Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh indirectly accused Pakistan of sponsoring terrorism at the SAARC Interior Minis¬ters’ meeting, followed by a sharp rebuttal by Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Khan. Chaudhry Nisar Khan can be criticised for being undiplomatic, but this was not time for meekness, but for a tyrant to be called out.
Once home, Singh apprised the Indian parliament of his failed visit and covered his tracks by blaming Pakistan and saying, “This neighbour never learns.” What would he like us to learn? That Indians forces have been shooting at innocent people with pellet guns? That their own PM presided over one of the worst massacres of Muslims in Gujarat in 2002 and was on the FBI’s no-fly list? That Indian Army Chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag on the first day of holding office threatened Pakistan with “intense and immediate” military action? That there are no clear links to Pakistani groups of the attack on Pathanhot? The list of Indian aggression is endless, and has always been met with calmness and an offer for dialogue from Pakistan, and silence by the international community.
Rajnath told the Indian parliament that “Pakistan is the biggest violator of human rights”. Could the Home Minister be so kind as to tell the media what these violations are, and what they have to do with Indian’s behaviour in Kashmir? On July 8, Indian security forces killed Burhan Wani, the 22-year-old commander of Hizbul Mujahideen sparking widespread protests in Srinagar. New Delhi shuttered at least four major Kashmiri newspapers, cut off mobile phone and Internet access and imposed a curfew that has yet to be lifted. Clashes with the security forces have left more than 50 dead and 3,000 injured. As usual, Pakistan was blamed for fomenting unrest in the region, no matter that Indian forces had maimed protesters for life.
Discontent of the Kashmir people is so embedded that Pakistani interests don’t even need to fan the flames; New Delhi’s misbehaviour is enough. Kashmiris are still upset about the Indian government’s sham trial and execution of Afzal Guru in 2013, a Kashmiri separatist and alleged mastermind of the attack on the Indian parliament in 2001. The BJP is angling to repeal Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, which grants Kashmir its autonomous status. The matter is made worse by the party’s Hindu nationalist rhetoric and proposal to build housing colonies in Kashmir for the families of Indian soldiers to change the demographics of the state.
In light of these facts, as well as Chaudhry Nisar not willing to let his country or his people be called terrorists, there was nothing that the embarrassed Indian Home Minster could do after the SAARC meeting but refuse to have luncheon.http://nation.com.pk/editorials/06-Aug-2016/skipping-lunch
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