Don’t play politics with issues of national security. Talking straight, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi turned on his critics who has charged him of soft-pedalling Pakistan’s ceasefire violations as he asserted that India has responded to the aggression with courage.
“Today, when bullets are being fired on the border, it is the enemy that is screaming. Our jawans have responded to the aggression with courage,” Modi said at an election rally at Baramati in Maharashtra, India’s poll-bound western state and an industrial dynamo.
“The enemy has realised that times have changed and their old habits will not be tolerated,” he said in a no-nonsense manner. The prime minister deplored the attempt on the part of an enfeebled opposition to make political capital out of the ceasefire violations, which has killed at least five Indians and displaced countless civilians. This kind of politicisation demoralised the jawans (soldiers) fighting on the border. Issues like ceasefire violations should not be a matter of debate for political gains, PM Modi. We never politicised terror attacks in Mumbai or Malegaon, he stressed.
Defence Minister Arun Jaitley toughened the stance on unrelenting ceasefire violations and called Pakistan “an aggressor.” Mr Jaitley sternly warned Pakistan that that Indian forces will “make this adventurism costly and unaffordable.”
“Pakistan in these attacks has clearly been the aggressor but it must realise that our deterrence will be credible. If Pakistan persists with this adventurism, our forces will make the cost of this adventurism unaffordable,’’ Defence Minister Arun Jaitley said in a statement on border situation in Jammu and Kashmir. The minister made it clear to Pakistan that the Indian armed forces, including the Army and the Border Security Force, will “respond adequately and defend our territory and our people.” This is the only option, he stressed.
Political Crossfire
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) joined in attacking the opposition Congress for trying to derive political mileage out of the ceasefire violations.
“Congress party has ruled the country for many number of years. It is expected to respond in a more mature manner and in a responsible manner,” Union Minister and senior BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu said.
“An umpteen number of times ceasefire violations had taken place besides Pakistan abetting, aiding, funding and training terrorists in the country and we have not forgotten the 26/11 incident,” he reminded the Congress party of its decade-long rule at the centre. “So that being the case, Congress party is trying to politicise the sensitive issue which is related to the security of the country. It is unfortunate,” he said.
Mr Naidu hinted at a conspiracy hatched in Pakistan as an explanation for Pakistan’s aggressive behaviour. “Pakistan will be made to understand what is the response of India. But I am afraid whether there is any conspiracy on the part of Pakistan to divert the attention of people from the faster development and great initiatives taken by in recent months.”
Hidden Agenda
The recent wave of violence along the India-Pakistan border in Jammu and Kashmir has been the worst of its kind in more than a decade. The timing of the relentless firing seen in the last few days by the Pakistan Rangers on the Indian posts, killing and wounding several civilians, shows the hand of Pakistan’s powerful military, which is desperately trying to keep the Kashmir issue alive internationally amid a renewed global confidence in the India Story. Such desperate gimmicks are, however, unlikely to succeed with Pakistan’s politics plunging into a spiral of chaos and bodes ill for prospects of better ties between the two countries, separated by decades of distrust. The relations between the estranged South Asian neighbours started off on a hopeful note under the new government in Delhi, but plummeted sharply after New Delhi unilaterally cancelled the foreign secretary-level talks to register protest against the Pakistan’s envoy’s meeting with separatist Kashmiri leaders in August.
The chill in bilateral ties was reflected in Mr Modi’s decision not to meet Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York last month. In his UNGA speech, Mr Modi made it clear that he was willing to hold talks with Pakistan, but only on the condition that the talks were held without the shadow of terror
Author Profile
- Manish Chand is Founder-CEO and Editor-in-Chief of India Writes Network (www.indiawrites.org) and India and World, a pioneering magazine focused on international affairs. He is CEO/Director of TGII Media Private Limited, an India-based media, publishing, research and consultancy company.
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