Daily Times

Ever since his election as India’s Prime Minister in 2014, Narendra Modi’s domestic politics has been encouraging communal violence while his regional and international policies are meant to target Pakistan.

Modi has ostensibly publicized his plans of peace building with India’s neighbours and aspires to make his country a major world player, but practically, he is more inclined towards crushing Kashmir’s freedom struggle. He is threatening Pakistan of war by relentlessly violating 2003 ceasefire agreement in Jammu and Kashmir and is fuelling communal politics.

Moreover, at the regional and international level, Modi has been struggling to isolate Pakistan. His anti-Pakistan politics have become abundantly clear.

The mere fact that India does not allow the United Nations Military Observers Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) to visit the LoC and the international border to confirm the ceasefire violations, while Pakistan allows it, is a clear proof that it is India that is violating the cease fire agreement by firing and shelling across the border and the frequency and intensity of firing has increased during the BJP’s rule.

As per the declared policy of Modi, India is also struggling to isolate Pakistan regionally and internationally. In this context, at all bilateral and multilateral forums that Modi attends, he blames Pakistan for supporting terrorism. Also, in his discussions with the world leaders he tries to convince them that they should consider and declare Pakistan as a state sponsoring terrorism.

The 6th Ministerial Meeting of Heart of Asia Conference held in December 2016 in India and the 9th BRICS Summit held in India in September 2017 are the examples. But Modi has failed in mustering world support on blaming Pakistan for supporting terrorism because world leaders know about countless sacrifices which Pakistan has rendered in its war on terror in the region.

In fact, by blaming Pakistan, Modi and his government are trying to hide the fact that India is the actual sponsor of terrorism in Indian occupied Kashmir (IoK) to suppress their freedom struggle.

In its attempt to defend its position, Modi has even refused to accept that Kulbhushan Jadhav — Indian spy apprehended by Pakistan from Balochistan in 2016 and now in its custody — was a naval officer of India and a RAW agent who was assigned to support terrorism in Balochistan. Jadhav has also confessed to this.

The mere fact that India does not allow the United Nations Military Observers Group in India and Pakistan to visit the LoC and the international border to confirm the ceasefire violations, while Pakistan allows it, makes it clear that it is India that is violating the ceasefire agreement

Modi’s domestic pro-Hindutva politics is violence driven. The Modi-led Bahartia Janata Party (BJP) has incited communal politics in India. Hindu extremist organisations have carried out many attacks against the Muslims and killed many to stop them from following their religious obligations.

Quite a number of Muslims were killed merely on the apprehension that they were carrying cows for slaughtering purpose. Such radical Hindu outfits are taking inspiration from BJP’s history of anti-Muslim politics…

The destruction of Babri Mosque in 1992 in Uttar Pradish (UP) state, where BJP was in power, and killing of about 2000 Muslims in the Gujrat communal violence in 2002, when Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujrat state, by extremist Hindus are examples.

In India, Sikhs are also being religiously targeted by the extremist Hindus. Currently, Hindus and even the BJP have started propagating that Sikhism is also a part of Hindu religion. This propaganda has hurt the religious sentiments of Sikhs and violence is being used to suppress their religious identity and their lingering demand for their separate homeland, Khalistan.

Indian media’s propaganda that Modi a peace loving leader does not make sense when Indian BSF is doing exactly opposite of it.

This explains why Modi loves to establish regional hegemony, act belligerent in Kashmir and with Pakistan and why Hindu extremists in India feel encouraged to harm the Muslims and Sikhs.

The writer is an ex-army officer and a former Research Fellow of Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI), Islamabad

Published in Daily Times, February 11^th 2018.