Amit Shah’s bluster

It is unfortunate that world powers continue to turn a blind eye to such threatening statements from India’s leaders

Indian Home Minister Amit Shah continues to run his mouth with belligerent threats of war. His latest tirade included a threat of “surgical strikes” against Pakistan “if it transgresses”. Unfortunately, while we could normally write off such statements to a small man talking a big game, if the Narendra Modi years have taught us anything, it is that Pakistan will be accused of transgressing every time the Modi government is caught out for its corruption, incompetence, or other failures.

The former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president is also widely considered the most influential — if not most powerful — member of Prime Minister Modi’s cabinet, having been a key figure in Modi’s rise to power over the past 35 years. That means that any statement coming from his mouth — no matter how ludicrous or off-the-cuff — is essentially a policy statement from the government. This makes the other part of his statement all the more concerning — Shah essentially said the time for talks is over, meaning that India intends to turn its back on diplomacy and would prefer to act like a rogue state.

It is indeed unfortunate that world powers continue to turn a blind eye to such callous and threatening statements from India’s top leaders just because they want access to Indian markets. The only world power that has consistently called out India is China, and even that is in no small part because of Indian hostility towards its northern neighbour.

On the other hand, we saw the Indian Air Force’s ‘surgical skills’ a few years back. The accuracy of that attack was more akin to a quack rather than a skilled surgeon, with the Indian pilots missing their targets entirely and one ending up being shot down and taken prisoner, only to be released later in a goodwill gesture. Unsurprisingly, even in that instance, Modi, Shah, and other Indian leaders tried to play abject failure as a victory for their domestic audience and actually did have some success — Modi won re-election soon after that disaster.

The Foreign Office of Pakistan rightly slammed Shah for his “delusional statement” and reminded that Shah — like Modi — started his political career with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the far-right, terrorist-adjacent parent group of the BJP. Indeed, the current Indian government has taken state terrorism and human rights abuses within territory under its control to new levels, whether it is in disputed regions such as Indian Occupied Kashmir, or deep inside India’s very own territory, such as Assam and Uttar Pradesh. The Modi government has actually shown ‘remarkable’ consistency in blaming Pakistan for unrest in such areas, even when the entire world acknowledges that New Delhi’s own policies are to blame.

The Foreign Office also reiterated Pakistan’s official position that the Modi government stokes “regional tensions for both ideological reasons and political expediency” while noting India’s “sinister designs” of staging false-flag operations to try and frame Pakistan or indigenous Kashmiri freedom fighters, peaceful activists, and everyday civilians of supporting or engaging in acts of terrorism.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 16^th, 2021.

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