.. by? Lt Gen Raza M Khan
The word ?ahimsa? in Hinduism prescribes virtues such as non-killing, refraining from injuring living beings, self-restraint and compassion. Also, note-worthy is Mr.Gandhi?s non-violence philosophy: ?An eye for an eye ends in making everyone blind?. It seems that these traits have been entirely precluded by the present Indian rulers. While Judaism professes that people must be treated with dignity, respect, fairness, justice and mercy, the Israeli government seems to believe in the opposite. This puts the duo on the perilous path to perdition. Here is the indictment against India: Terrorising 175 million Indian Muslims on allegation of eating beef or trading cows by a few among them; imprisoning 10 million Kashmiri Muslims in IHK, for the last 70 years, through 6 million security forces; granting the license to kill Kashmiris with impunity through the armed forces special powers act (AFSPA), and murdering 100,000 so far, as stated by multiple human rights organisations.
The Guardian reported in Nov 2016 that Indian troops wounded over 10,000 people in the summer of that year and that the IHK government had admitted that 6,221 persons received pellet gun injuries, including 782 eye injuries, between July 2016 and February 2017. Other human rights abuses range from mass killings, enforced disappearances, torture, rape and sexual abuse to political repression and denial of freedom of speech. One US State Department report noted that ?Indian authorities use the AFSPA to avoid holding its security forces responsible for the deaths of civilians in Jammu and Kashmir.? According to an Amnesty international report, ?People injured by pellet-guns, have faced serious physical and mental health issues, including symptoms of psychological trauma?.
The Indian Express reported in Dec 2016 that Kashmiris and the Indian government have often clashed on Indian efforts to alter J&K?s demographic profile and to rescind its unique position under the Indian Constitution. These are the factual reasons why Kashmiris wish freedom from the yoke of their captivity by India. Taking undue advantage of the environments after 9/11, these wishes are deceitfully branded by India as terrorism and this false narrative has been constantly drummed by it since that event. The Israeli guilt, since its creation in 1948 includes : Displacement of 6 million Palestinians from their homes; occupation of the West Bank and Gaza in 1967; killing 86000 and injuring 63, 000 people, as determined by the Virtual Jewish Library, laying siege to Gaza since 2007, where 1.8 million Palestinians live, out of whom, 252 have been killed and 25,552 injured, as stated by OCHA .
Israel and India are intimately cooperating in the genocide of unarmed and innocent Kashmiris and Palestinians, by branding them as terrorists, though both are legitimately entitled to their struggle through many UN resolutions. Both have reacted violently and disproportionately to the magnitude of resistance faced by them and contemptuously rejected the UN and OIC resolutions on the matter, calling them as pointless relics. Critics who dare to allude to the dangers of such policies are silenced or labelled as traitors in both countries. Both have fought many wars but have failed to learn that it is impossible to subdue the will of the people for freedom. The consequences were summed up, in one US National Intelligence Council, Global Trends 2030 assessment that concludes that ?security risks are growing in South Asia and the Middle East, which risks inclusion of a nuclear deterrent and that these regions are most likely to trigger broader instability, which would cause large-scale damage to the global economy?.
Yet, ironically, the US is encouraging both to continue their present policies and support their perilous theories of pre-emption and aggression on well-known politico-religious grounds. Both are guilty of violating the Geneva Treaties and Protocols and the Hague Conventions by causing extensive destruction of property, wanton and willful killing, torture, and inhuman treatment of the people. Such acts could legally be termed as war crimes, fit for trial at the International Criminal Court. The most dangerous common belief of the present rulers of these countries is this: Netanyahu considers that Israel is the nation state of the Jewish people alone and not its 17.5 percent Arab population. Modi?s Hindutva philosophy is no different. It emphasizes that India is only for the Hindus and none else. Both these views are aimed at getting votes and offsetting charges of corruption against these leaders.
The plight of the Kashmiris, the Indian Muslims and the Palestinians is a stigma on the conscience of the people and governments of India and Israel. It has also threatened the world peace, as never before and sent a loud warning of the impending apocalypse to the UN and the OIC. Whether India will ever stop its barbarities in Kashmir and prosecute its pallet gunners and eye snipers will depend on the reaction of the international community. In this matter, the bizarre invitation extended to India as a ?guest of honour? at the OIC foreign ministers meeting at Abu Dhabi was unhelpful and regrettable, as it may have emboldened it to continue its repression against its Muslim population. This has, in some ways, made the OIC complicit in enhancing the miseries of other Muslims, which ought to haunt its member states, until they work for its redemption. The least that Pakistan could justifiably do was to boycott that session. While Israel continues to disturb the strategic balance in the subcontinent with the sale of a billion dollars? worth of military weapons and equipment to India every year, it is also stretching the grief of the Kashmiris by providing surveillance, monitoring, special weapons and training to the Indian occupation forces. This and the use of these weapons by India during its aggression at Balakot and at the LoC is a matter of grave concern for Pakistan, which needs to be communicated to Israel. Henceforth, Pakistan must adequately cater for this unhallowed alliance, in its foreign and national security policies.
? The writer, a retired Lt Gen, is former President of National Defence University, Islamabad.
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