Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech on Independence Day made it clear that he has completely rerouted his policy on Pakistan with aggressive comments referring to Pakistan’s human rights abuses in its large province of Balochistan as well as Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir. Modi said the people of those areas have thanked him for drawing attention to their troubles, a reference to his warning last week that if Pakistan continues instigating the violence that has seared the Kashmir Valley for over a month, India will be compelled to expose Islamabad’s many wrongdoings in regions fighting terror and atrocities by its security forces. The PM’s comments about Pakistan were placed at the end of a lengthy speech he delivered in the traditional address on 15th August from the ramparts of the Red Fort. “They glorify terrorists who attack us,” he said, recalling that India “cried with sorrow” when nearly 130 children were killed in a ruthless massacre by the Taliban in Peshawar two years ago. Modi’s third Independence Day speech as Prime Minister comes as the government is struggling to curtail the violence that erupted in the Kashmir Valley after 22-year-old terrorist Burhan Wani was killed on 8th July by security forces. The daily clashes between mobs and security forces since then have killed over 50 people and left at least 5,000 injured, many of them security personnel. The curfew in Kashmir has been extended over an unprecedented five weeks. India has blamed Pakistan for instigating the violence, both through terrorists sent across the border as well as its state agencies. The Pakistani Government has eulogised Wani as a martyr and encouraged huge marches to protest against his killing while describing the unrest in Kashmir as “a freedom movement”. Pakistan on the other hand has written to the Arab League and asked its member countries to intervene in Kashmir while India rebuffed Pakistan saying it has no “locus standi” in the matter and its attempt to internationalise the issue will not “whitewash” cross-border terrorism supported by it. Pakistan now stands completely exposed. Taken in true spirit can we expect a true shift in India’s policy towards Pakistan especially when it comes to export of terror and interference in Kashmir from that country. India engaging Pakistan on the Blochistan front will built up pressure and would be opening a new front for it to tackle within. There is a need to redraw Pakistan policy lest it becomes bold enough to legitimise its claim on Kashmir which would be no good for India.
