India’s shadow jingoism
India’s hot pursuit tendency is now assuming a global phenomenon. Notwithstanding claims made by The Guardian that New Delhi has taken out Pakistani civilians in cold-blooded murder extraterritorially, the admission by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh that it will ‘invade’ Pakistan to kill ‘escaped terrorists’ has thickened the plot. This attitude and modus operandi is untenable, and is clearly in violation of a country’s sovereignty and breach of the UN Charter. It speaks high of hegemonic designs to assert its militaristic-cum-economic influence by taking on citizens in foreign lands. Also accused by Canada and the US recently for spying and killing their citizens, India must be held accountable for its intrusions.
There are some simple questions that Delhi must answer, like: why is it inviting a flak by admitting that ‘non-state actors’ successfully intruded into its territory, and were able to get away as well after accomplishing their ‘nefarious’ task? Does this hint at a capitulation of India’s vigilance paradigm, or a brute excuse to launch cross-border jingoism to address its domestic electoral fissures? Pakistan has already been on the receiving end in the wake of the Pulwama misadventure by India over an alleged pretext, and now this revelation that more than 20 Pakistani citizens have been murdered since 2020 at the behest of RAW is alarming. While The Guardian’s report has cited intelligence officials from both the countries, this makes it a perpetual case of a thorough investigation and that too by neutral observers.
Pakistan and India have lived as uneasy neighbours. With little or no trade and cultural contacts between them, this kind of activity wherein civilians are targeted extra-judicially will surely worsen the state of affairs. What is desired is a mechanism to talk it out at length and to address such grievances in a state-centric manner, and not to be left to shadow characters. Likewise, India’s’ new-found pleasure of hitting civilians in other countries must solicit some serious retribution. Such acts do not comply with India’s image as an emerging power.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 7th, 2024.
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