Bluntly calling Pakistan a “prime sponsor of terrorism“, India asked Islamabad to vacate the part of Kashmir it has occupied, virtually laying down a new paradigm for any resolution of the issue.
“Pakistan is not primary victim of terrorism but of its own policies. It is in fact the prime sponsor of terrorism. Blaming neighbors is not a solution“, spokesman of the ministry of external affairs Vikas Swarup said in a series of tweets on Wednesday .
New Delhi's sulfurous response came after PM Nawaz Sharif launched at UN the familiar lament about Pakistan being a victim of terrorism. In response to Sharif's statement that “many generations of Kashmiris have lived their lives under occupation“, Swarup retorted, “Pak PM gets foreign occupation right, occupier wrong. We urge early vacation of Pak occupied Kashmir“.
On Sharif 's call for India to “demilitarise“ Kashmir and give the state the right of self-determination, Swarup replied, “To de-militarise Kashmir is not the answer, to de-terrorise Pakistan is.“
India's hardline response, probably the toughest in decades, came after Sharif laid down Pakistan shop-worn narrative about being a victim of terrorism. India's hardline response, probably the toughest in decades, came after Sharif laid down Pakistan shop-worn narrative about being a victim of terrorism, despite openly harboring many well-known and UN and US designated terrorists and terror groups.
Despite this well known pattern, previous Indian governments had been reluctant to call out Pakistan and humiliate it so publicly , preferring discreet peace moves to walk it back from its widely-known sponsorship of terrorism. The BJP government appears to have decided it will call Pakistan's bluff and expose it before the world community .
In a more elaborate response -following Swarup's tweets -exercising India's right to reply , New Delhi accused Pakistan of misusing the UN “to distort reality and portray a false picture of the challenges in our region,“ by presenting itself as a primary victim of terrorism.
“In truth, it is actually a victim of its own policies of breeding and sponsoring terrorists.Seeking to mask its activities as though an outcome of domestic discontent in the Indian State of Jammu & Kashmir carries no credibility with the world,'' said the statement by First Secretary Abhishek Singh.
Referring to Sharif 's allegations about ceasefire violations and exchanges of fire along the Line of Control and the International Boundary , the Indian statement said ''the world knows that the primary reason for firing is to provide cover to terrorists crossing the border. It needs no imagination to figure out which side initiates this exchange.“
“It is not uncommon for states, when confronted with serious challenges, to shift responsibility on others. That is the case with Pakistan and terrorism, reflecting the inability to recognize that this is a home grown problem that has begun to bite the hand that fed it. We agree that terrorism has underlying causes in this case, poverty of wisdom and ignorance of consequences,'' the statement, arguably the strongest response and the most elaborate repudiation to Pakistan's narrative on the Kashmir issue, said.
The statement also cautioned the world about the consequences of terrorism originating from Pakistan. “The heart of the matter is a state that regards the use of terrorism as a legitimate instrument of statecraft. The world watches with concern as its consequences have spread beyond its immediate neighbourhood.All of us stand prepared to help, if only the creators of this monster wake up to the dangers of what they have done to themselves,“ it said.
The Modi government seems to want to challenge the old Pakistani narrative about unrest only in Jammu and Kashmir, by highlighting Pakistan's occupation of a part of Kashmir, including Gilgit and Baltistan. By many accounts, people in that region have far less rights than those in India's J&K, where only a small section of malcontents in a narrow strip of Kashmir Valley backed by Pakistan want to secede. There is also a systematic pogram against non-sunni sects in PoK that has not caught international attention.
Going by the initial response to Pakistan's effort to raise the Kashmir issue, it has backfired, particularly in the light of its hosting of terrorists and terror groups which are often highlighted in its own media.India's strong response, quite different from that of the previous dispensation, could well up the ante.
''It marks a clear departure of the Manmohan Singh style of diplomacy: continue with acts of terror on our soil and we will not play cricket with you. The shift is not merely rhetorical but also once of substance,'' said Sumit Ganguly , a South Asia scholar at Indiana University in Bloomington, adding that it remains to be seen if there is suitable follow up in the future.
