Pot calling the kettle black

The Foreign Office has slammed Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar’s recent attempts to frame a “neighbour” as being involved in “international terrorism”. While Jaishankar did not explicitly name Pakistan, he used other references that left no doubt that the neighbour he was referring to was not China, Bhutan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar or Sri Lanka. Jaishankar claimed India was an “expert in IT” while the neighbour was an “expert in international terrorism”. Strangely, in the middle of his remarks, he also seemed to be admitting that India is itself involved in terrorism when he appeared to say that India replies to terrorism in kind.

Even if this ‘admission’ just came out wrong, the world is witness to India’s 75 years of terrorising the people of Kashmir. Even when we move away from the disputed territory, the state-sponsored violence that Muslims and other religious minorities in India have had to face under the Modi-led BJP government also meets many definitions of terrorism. But Jaishankar knows this, which is why he only puts down Pakistan when he knows he will not be questioned on his claims.

In fact, Jaishankar is a known tough-talking coward who has run away several times from engagements with ‘unfriendly’ audiences, including foreign pressers and even meetings with US MPs of Indian origin, who are familiar enough with India to call out the BJP’s fascism and support for Hindutva terrorism without fear of being accused of holding anti-Hindu or anti-Indian sentiments. India even lost a prime minister who dared stop supporting terrorism — Rajiv Gandhi, who was blown up for pulling New Delhi’s support for the Tamil Tigers, universally accepted as having been built with funds and weapons provided by India’s intelligence agencies to destabilise Sri Lanka. This same formula has reportedly been replicated in Balochistan. However, Modi and Co have apparently learned from Rajiv Gandhi’s mistakes and abandoned any semblance of a conscience, lest it makes them rethink their support for international terrorism.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 5^th, 2022.

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