Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Indian Chief of Army Staff Gen Upendra Dwivedi have both used Indian Veterans’ Day celebrations to make claims of Pakistani involvement in the resistance of the Kashmiri people to the Indian occupation. Mr Singh actually made the claim in Kashmir itself, while General Dwivedi did so while addressing a press conference in New Delhi. The charge that Pakistan sponsored terrorism in Kashmir was not backed by any evidence when it was first made decades ago, and has no such backing now. It was promptly rejected by both the Inter-Service Public Relations and Pakistan’s Foreign Office, with both noticing the tiredness and age of the charge.
Perhaps the motive for repeating the tired old charge was the same which prompted its being made in the first place: the need to explain failure. Though the BJP government has abolished Occupied Kashmir’s status unilaterally, and tried to change its demography by a wholesale issue of domicile certificates, the Kashmiri people have not reconciled themselves to the Indian Union and the consequent opposition, nor to the Indian jackboot, manifesting itself in about 100,000 Indian troops and paramilitaries being stationed in Indian-Occupied Kashmir. Mr Singh, who is known for putting his foot in his mouth whenever he opens it, also made some remarks about taking back ‘POK’(Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir, as Indians refer to Azad Jammu and Kashmir), which was typical of the hawkish AJP Hindutva mindset. At least on the surface, both Mr Singh and General Dwivedi are trying to explain, even to themselves, the abject failure of the Indian state, through its armed forces, to bring the Kashmiri people to heel by blaming Pakistan rather than its own oppression. These statements only highlight India’s own terrorism, by assassinations or assassination attempts in the USA and Canada.
Kashmir may be part of the warp and woof of the Indian Army, just as it is for the Pakistan Army. True, the Indian army has fought three wars with Pakistan over it. However, it is dangerous for professionals like General Dwivedi to try currying favour with politicians like Mr Singh, unless he wishes to emulate his predecessor, Gen V.K. Singh, and get BJP ticket for the Lok Sabha, to be followed by (junior) ministerial office. However, is this abrupt voicing for the same sentiment a sign that the fanatics in the BJP men some silly adventure at solving the Kashmir issue by any means except the logical one of letting the Kashmiri people exercise their right to self-determination.