Pakistan's claims of Indian aggression on the border or interference inside Pakistan have also lacked credibility and have no takers in the international diplomatic circuit, including in the US.
“Pakistan is not primary victim of terrorism but of its own policies. It is in fact the prime sponsor of terrorism. Blaming neighbors is not a solution“, spokesman of the ministry of external affairs Vikas Swarup said in a series of tweets on Wednesday .
New Delhi's sulfurous response came after PM Nawaz Sharif launched at UN the familiar lament about Pakistan being a victim of terrorism. In response to Sharif's statement that “many generations of Kashmiris have lived their lives under occupation“, Swarup retorted, “Pak PM gets foreign occupation right, occupier wrong. We urge early vacation of Pak occupied Kashmir“.
On Sharif 's call for India to “demilitarise“ Kashmir and give the state the right of self-determination, Swarup replied, “To de-militarise Kashmir is not the answer, to de-terrorise Pakistan is.“
India's hardline response, probably the toughest in decades, came after Sharif laid down Pakistan shop-worn narrative about being a victim of terrorism. India's hardline response, probably the toughest in decades, came after Sharif laid down Pakistan shop-worn narrative about being a victim of terrorism, despite openly harboring many well-known and UN and US designated terrorists and terror groups.
Despite this well known pattern, previous Indian governments had been reluctant to call out Pakistan and humiliate it so publicly , preferring discreet peace moves to walk it back from its widely-known sponsorship of terrorism. The BJP government appears to have decided it will call Pakistan's bluff and expose it before the world community .
In a more elaborate response -following Swarup's tweets -exercising India's right to reply , New Delhi accused Pakistan of misusing the UN “to distort reality and portray a false picture of the challenges in our region,“ by presenting itself as a primary victim of terrorism.
“In truth, it is actually a victim of its own policies of breeding and sponsoring terrorists.Seeking to mask its activities as though an outcome of domestic discontent in the Indian State of Jammu & Kashmir carries no credibility with the world,'' said the statement by First Secretary Abhishek Singh.
Referring to Sharif 's allegations about ceasefire violations and exchanges of fire along the Line of Control and the International Boundary , the Indian statement said ''the world knows that the primary reason for firing is to provide cover to terrorists crossing the border. It needs no imagination to figure out which side initiates this exchange.“
“It is not uncommon for states, when confronted with serious challenges, to shift responsibility on others. That is the case with Pakistan and terrorism, reflecting the inability to recognize that this is a home grown problem that has begun to bite the hand that fed it. We agree that terrorism has underlying causes in this case, poverty of wisdom and ignorance of consequences,'' the statement, arguably the strongest response and the most elaborate repudiation to Pakistan's narrative on the Kashmir issue, said.
The statement also cautioned the world about the consequences of terrorism originating from Pakistan. “The heart of the matter is a state that regards the use of terrorism as a legitimate instrument of statecraft. The world watches with concern as its consequences have spread beyond its immediate neighbourhood.All of us stand prepared to help, if only the creators of this monster wake up to the dangers of what they have done to themselves,“ it said.
The Modi government seems to want to challenge the old Pakistani narrative about unrest only in Jammu and Kashmir, by highlighting Pakistan's occupation of a part of Kashmir, including Gilgit and Baltistan. By many accounts, people in that region have far less rights than those in India's J&K, where only a small section of malcontents in a narrow strip of Kashmir Valley backed by Pakistan want to secede. There is also a systematic pogram against non-sunni sects in PoK that has not caught international attention.
Going by the initial response to Pakistan's effort to raise the Kashmir issue, it has backfired, particularly in the light of its hosting of terrorists and terror groups which are often highlighted in its own media.India's strong response, quite different from that of the previous dispensation, could well up the ante.
''It marks a clear departure of the Manmohan Singh style of diplomacy: continue with acts of terror on our soil and we will not play cricket with you. The shift is not merely rhetorical but also once of substance,'' said Sumit Ganguly , a South Asia scholar at Indiana University in Bloomington, adding that it remains to be seen if there is suitable follow up in the future.
Pakistan's claims of Indian aggression on the border or interference inside Pakistan have also lacked credibility and have no takers in the international diplomatic circuit, including in the US.
No comments:
Post a Comment