NOVANEWS
By Sajjad Shaukat
By setting aside Indian commitment to observe restraint, as agreed during the recent meeting of
the Directors-General Military Operations (DGMOs) of both the countries, India has accelerated
unprovoked firing at the Line of Control in Kashmir and Working Boundary across Pak-Indian
border. Even without bothering for nuclear war, New Delhi has continuously been ignoring
In this respect, India again cancelled National Security Adviser (NSA)-level talks with Pakistan,
scheduled to be held in New Delhi on August 23-24. In this context, Spokesperson of India’s
Ministry of External Affairs Vikas Swarup said that New Delhi opposes Pakistan’s National
Security Advisor Sartaj Aziz’s meeting with pro-independence leaders of Kashmir.
India neglected the fact that the Hurriyat leaders are true representatives of the Kashmiri people
of the Indian occupied Kashmir, and could help in finding a lasting solution of the Kashmir
dispute. During the talks between Pakistan’s Prime Minister Minister Nawaz Shariff and Indian
Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Ufa, Islamabad conveyed to New Delhi a comprehensive
agenda to discuss all outstanding issues, including Kashmir as well as terrorism. But, Indian
insistence to restrict the dialogue-agenda to terrorism or cross-border terrorism only shows that
India is not serious to resolve any issue with Pakistan. Hence, Indian firing across the LoC and
pre-conditions are part of its delaying tactics, based upon anti-Pakistan approach, followed by
shrewd diplomacy against Islamabad. In fact, by promoting Hindu chauvinism on the basis of
anti-Muslim and anti-Pakistan slogans, extremist party, BJP won a landslide victory in the Indian
elections 2014. Now, leader of the BJP and fundamentalist Prime Minister of India Modi has
been implementing its party’s agenda. He has given a free hand to the Indian forces to go on
aggressively with the border violations in wake of hostile statements by Indian leadership against
In order to defame Islamabad, from time to time, BJP-led government also orchestrates a drama
to malign Pakistan’s security agencies. In this connection, in the recent past, prior to the US
President Obama’s second visit to New Delhi, Indian intelligence agencies orchestrated a boat
drama to defame Pakistan, allegedly reporting that a Pakistani fishing boat as a Pakistan-based
outfit group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) was intercepted by Indian Coast Guards, off the coast of
Porebandar, Gujarat. And Indian Coast Guard crew set the boat on fire and it exploded. But, its
reality exposed Indian terrorism, because, some Indian high officials admitted that there was no
such boat which came from Pakistan. Similarly, on July 27, 2015, three gunmen dressed in army
uniforms killed at least seven people, including three civilians and four policemen in the Indian
district of Gurdaspur, Punjab. Without any investigation, Indian high officials and media started
accusing Pakistan, its banned militant outfits and intelligence agencies for the incident. Indian
Police remarked that the attackers were from Indian-held Kashmir, and some stated that they
were Sikh separatists, while Indian Punjab police chief claimed that the three gunmen were
Muslim, but as yet unidentified. Contradicting speculations, India’s Home Minister Rajnath
Singh told parliament that the gunmen came from Pakistan. Recently, Indian Army orchestrated
a drama in the Indian-controlled Kashmir by killing an innocent person, showing his connections
with Pakistan. When, it was exposed, the Indian government admitted the fault of its security
Besides, New Delhi earnestly found various pretexts to cancel peace talks, while shifting the
blame to Islamabad. For example, in 2002, under the pretension of terrorist attack on the Indian
parliament, India postponed the dialogue process. Again, in 2008, India cancelled the ‘composite
dialogue’ on the pretext of Mumbai terror attacks.
Particularly, on May 27, 2014, Indian Prime Minister Modi’s meeting with Pakistan’s Prime
Minister Shariff in the oath-taking ceremony proved faultless, because, while raising baseless
issues like terrorism as pre-condition to advance the dialogue process, he said that slow pace of
trial against the terrorists of the Mumbai 26/11 terror case; being held in Pakistan is main hurdle.
But, he ignored the fact that on July 19, 2013, the Indian former home ministry and ex-
investigating officer Satish Verma disclosed that terror-attacks in Mumbai in November 26, 2008
and assault on Indian Parliament in January 12, 2001 were carried out by the Indian government
to strengthen anti-terrorism laws.
