Tensions between India and Pakistan have soared post Pulwama suicide attack. Pakistan and India share a very volatile history. The difference between foreign policy makers of Pakistan and India has been the strategic approach towards demeaning each other at international forums. The world has greatly changed post 9/11. The Taliban who were fighting the soviet became terrorists; those supporting the Taliban came under scrutiny. Pakistan evolved very slowly with the changing dynamics of the world. Hence, Pakistan has been maligned for tacit support of organizations that are fighting for freedom of Kashmiris. The policy of Pakistan should have been to demonstrate to the world in an unequivocal stance with an all out diplomatic effort to gather support for the internal freedom fighters of Kashmir. However, India has used this foreign policy failure to their advantage and has portrayed Pakistan as a supporter of terrorists. They have accused our security establishment for supporting these organizations. Voices from inside Pakistan have also shown some concern over the support of jihadists’ organizations. Pakistan has clearly stated that moral, emotional and ethical support of Kashmiris will not be compromised. The counter argument is the difference between freedom fighters and terrorists, or one he is a freedom fighter, for the other a terrorist.
India might be strong internationally, but so is Pakistan. Both are important countries in the world. Pakistan has given birth to the most brilliant minds of the world. Hence, the strategy that the policy makers of Pakistan need to work is to show the other image of India internationally. This piece of work is not against Hindus, but against the mindset of extremists in India. We might have always argued that the secular state of India has poor record of treating minorities, but have not been able to convince the world. This includes the treatment of Muslims, Christians, Buddhists and people from other peaceful religions. This might be factually correct, but the international community is not ready to understand this, considering that India is a very important country economically as well as strategically. This needs to change.
There are three major right wing organisations in India. These include Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Hindu Sena. The RSS was banned four times historically in the british era, to the killing of Gandhi, emergency of 1975 to 1977 in India, and then after the demolition of Babri Mosque in 1992. The argument is fairly clear that an organization, whose members celebrate the murder of the founding father of India, have no right to legally exist as it is against the very foundation of so called secular India.
Ince Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s election in 2014, and the rise of the pro-Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), hate crimes against India’s religious minorities have risen sharply. Communal violence, which often involves one religious community against another, has risen by 28 percent from 2014-2017 according to the government’s own count
VHP on the contrary is an extremist organization, they organise programmes to re-convert Hindus who had previously converted to Christianity or Islam through trained missionaries called Dharma Prasar Vibhag (Dharma Propagation Unit). This involves forced conversions. Parveen Kumar Chaudhary states that VHP is engaged in the ‘re-conversion’ program in the state of Orissa. In June 2002, VHP converted 143 tribal Christians into Hindus in Tainser village of Sundargarh district. In 2005, VHP in Bargarh carried out a reconversion ceremony for 567 Christians. The new converts signed affidavits, confirming their intention to change their religion. Another 600 Dalit tribal Christians were converted to Hindus in Bijepur, Orissa. The need of affidavits is a classic example of conversion under duress as they are not sure if people actually converted to Hinduism.
Lastly, Hindu Sena is an army of Hindus based on Hindutva, and Hindu nationalism. They have supported the independence of Balochistan and have supported the Baloch separatists.
Keeping in view the above evidence, Pakistan needs a strategic foreign policy to expose these organisations. Exposure should not be limited to the international community about their activities, but to convince them to get them listed as international terrorist organizations. The VHP has international offices for Hindu rights, but what about the rights of Christians and Muslims and other religious minorities living in India. European Union, United Nations, OIC, Human Rights Organisation and international forums should be apprised of extremist activities of the above organisations. The existence of these organisations also involves funding from countries throughout the world. The Financial Action Task Force should be briefed about how the funds provided to these organizations are used for terror activities against the Muslims and Christians in India, along with support to destabilize Pakistan that the Hindu Sena has publically supported.
India was ranked number one when it comes to countries with high social hostility against religious groups by the 2016 Pew Research Centre report. Christians are living in fear along with Muslims, since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s election in 2014, and the rise of the pro-Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), hate crimes against India’s religious minorities have risen sharply. Communal violence, which often involves one religious community against another, has risen by 28 percent from 2014-2017 according to the government’s own count. Extremism has no boundaries be it Muslims or for that matter any religion. The point should be to identify and crush these extremists irrespective of their faith, country and religion. It will be a great success diplomatically for Pakistan to get these organizations enlisted on the world terror list.
Lastly, Pakistan should come forward as a peace loving country fixing its own mindset of extremism and advocating the same against whomsoever is involved in such activities. Pakistan needs to keep a check on India’s so called secularism and expose the true Hindutva mindset to the world. This strategic foreign policy should be made a priority and new ways of exposing India’s true face should be highlighted with a long term objective of showing the picture of India, which it hides away from the world.
The writer is Barrister at Law.
Published in Daily Times, March 4th 2019.