In a strongly-worded reply, Vidisha Maitra, the first secretary of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, called the Prime Minister of Pakistan’s address “hate speech” and said it attempts to ‘sharpen differences’ and ‘stir up hatred.’
She pointed out that the General Assembly rarely witnesses such misuse or “abuse” as she called it, of an opportunity to reflect. “Words matter in diplomacy,” she said, adding that using words such as “pogrom”, “bloodbath”, “racial superiority”, “pick up the gun” and “fight to the end” reflect a medieval mindset and not a 21st century vision.
This is the typical case of pot calling the kettle black. On the one hand, the Indian government in the darkness of 4th and 5th of August fiddled with the Constitution to permanently snatch Kashmir’s autonomous status guaranteed to them by the Constitution since Independence and then unleashed terror of unprecedented proportion in the Held Kashmir, clamped a relentless curfew for nearly two months, imprisoned nearly 8million Kashmiris under the bayonets of 900,000 troops, knowing fully well that the backlash against this mischief will rebound with double vigour making it difficult to hold the Valley. Such a repression with such brute force was unprecedented in the history of the sub-continent, seen not even during the British rule .The gravity of the matter lay in complete reversal of its declared policies and its international commitments which India and all its leaders had made before the world community for the last 7 decades. The roots of this barbarity lay in the ideology of Rashtria Sahvek Sang (RSS) which represents ultra-Hindu nationalism on which the present Indian regime rests. The RSS was mentioned by the Prime Minister as a state of fact and not to denigrate any creed or calling ,unless the RSS is too conscious of its fascist ideology. Just as calling someone Hindu or Muslim does not amount to ‘hate speech,’ the same way the naming or ascribing it to someone as belonging to RSS ( which is true and not false )does not amount to ‘hate speech. If Prime Minister of India takes pride in being a member of the RSS, then how can it be termed ‘hateful’? As to the accusation that the speech “sharpened differences” and “stirred up hatred” I think it was not the speech but it was the sorry plight and sufferings of Kashmiris which generated feelings of scorn and disgust against the perpetrators responsible for pushing them to their present state of misery.
All listeners and viewers of the speech must be thinking as to who was responsible for creating sour relations between the two countries. Any observer who has closely seen both the regimes coming into power one after the other must have observed that it was Pakistan who made several peaceful overtures to India which were disdainfully spurned. During Modi regime the relations between the two countries had touched the lowest ebb. On the other hand, Pakistan many times offered India to shun warlike preparations, and jointly engage ourselves in eliminating poverty, and fighting corruption etc. to ameliorate the lot of the poor man on both sides of the border. As a great gesture of friendship, our P.M. even generously treated the bailing out Indian pilot who had come to attack Pakistan and returned him back to India safely. This too did not break the ice. On the other hand during aerial skirmishes India even maligned Pakistan in bringing down its fighter jets which claims were wildly false as sufficient evidence proved later.
Kashmiris fate at the Indian hands has reached a point where they must be immediately rescued from Indian atrocities before their mass slaughter takes place
The Indian spokesperson in the General Assembly even charged our PM for giving a threat unleashing nuclear devastation calling it as “brinkmanship” and not “statesmanship”, and remarked, “Prime Minister Khan’s justification of terrorism was brazen and incendiary. This calls to my mind “the skunk which called the rose stinky.” India should realize that “People in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones at others.” How does it lie in its mouth to charge others of terrorism when a violent wave of terror sweeps through the bodies and souls of over 8 million people caged in their houses, suffering from hunger and thirst and awaiting death with each passing moment? The word “brinkmanship” is grossly misused. The timely warning about something grave about to happen is not “brinkmanship” but the height of statesmanship because otherwise the world might face total devastation when two nuclear powers strike, something which has never occurred before. Kashmiris fate at the Indian hands has reached a point where they must be immediately rescued from Indian atrocities before their mass slaughter takes place .Thus the Prime Minister issued a timely warning to the world community, which was extremely necessary.” As a sportsman Imran Khan is fully imbued with sportsman spirit and knows it his first duty to ensure that no harm should come to anybody.
If merciless religious or ethnic killings in Kashmir or Gujerat are not remembered as bloodbath, then which else word is suitable to describe them. These words were used in international press to describe these killings and were not chosen by the Prime minister. Moreover their recurring use refers to the modern warfare or killing where thousands of people can be killed or maimed by modern fire arm weapons in the shortest possible time. Thus these terms are more relevant to modern age than they were in medieval times.
Everyone in the world must understand the new leadership in Pakistan and its complete new face has brought with it a complete reorientation of its policies. Pakistan’s journey through the rough and tumble of politics during the last 3 decades has made it learn many new lessons. It started with Soviet occupation of Afghanistan where we became embroiled in pro-US war against Soviet occupation, and later in the Pro-US war against Taliban, during which we bore the major brunt of Taliban’s terrorist attacks for well over a decade and lost more than our 70,000 lives. These facts have also been mentioned in Imran Khan speech to show that despite our good intentions we have been the worst victims of terrorism. Some of our troubles were also aided and abetted by India from the side of Afghanistan, the living testimony of which is still in our custody the Indian spy, Yadev Bhushan, who is awaiting his trial. After passing through this turbulent time and incurring so much loss in men and material, we are now far wiser to know what is good for our people and how an environment of peace and tranquility can be created around us for the future development of our country.
The writer is a former member of the Provincial Civil Service, and an author of Moments in Silence