Afia Ambreen
On 29 September, India spread lies about having conducted a surgical strike against Pakistan to boost the morale of its people after Uri embarrassment. The Pakistan Army vehemently rejected all the Indian claims of the so-called surgical strikes. The on ground situation at LoC also contradicted Indian claims and hence Indian lies were exposed before the world. Pakistan also warned that anyone who tried any misadventure inside Pakistan would be responded beyond their imagination. Briefing the visiting foreign and local journalists, at two different locations along the LoC, Boxor and Hotsping, Director General (DG) Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Lieutenant General Asim Saleem Bajwa said that Indian claims of carrying out surgical strikes across the LoC were baseless, absurd and unfounded, which were meant for misleading the Indian people and the international community to divert the focus from Indian atrocities in IOK. Indian National Congress latched on to Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar’s remarks that the Army had carried out target specific, limited-caliber, counter-terrorist operations across LoC in the past too, to expose the BJP and Modi government’ s lie on the recent surgical strikes. The strong comments came a day after Indian Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar told a parliamentary panel that the army had conducted surgical strikes earlier as well but the operations were kept secret. This statement, the Congress said, contradicted previous claims by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar that the BJP government was the first to conduct surgical strikes in Kashmir. Moreover, senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi asked reporters in Delhi, “Does it look good for the Defence Minister of this country to be directly contradicted by the Foreign Secretary of India?” Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala hoped that Jaishanker would not get axed like his predecessor Sujatha Singh for speaking the truth and expose BJP’s deception. Not long ago, in June 2015, India claimed to have conducted a surgical operation in Myanmar against the insurgent groups that allegedly killed 18 Indians soldiers in the North Eastern State of Manipur. Myanmar denied any such military strike inside its territory. Indian media has always been dictated by the government. Due to this compulsion the media played along the official line by publishing unconfirmed and unverifiable stories substantiating New Delhi’s false claim. Ironically, when the same questions are being raised about the evidence of surgical strike in Pakistan, the chest thumping journalists are terming such skepticism as an unpatriotic act. The questioning of the government is taken as an act of treason. Any kind of dissent is construed as a question on the ability of the Indian army, hence termed as a highly unpatriotic act. The ruling Hindu right wing government led by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is not allowing any debate to take place on this matter, with the media playing as its willing ally, hence the country is now completely polarized. Intolerance has reached a new height now. Dissent and questioning the two basic normative behavior in any democracy are being curbed in the name of nationalism. This is a dangerous trend and pushes India towards the majoritarian path. An atmosphere is being created where common people are being radicalized in the name of nationalism. Masses are led to believe that those questioning the government’s surgical strikes are traitors. Desperate India is furious at the United Nations and World Observer bodies for rejecting its propaganda of surgical strike along the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir. The UN mission monitoring the ceasefire said it has not directly observed any firing along the LoC. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon’s spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said that the UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) had not directly observed any firing. UK daily ‘The Diplomat’ reported that a surgical strike by Indian forces at Line of Control (LoC) begs the question of whether Indian forces have the capability to launch such a sophisticated and coordinated attack. Surgical strikes can be conducted through airborne or artillery based precision guided strikes or ground force based assaults; both of which require sophisticated intelligence collection, platforms to conduct collections, and surveillance of target sites and objectives. The paper revealed that India is still on the cusp of building a sophisticated and modernized asymmetrical capability to conduct counter terror operations, while much of its forces are still organized and trained on Cold War models. It is pertinent to mention that there are crucial regional elections due next year in India, the BJP has a lot at stake. The Indian States, like Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, and Punjab had supported Modi back in 2014. There are fears that these States might turn their back on the man when the next elections are held. With Modi’s image at stake, it suits the ruling party to come up with the hype about the surgical strike. On the other hand, Modi’s bluff of surgical strike is aimed at overshadowing Indian atrocities in IOK. As Indian army has badly failed to suppress indigenous freedom struggle of the bare handed Kashmiris. Kashmiri youth now seem determined not to let the divinely created opportunity go in vain and are continuously protesting against the brutalities of Indian forces to awaken the slumbering conscience of the world community. Struggle in Kashmir is virtually beyond the control despite heaviest deployment of military and the phenomenon has become a dilemma for the entire Indian leadership. BJP led Government faces sharp criticism from the opposition as well as the academia and the sane journalists. While, Pakistan continuous expression of resolving and supporting the issue of self-determination of Kashmiri brothers, India is trying to bluff the world with global joke of surgical strike and usual blame game against Pakistan.
