Daily Times

You can’t fool all the people all the time and certainly not in 2019. With each passing day, the Pulwama attack is being exposed as an indigenous act of barbarism purely carried out by the powers who wanted to gain political mileage for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in general and Narendra Modi in particular.

The tremors of a suicide bomb that jolted Pulwama, Indian Occupied Kashmir, had pulled out all the rottenness that was lurking in every corner of India.

It took just a few days for the veil of secular India to fall and what emerged from beneath was quite grotesque. Apart from few sane minds, the entire population of India including artists, sportsmen, academicians, poets, politicians, analysts and journalists stood naked and the bigot, warmonger, jingoist and hawk in them crawled out of their embellished cloaks.

The indoctrination of Indians by Narendra Modi is complete.

Narendra Modi has raised the crop of human beings on hatred, religious fanaticism, bigotry, warmongering and jingoism. Now, as the time has arrived to reap the crop, it’s burning down India into ashes with the flames reaching its neighbours.

The ramifications of electing an ‘extremist’ and a ‘murderer’ as country’s ruler is that he converts his people into extremists and murderers and this was witnessed when Pulwama attack activated the passive extremist in Indians that rampaged through the streets assaulting Kashmiris and violently forcing them to prove their loyalty to India by chanting ‘Pakistan Murdabad’ meanwhile the xenophobic anchors were seen provoking Indian eminences to toe the line of jingoism.

A sudden wave of war hysteria had engulfed entire India propelling Indians to behave like an army of warmongers whose perception of war appeared to be caged in Bollywood movies and the visual graphics of Arnab Goswami’s news show. Intoxicated by its flawed sense of superiority, India decided to act as a judge, jury and executioner and implicated Pakistan – within few minutes of Pulwama attack – as the perpetrator and dared to teach it a lesson by ‘ghuskemareinge’ until that sense of superiority was crushed by a crow and few trees and the bubble of ignorance and arrogance that Indians were living in, for long, was burst to leave India bruised with mortification.

The ramifications of electing an ‘extremist’ and a ‘murderer’ as country’s ruler is that he converts his people into extremists and murderers and this was witnessed when Pulwama attack activated the passive extremist in Indians that rampaged through the streets assaulting Kashmiris and violently forcing them to prove their loyalty to India by chanting ‘Pakistan Murdabad’ meanwhile the xenophobic anchors were seen provoking Indian eminences to toe the line of jingoism

The only logical conclusion of this warmongering by the large population in India is that Indians have not seen the flesh of their children, mothers, fathers scattered on the road and blood of their loved ones flowing on the streets. Pakistanis have seen it, mourned it and grieved it. Pakistanis know what war entails. Indians don’t. Pakistanis know the value of human life. Indians don’t.

When IAF’s pilot, Wing-Commander Abhinandan Varthaman – who was captured and released by Pakistan Army after his plane was shot down – was walking back into his country, he was taking with him the defeat of India on the diplomatic, moral and military fronts along with the humiliation which was too palpable to ignore. The surgical strikes done by Pakistan were more than just through jets. Pakistan has wounded India richly enough that the bleeding will take ages to cease.

Last three weeks have been a defining moment for Imran Khan, his government and Pakistan Army. A unified display of patience, prudence and diplomatic and military prowess have won Pakistan global plaudits and reshaped the image of Pakistan that has been mauled for long. The perception game that, otherwise, would have taken a little longer was won by Pakistan comprehensively in the first round.

The unconditional release of Wing-Commander Abhinandan Varthaman by the State of Pakistan is a gesture that history will remember as an act of greatness and nobility where a statesman had chosen peace over war, humanity over inhumanity, his country over his power and his people over his ego and saved the bloodshed of billions of innocent people.

While Imran Khan has globally emerged as a pacifist and a humanist, Narendra Modi has emerged as a warmonger and a bigoted maniac. While Imran Khan has reaffirmed himself to be a leader, Narendra Modi has re-established himself to be just another petty politician. While Imran Khan has proved to be a big man in a big office, Narendra Modi has proved to be a small man in a big office.

Furthermore, it was a proud to see Pakistanis, with their demeanour, emerging victorious as a nation out of this uncalled-for conflict. The post-Pulwama conflict has drawn a clear dichotomy between the two nations where India has proved to be a big country with small people having smaller hearts and Pakistan has proved to be a small country with big people having bigger hearts. Pakistanis defeated warmongering with peace mongering, hatred with compassion, pettiness with generosity, bitterness with humour and abuse with memes.

It was, indeed, a stunning portrayal of a resilient nation smiling in the face of a possible war.

The Pulwama attack is proving to be a multi-dimensional eye-opener for the people of India. Where it has brought danger to the lives of 1.5 billion people, it has also brought with itself a much-needed opportunity for the Indians to drop the blinders of delusion and reestablish its lost contact with the reality.

About time, India sheds its senseless delusion and embrace the reality that’s staring it right in the face because much to the disappointment of Indians, the nuclear holocaust they have been craving ain’t happening or ain’t happening as they have seen on their silver screens. So, more than the destruction of Pakistan, Indians should worry about the implosion that is fast beckoning.

About time, India realizes that Kashmir is a time ticking bomb and the only way to diffuse it is to act upon the United Nations Security Council Resolution 47. About time, Indians understand that the best time to disown Narendra Modi was 2014, the second best time is now. About time, India comprehends that peace is the way to progression and war is the way to the stone-age.

The author is freelance writer based in Islamabad

Published in Daily Times, March 13^th 2019.