India’s Republic Day

Kashmiris on both sides of the Line of Control (LoC) and across the world are observing today India’s Republic Day as a black day. A call to this effect was given by All Parties Hurriyet Conference leaders Syed Ali Gilani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik, which was supported by other Hurriyet leaders to convey to the world that India denied the people of Jammu and Kashmir their inalienable right to self-determination. Today, a complete strike is being observed in Indian Held Kashmir, and anti-India demonstrations and rallies are being held in the world capitals. Hundreds of youth had been arrested by Indian police from across the Valley ahead of India’s Republic Day celebrations. A large number of Indian troops and police personnel have been deployed in Srinagar and other towns.
Meanwhile, the Sikh organization of Indian state of Punjab, the Dal Khalsa, in a statement issued in Amritsar appealed to the French President, Francois Hollande during his visit to India, to impress New Delhi to grant Sikhs and the people of Kashmir their inalienable right to self-determination. On 26th January 1950, the Constitution of India was formally adopted by the Parliament, and India declared itself as a Republic, and thereafter celebrated annually as Republic Day in India. The Constitution had been prepared by the Constituent Assembly, which was set up upon India gaining its independence from the British in 1947. Anyhow, the US and the West are fascinated by the sheer size and population of India and its so-called secularism, and describe it the largest democracy in the world.
It is true that India has made progress in the fields of engineering and information technology, and developed some islands of prosperity like Banglore in the vast ocean of abject poverty. But because of uneven development in various regions of India and also that the gap between the rich and the poor has widened, there are separatist movements in 11 states. Kuldip Nayar, in his article captioned “The weaves of India” published in 2009 had been candid in acknowledging failure of Indian leadership that strayed from the ideals stated in the Constitution. He wrote: “It is time that we looked at ourselves. India is entering the 60th year of its constitution’s initiation whereby the country became a sovereign democratic republic. All citizens were promised justice, liberty and fraternity. It is a long story of failure in many ways. Criminals constitute one-fifth of parliament and the state assemblies.”
Analysts often write about two faces of India – one with façade of democracy, secularism, development and new wealth, and the other one of a country with teeming millions of the world’s poorest people. Despite India’s boast of economic development and prodigious indicators of economic growth, some 400 million people still live below a meanly defined poverty line. Even writers and artists are not safe in India. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy recently alleged that the ‘PK’ star Amir Khan had collaborated with Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) to promote his movie. After release of his film PK, Amir Khan has been facing wrath of the Hindu extremists and fanatics. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy alleged that the ‘PK’ star Amir Khan had collaborated with Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) to promote his movie.
Almost all South Asian countries have had problems with India not only because of its hegemonic designs towards its neighbors but also because it was involved in destabilizing them. India had been often criticized duel-faced policy in Sri Lanka, and also criticized for importing military hardware from Pakistan. India was in the past accused of supplying arms to Sri Lankan government to crush LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam), and also of providing arms to Tamil Tigers. Nepal is also wary of India’s continuance interference in its internal affairs, and has sparked crisis by supporting minorities in Nepal. As regards situation in Dhaka, India had been using Awami League leader Hasina Wajid to spew venom against Pakistan. It has to be mentioned that Hasina Wajid is the daughter of Sheikh Mujib-ur-Rehman who was instrumental in breakup of Pakistan with the support of Congress government.
Like Pakistan and Nepal, Bangla Desh has also dispute with India over river waters, because India has chosen to use river waters as a lever to force other countries to acquiesce to India. In these circumstances, how could SAARC become a viable regional organization? Since 1985, the seven nations of South Asia (with the inclusion of Afghanistan the number is 8) have been part of this association, which proved a non-starter. Despite preferential trade among the members, it accounts for less than 6 per cent of the total trade. So far as trade between India and Pakistan is concerned, the Kashmir dispute has stymied the progress. Pakistan has always suspected that India would use commerce as a way to undermine Pakistan’s fidelity to Kashmir. Pakistan, therefore, wants India to resolve the core issue before Most Favourite Nation status could be accorded to it.
India and Pakistan had started composite dialogue in 2004, but it was stalled by India after November Mumbai terror attacks. Secretary level talks were to be held in mid-January, but in the wake of terror attack on Pathankot air base, provocative statements have been issued by India’s defence minister Manohar Parrikar. There are reports that attack on Bacha Khan University Charsadda was handiwork of a faction of TTP in collusion with NDS and RAW. It has also been reported in section of media that there are scores of separatists’ movements and organizations in India; but in this case activists of Khalistan movement are said to be involved in terror attack. Activists of Bajrang Dal attacked Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) office in New Delhi; and Hindu fanatics take cue from Manohar Parrikar’s statements.