By
Sajjad Shaukat
Although by arranging various false flag
operations like the attacks on Indian Parliament in
January 12, 2001, in Mumbai attacks on
November 26, 2008, at Indian Air Force Base in Pathankot on January 2, 2016
etc., India succeeded in deflecting attention of the world from the uprising in
the Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) due to the US-led West’s double standard, yet
Indian rulers have failed in diverting the attention of the international
community from the drastic situation of Kashmir in the aftermath of the Uri
base assault which was also managed by the Indian intelligence agencies,
especially RAW.
It is notable that on July 19, 2013, the Indian former home
ministry and ex-investigating officer Satish Verma disclosed that terror
attacks in Mumbai in November 26, 2008 and assault on Indian Parliament in
January 12, 2001 were carried out by the Indian government to strengthen
anti-terrorism laws.
However, continuing false flag operations, on Setember18, this
year, India staged the drama of the terror attack in the Indian Occupied
Kashmir (IOK) at a military base in Uri, close to the Line of Control (LoC)
with Pakistan.
After the Uri episode, without any investigation, India’s top
civil and military officials, including their media started propaganda against
Pakistan by accusing that the militants who targeted the Uri base came from
Pakistan’s side of Azad Kashmir and the banned
Lashkar-e-Taiba controlled by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) were
involved in it. Under the mask of the Uri base attack, India created
war-hysteria against Pakistan and started mobilization of troops near the LoC,
while claiming surgical strikes on the Azad Kashmir.
But, the myth of Indian surgical strikes was exposed, when in a
statement, DG of Pakistan’s the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) Lt. Gen,
Asim Saleem Bajwa said, “The notion of surgical strike linked to alleged
terrorists bases is an illusion being deliberately generated by India to create
false effects. This quest by Indian establishment to create media hype by
rebranding cross border fire as surgical strike is a fabrication of truth.” He
repeatedly stated that Pakistani troops have been giving equal response to
Indian unprovoked firing across the LoC.
Differences also arose between the Indian civil and military
leadership—as to how cover the falsehood. In this regard, Indian Prime Minister
Narendra Modi and country’s Army Chief Gen. Dalbir Singh had decided to prepare
a ‘fake video’ of surgical strikes so as to pacify the Indian public, media and
the opposition parties.
In fact, since July 8, 2016 against the martyrdom of the young
Kashmir leader Burhan Wani by the Indian security forces in the Indian Held
Kashmir in wake of continued sieges and prolonged curfew, Indian forces have
martyred more than 120 innocent persons who have been protesting against the
martyrdom of Burhan Wani.
With the acceleration of war of liberation and Indian state
terrorism in the Indian controlled Kashmir, pressure on the Indian government
led by BJP has been mounting both domestically and internationally.
In this respect, A. S. Dulat, former chief of India’s spy agency
RAW, published in the magazine, ‘The Wire’ on August 27, 2016 said “Pakistan’s
role is not the only catalyst for the crisis, talks about the need for the
Indian government to start talking to separatist leaders in the Hurriyat
Conference, Pakistan, and other important political players.” His condemnation
of the Modi government for not talking to Hurriyat and for its high handedness
in IOK is spot on. He rightly concludes that the Kashmiri uprising is 100%
indigenous.
While, in response to the letter of Pakistan’s Prime Minister
Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, on August 19, 2016, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
deplored the killings of the Kashmiris in Indian-held Kashmir, and urged India
and Pakistan to settle Kashmir and other issues through dialogue by offering
his “good offices”.
Meanwhile, on September 21, 2016, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Sharif
emphatically highlighted Kashmir situation during the annual session of the UN
General Assembly. In this context, he said, “Kashmiris had to face barbarism
from India, which made Burhan Wani, the face of freedom movement…Pakistan fully
supports the demand of the Kashmiri people for self-determination, as promised
by several Security Council resolutions. Their struggle is a legitimate one for
liberation from alien occupation.”
During his visit to Pakistan, in the joint press
conference with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on November 17,
2016, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged for an immediate resolution of the Kashmir dispute and
stated that “the escalating tensions on the Pakistan-India border and the
atrocities in Kashmir cannot be ignored. He elaborated, “The Turkish government
and the Turkish nation stand in solidarity with the Kashmiri people.”
Earlier, the visiting Secretary General of the Organization of
Islamic Conference (OIC) Ayad Ameen Madani in Islamabad expressed grave concern
over extra-judicial killings of people in the Indian-occupied Kashmir and
added, “OIC will support Pakistan on Kashmir issue”.
Besides, Western politicians and media have also taken serious
notice of the deteriorating situation of Kashmir. For instance, the Italian Minister for Defence, Mrs. Roberta Pinotti
who visited Pakistan said September 19, this year that her country “opposes use
of force and lethal weapons against peaceful protestors in Kashmir and stated
that it cannot be allowed to go on.” She further said that Italy will apprise
the international community about what is going on in Indian held Kashmir.
Renowned TV channels and newspapers are giving
appropriate coverage to the ongoing uprising in Kashmir, while pointing out
Indian atrocities. For example, with the title, “India’s crackdown in Kashmir:
is this the world’s first mass blinding?”, The Guardian wrote on November 8, 2016, “The Long Read: A
bloody summer of protest in Kashmir has been met with a ruthless response from
Indian security forces, who fired hundreds of thousands of metal pellets into
crowds of civilians, leaving hundreds blinded.”
Notably, in frustration, during the sixth Heart of Asia Conference
which was held in the Indian city of Amritsar on December 3 and 4, this year,
the Indian government did not allow the Pakistan’s Adviser to the Prime
Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz to hold a scheduled press conference.
In sheer violation of diplomatic norms, the adviser was also barred from
leaving the hotel premises and the media persons were not allowed to meet him
in the hotel. The Indian authorities also stopped Pakistan’s High
Commissioner to India Abdul Basit to enter the Media Centre set up at the
conference venue.
Nevertheless, Kashmir dispute has been internationalized, while
India has failed in diverting world’s attention from the present situation of
Kashmir.
Sajjad Shaukat writes on international affairs and is author of
the book: US vs Islamic Militants, Invisible Balance of Power: Dangerous Shift
in International Relations
Email: sajjad_logic@yahoo.com
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