir, there can arrive a moment when the hated option of war may become unavoidable. Modi’s men have to be told that any adventure against Pakistan may put New Dehli’s security in danger.
If our Prime Minister had been serious in responding forcefully to India’s state terrorism against Kashmiris, Americans should have been told that unless India reduces its military presence in occupied Kashmir substantially, there is no likelihood of any meaningful talks.
It is time to tell the world that it has to intervene to get the Kashmir issue resolved as per the U.N resolutions and as per the recognized right of free choice. Bullets and baynets should not be allowed to have their way.
Pakistan can certainly not afford a war. But can it afford peace built on capitulation? Let our policy-makers start believing that India’s stakes in an unlikely war will be far higher than ours. India must be made to realize, it cannot afford to invite Mutually Assured Destruction.
