Hindu fanaticism : Modi playing to the gallery, says HuM chief

India will not dare go to war with Pakistan, says Salahuddin

ISLAMABAD: The top commander of a conglomerate of Kashmir’s separatist militant groups says that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is appeasing Hindu fanatics by frequent ceasefire violations on the Line of Control (LoC). He, however, doesn’t believe India will ever dare go to war with Pakistan.

“Although some retired Indian generals are advising the Modi administration to use the military option, India will not take the stupid decision of going to war with Pakistan, a country, which it knows, is armed with superior nuclear and missile technology,” Syed Salahuddin, the supreme commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen (HuM), told The Express Tribune in an interview.



HuM has been fighting the Indian rule in the disputed Himalayan region where the July 8 killing of a young popular HuM commander Burhan Wani has set off a fresh insurrection is challenging the government’s authority. More than 80 Kashmiris have been killed and thousands injured by Indian security forces in their attempt to quell the uprising.

On Sept 18, gunmen mounted a deadly attack on an Indian military base in Uri, Indian occupied Kashmir. Though India blamed it on allegedly Pakistan-based militants, Islamabad says it’s an Indian ploy to shift the global spotlight off flagrant rights abuses in IOK.

“In case of military confrontation from India, hundreds of thousands of Kashmir people, armed with guns and stones, will stand with Pakistan,” Salahuddin said. He snubbed the Indian claim that Kashmir is its internal problem. “Pakistan is a fundamental party to the Kashmir issue and it is bound to extend moral, diplomatic and political support to Kashmiris,” he added.

Salahuddin said Kashmiris were not opposed to dialogue but the process should be meaningful and should involve Pakistan, India and Kashmiris. “Talks will not be fruitful if Kashmiris are excluded,” he added.

He said it was in India’s interest to accept the Kashmiris’ right to self-determination given to them by the UN Security Council. “Kashmir is an internationally recognised dispute. If Kashmiris liberate their land through an armed struggle, the rest of India will disintegrate as 10 to 12 separation movements are going-on in India,” he went on to say.

Salahuddin slammed the ‘criminal silence’ of the international community on blatant rights abuses by Indian forces in Kashmir. Over 500,000 Kashimiris have lost their lives since the freedom struggle started 27 years ago, 16,000 educated youth have gone missing, and 6,000 unmarked graves have been discovered while about 10,000 women have been disgraced.”

Published in The Express Tribune, October 3^rd, 2016.