‘Fake strikes’ trigger slugfest in India

Indian lies about its self-styled surgical strikes have been unmasked. First, it was only Pakistan that laughed the Indian claim off. Then the international media also questioned its veracity. And now India’s own politicians feel they have been hoodwinked by their military.

Lt Gen Ranbir Singh, the director general of military operations (DGMO), smugly claimed on Sept 29 that India’s special forces had neutralised ‘terror launch pads’ on the Pakistani side of Kashmir in ‘surgical strikes’ – a story Pakistani officials said was made up by Indian officialdom for public consumption.

Initially, the Modi administration, especially his hardline Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), trumpeted the concocted strikes as a victory. But when the euphoria subsided, murmurs on proof of the operation started rising to a crescendo.

Sanjay Nirupam, the chief of Mumbai-chapter of the opposition Congress party, called the so-called covert strikes ‘fake’ and challenged the Modi administration to cough up proof if the strikes did really take place. “The government will have to come with some evidence without compromising national security to give a reply to the whole world,” the Press Trust of India quoted him as saying.

Nirupam was not alone. His Congress colleague and former foreign minister P Chidmabaram also said on Monday that the government should share proof of the surgical strikes. The Modi administration hit back at Nirupam Chidmabaram. Union Minister Uma Bharti said leaders who cast doubt over the surgical strikes should take Pakistani citizenship.

“Those leaders who say that if Pakistan is demanding evidence about surgical strike, they should be given the evidence, such people should take the citizenship of Pakistan," PTI quoted Bharti as telling reporters in Pune.

A day earlier, Aam Admi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal also asked for the “video evidence of the surgical strikes”. The BJP snubbed Kejriwal for what it called “politicking over national security”.

" Kejriwal, you need to know, today you are the headline in Pakistani media. Politics is separate but please don’t do or say anything whereby our armed forces feel let down,” Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said, according to India Today.

Senior AAP leaders said no one in the country could risk questioning the ‘cross-LoC strikes’ openly for fear of being dubbed ‘unpatriotic’ but there was something ‘fishy’ about the Modi government’s claims.

“Since no political party will question the army, the government made a military commander brief the media. Why has Modi or a union minister not given explicit details on cross-LoC strikes so far?” The Hindustan Times quoted a senior AAP leader as saying.

Nearly 1,000 villages near the international border with Pakistan were evacuated on the day DGMO Lt Gen Singh had announced the self-styled surgical strikes. And opposition parties believe the covert strikes and war hysteria was a ruse of the Modi administration to gain political mileage ahead of key polls in Uttar Pradesh state.

“Is there tension on the borders? Please find out if elections are approaching,” said Congress MLA Tripat Rajinder Singh Bajwa said in a WhatsApp message.

Six Congress MLAs, including Bajwa, also questioned the motive of the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal government’s ‘hasty’ evacuation in a statement. “Badal is trying to piggyback on the BJP in the misplaced hope that the hype and hysteria may lead to some electoral benefits for him in Punjab also,” they said.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 5^th, 2016.