ALI SUKHANVER
Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Sanaullah Zehri has strongly rebuffed Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent claim that the province was suffering repression following a crackdown on insurgency – likening it to the struggle in the disputed Himalayan territory of Kashmir. “The government and people of Balochistan vehemently reject Modi’s statement on the situation in the province,” Chief Minister Zehri said in a statement. He further said that there was a huge difference between the situation in Indian-occupied Kashmir and Balochistan. It is a very insane act of the Modi Government that it always tries to link the situation of Indian Occupied Kashmir with the situation in Balochistan. For the last many years the government of Pakistan, the intelligence agencies and even various politicians from Balochistan have been pointing out that India is strongly supporting the so-called separatist elements in Balochistan but India has always rejected this allegation. Now during his speech on Independence Day celebrations on 15th August, Mr. Modi openly confessed the Indian involvement in Balochistan. He said, ‘People of Balochistan, Gilgit and Azad Kashmir have thanked me a lot in past few days, I am grateful to them.’ Modi further said ‘The time has come when Pakistan shall have to answer to the world for the atrocities committed by it against people in Baluchistan and Azad Kashmir.’ He also criticized people in Pakistan for rejoicing the terrorist attacks launched on Indian soil. Simply forgetting or intentionally ignoring the month-long protests in Indian-held Kashmir, Modi criticized Pakistan. He said, “What kind of life is this, inspired by terrorism? What kind of government setup is it that is inspired by terrorism? The world will know about it and that’s sufficient for me.” According to a media report, when Mr. Modi was befooling his people with his emotional speech, two armed militants were attacking a police station in old city of Srinagar in Indian-held Kashmir. Though the gunmen were unable to take control of the police station but they succeeded in injuring six police-men seriously. It seems that with the help of his shallow baseless speeches, Mr. Modi is trying to divert international attention from the recent wave of protest in the Indian Occupied Kashmir and from the atrocities and cruelties committed by the Indian security forces against the people of Kashmir. Instead of rejoicing the so-called ‘thankfulness of the people of Balochistan’, Mr. Modi must have cast a look on the fear-filled scenario of the Indian Occupied Kashmir; incalculable mothers waiting for their missing sons; innumerable daughters frightened of being raped by the Indian soldiers and countless innocent children looking at their burning homes; all wrapped up in the black sheet of fear and fright. And more pathetic is the reality that the people of Kashmir are very well aware of the reality that no one is there to listen to their hue and cry but still there is a hope of good days and this hope never lets them die. Sometimes feeling their helplessness, they join hands together and come out on roads and streets and raise slogans in favour of their freedom and liberty. Instead of supporting their demands and instead of doing something practical for them, ‘The Modi School of Thought’ starts them labeling as terrorists and rebels; how such helpless people could be terrorists and rebels; they are simply the protesters. In no civilized society protesters are called rebels or terrorists because protesters are simply innocent and helpless people who try to draw the attention of the authorities to the pain and agony they had to face. Same is the case with the people of Indian Occupied Kashmir; instead of listening to their tale of adversity, Modi government labels them as terrorists.
The Indian government has deprived the Kashmiri people of their basic human rights; the people of Kashmir protest against this brutality; the Indian government deployed millions of its soldiers in the Indian-Held Kashmir just to hush up the protesters but even this military deployment could not crush the passions and demands of the Kashmiri people. It is simply because of the protest in Kashmir that image of India as a democratic state in the region is seriously damaging and destroying. The Indian hi-ups are so much confused and disturbed by the situation that instead of facing the realities and clarifying the Indian stand-point, they simply get annoyed when the situation of human rights violation in the Indian Held Kashmir is presented to them. The innocent people of Kashmir are neither rebels nor terrorists; they are just demanding their basic human rights sanctified by the UN Security Council. India must keep in mind that depriving people of their basic human rights is in itself the worst example of terrorism. There is no human rights violation in Balochistan; people are enjoying all basic civil, democratic and human rights but in the Indian Occupied Kashmir things are altogether different. Mixing up the situation in Balochistan with that of Indian Occupied Kashmir is a wild goose chase.
