The Last Nail

Ironically, despite daylight violations of human and basic fundamental rights, India’s moderate domestic voices are either not being raised or are exercising extreme restraint so as not to be blamed as traitors who could face the atrocities of Hindu extremism. Domestically, the Indian parliament swells with BJP’s hardliner parliamentarians. There are a few from other moderate parties who are extremely careful for fear of being singled out, including Congress parliamentarians whose political bite had come crashing nose-down during the 2019 elections.

Besides the political high-handedness, the Indian military command is also taking the power-ride. The status of the retiring army chief has been raised to the newly-created position of Chief of Defence Staff (CDS). The world knows that he is the same Indian Army Chief who, at the cost of embarrassment to the Indian Army, made false claims of conducting a hot-pursuit operation in the wake of India’s self-staged and unfortunate Pulwama incident, followed by the shameful Abhi Nandan episode which occurred in the backdrop of the falsely-claimed Balakot surgical strike inside Pakistan.

The two false claims were not supported by any proofs but were trumpeted by the current CDS shamelessly on the reckless and anti-Pakistan Indian media. This anti-Pakistan sentiment helped Modi win the elections. Interestingly, the newly appointed Indian Army Chief has also sensed Modi’s modes of conveying his blessings and has already started issuing threatening statements against Pakistan’s sovereignty and security. Thus, the Hindu hardliners in political, domestic and now in military realms, are in control of Indian decision-making which is an alarming dilemma.

Internationally also, there are hardly any reactions to the human rights violations on the pretext of the CAA being an Indian internal issue. A few statements by the western powers and the UN could best be graded as mild, diplomatic and a mere tick in the box. Most ironically, the Muslim countries have also remained shy of criticizing Indian behaviour, apart from a few, such as Turkey, Pakistan and Malaysia.

India could stage a false terrorist act inside its territory on the pattern of the staged attack on the Indian Parliament and blame Pakistan.

How the increasing anti-citizenship violence and protests in India could unfold is like writing on the wall.

India could stage a false terrorist act inside its territory on the pattern of the staged attack on the Indian Parliament and blame Pakistan. The same could then be used to start an all-out or limited war to divert the attention of the protesting masses. Under the garb of hot borders, it would then easily be able to undertake massacre of the Muslims in India by organized Hindu mobs. On the military front, India could venture to call Pakistan’s nuclear capability a bluff, if Pakistan exercises restraint and avoids spiraling up the conflict. The new Indian Army Chief has already indicated his adventurous intent by hinting on so-called Indian surgical and hot-pursuit operations.

The Indian leadership could physically push the frightened Muslim population in India towards Pakistan’s international borders either by establishing detention camps close to Pakistan or through atrocities of extremist Hindu mobs. They could even remove the border fence and let the Muslims cross into Pakistani territory as refugees. Pakistani forces could even fire on the illegal immigrants or the government could accept them as refugees. If the latter happens, would Pakistan’s already weak economy be able to absorb them into the population? As it is, Pakistan is still paying the price for hosting 4 million Afghan refugees.

The response options for Pakistan are limited. First, keep the diplomatic offensive going. Second, make Pakistan diplomatic missions more pro-active, especially in Geneva and New York, duly supported by like-minded people at all forums pertaining to human rights and sovereignty. Third, Pakistan being one of the most powerful Muslim countries, should make the world Muslim community realize about their responsibilities towards the well-being of their fellow Muslims around the world. Pakistan needs to use its tangible diplomatic influence to make the OIC more pro-active by forming some kind of a pressure group using political, diplomatic and commercial bargaining chips at various forums on quid-pro-quo basis. Fourth, domestically all political parties have to be on one page on this issue. The impending crises should be seen in advance and response strategies be devised at the national level. Political harmony is the need of the time. Only a ‘complete national response’ would bring dividends. When nations become united from within, they are bound to rise and succeed.

In the end, the US in particular and the world in general, will be sooner or later blamed for their bias in favour of Indian hardline policies, in case a humanitarian or military crisis erupts in South Asia. The US has to act as per its stature of sole superpower by looking beyond its narrow commercial and strategic interests. Whether the US-led world community acts or not, it is certain that Modi’s enacting of the Indian Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) has shaken Indian foundations as a secular state. It seems to be the last nail which just needs a few more strikes of the hammer to be sunk into India’s secular coffin. Only time will tell whether the country will survive as a totally Hindu India or fragment into many independent siblings.