Air strike anniversary

A year after the Indian Air Force helped Narendra Modi lead a successful assault on the truth to guarantee re-election, Prime Minister Imran Khan praised Pakistan’s response to Indian aggression as being indicative of the nation’s maturity. “I was very proud of how the Pakistani people dealt with the crisis,” Prime Minister Imran said. “The fact that the crisis did not aggravate and the situation didn’t worsen only shows the maturity of the Pakistani nation.”

Last year on February 26, Indian planes violated Pakistani airspace and conducted air strikes in Pakistan. While the strikes missed the intended targets, the Indian propaganda machine played them up as some sort of death knell for Pakistan. The following day, the Pakistan Air Force shot down two Indian jets and captured Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman. The IAF officer was later released in a peace gesture; however, Indian media even tried to play this as Pakistan capitulating under pressure. “We could have panicked... and responded to the Indian bombing on the spot. But we waited, realised the next day that there had been no casualties and then responded accordingly,” Prime Minister Imran recalled while criticising Indian politicians for beating war drums. The PM then spoke of the “very dangerous path” India has set out on. “History shows that only bloodshed follows the kind of racist, totalitarian and fascist RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) ideology adopted by [India].”

Indeed, India’s recent behaviour has been reflective of a government out of control. US President Donald Trump’s repeated offers to mediate on Kashmir seem like old news, even though he last made one only a few days ago, because of the carnage in the Indian capital, New Delhi. At least 23 people have been killed in what Indian analysts fear is the start of a pogrom that could go past the anti-Sikh riots of 1984 or even the Gujarat riots of 2002, which then-chief minister Narendra Modi personally oversaw. Citizens are being killed and journalists thrashed by the police and Hindutva mobs, and the government is doing nothing to bring the situation under control. Or maybe inaction is precisely the kind of action Modi takes when Muslims are at risk of being massacred.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 28^th, 2020.

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