India remains a pretentious regional power

Defence minister highlights global community’s neglect toward people of Kashmir


APP May 08, 2018
PHOTO: EXPRESS

ISLAMABAD: India has presented to the world a particular face: a rising India, which is a secular and democratic region, but this façade is hiding the harsh realities of the millions of impoverished citizens of the country whose voices and faces remain hidden.

This was stated by Defence Minister Khurram Dastgir Khan at seminar on “India: A Pretentious Regional Power,” organised by the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI) on Monday.

The defence minister emphasised that for India as well as Pakistan, non-traditional security threats such as water insecurity, climate change etc. affect people’s lives and livelihoods and so should be seriously tackled.

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Understanding India as a pretentious regional power is important for both Pakistan, as well as for the rest of the world, particularly for the former so as to ensure it is prepared to meet any challenge militarily. The minister went on to say that while Pakistan has for several decades been raising the issue of human rights abuses in Kashmir, it is only now that the international community is beginning – and that too marginally – to notice the violence committed by Indian state agencies. According to the Khan a country treats its minorities in accordance with whatever values it adopts and India has failed on that account.

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Moreover, the speakers at the seminar analysed that ongoing Hindu extremist narrative is reducing the space not only for minorities but for Hindus wanting secularism as well. While India has continued to invest in its military needs to acquire global and regional power, it should make efforts to lift the millions of its people from poverty. Pakistan needs to see where India is going wrong so it does not follow that course of action and thus avoids any setbacks.

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ISSI Chairman Ambassador Khalid Mahmood said that the idea of the rising Indian economy can no longer be used to sustain the argument and belief of India as a regional power. It should no longer be the case that progress in South Asia
is considered a zero-sum game – Pakistan is quite clear on this.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 8th, 2018.

COMMENTS (1)

tatvavetta | 5 years ago | Reply Pakistan took care of Bengali minorities democratically. Now they will take care of Hazara and Baloch minorities
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