In this respect, some online reports of foreign media has revealed that Indian media has recently
been up-beating the negative theme that LeT, in connivance with Pakistan’s intelligence agency
ISI, are planning to conduct Mumbai type terror attacks inside India. It has been assessed that the
campaign against Pakistan by India is fraught with the danger of India trying to create a reason
for waging a ‘short’ and ‘swift’ war against Pakistan. Recent statements of the Indian army chief
Undoubtedly, New Delhi is destabilizing the regional countries in general and Afghanistan and
Pakistan in particular to obtain its secret designs, aimed at augmenting Indian hegemony in the
region. Therefore, India is foiling the peace process between Afghanistan and Pakistan by
managing terrorist attacks like the recent ones in Afghanistan which revived old blame game
against Islamabad. India is also thwarting the peace process between the Afghan officials and
representatives of Tehreek-e-Taliban Afghanistan, which started in Murree, Pakistan, on July 8,
2015 through a meeting, hosted by Islamabad, and in it, Chinese and American representatives
Besides, India wants to divert the attention of the international community from the involvement
of RAW which has well-established its network in Afghanistan, and is fully assisting cross-
border incursions and terror-activities in various regions of Pakistan through Baloch separatist
elements, Jundullah and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). On a number of occasions, these
insurgent groups claimed responsibility for their subversive acts.
It is mentionable that on September 18, this year, the TTP militants attacked a Pakistan Air Force
camp in Badaber area, Peshawar and martyred 29 people including an Army captain and
four security personnel. In this context, confirming the death of 13, militants, DG ISPR, Maj-
Gen Asim Bajwa said that valiant personnel of the security forces thwarted the attempt of the
heavily-armed TTP terrorists by stopping them to enter inside the base—and they came from
Notably, Pakistan has decided to raise the question of Indian cross-border terrorism and RAW
involvement in Pakistan at the UNO forum, with strong evidence in light of open statements of
Indian defence minister and prime minister who recently confirmed assistance to anti-Pakistan
elements including separation of East Pakistan.
Pakistan has also decided to raise the issues of Indian cross-border shelling and human rights
violations in the Indian controlled Kashmir. But, it is regrettable that the US is still showing
double standard by asking both the countries to settle these disputes through bilateral dialogue.
America should know that Dr. Subramaniam Swami, the leader of the Indian ruling party BJP
stated on July 12, 2014 that India needed only two years to defeat Pakistan militarily, and the
only solution of Kashmir was war, as “there is no peaceful, democratic solution”.
However, Indian irresponsible moves are alarming for peace-loving countries of South Asia
including those of the world. In this regard, even BBC pointed out that it seems that New Delhi
Nevertheless, it is wishful thinking of the BJP leaders that they can wage a conventional war
with Pakistan. While both the neighboring adversaries are nuclear powers, India is neglecting the
principles of deterrence, known as ‘balance of terror.’
After the World War 11, nuclear weapons were never used. During the heightened days of the
Cold War, many crises arose in Suez Canal, Korea, Cuba and Vietnam when the US and the
former Soviet Union were willing to use atomic weapons, but they stopped because of the fear of
nuclear war which could eliminate both the super powers. Therefore, the two rivals preferred to
resolve their differences through diplomacy.
Likewise, many occasions came between Pakistan and India like the post-Mumbai terror attacks
of 2008 when New Delhi started a blame game against Islamabad in wake of its highly
provocative actions like mobilization of troops. Islamabad had also taken defensive steps to meet
any Indian prospective aggression or surgical strikes. But, India failed in implementing its
aggressive plans, because Pakistan also possesses atomic weapons.
In the past too, Indian rulers had intended to implement their doctrine of limited war in Kashmir,
but they could not do so owing to Pakistan’s nuclear weapons. However, in the present
circumstances, BJP is badly mistaken, if it overestimates India’s power and underestimates
Nonetheless, in wake of dangerous developments, created by the fundamentalist Indian
government, question arises that does India wants nuclear war with Pakistan.
Sajjad Shaukat writes on international affairs and is author of the book: US vs Islamic Militants,
Invisible Balance of Power: Dangerous Shift in International Relations