Narendra Modi who is known as the butcher of Gujrat for his role in the massacre of Muslims when he was chief minister of the state and was declared as persona non grata by EU and USA, after becoming Prime Minister of India is being blessed with warm embraces by the same powers which encourages him to continue with his communal politics, more focused on the Indian Muslims without a word of condemnation by the so-called proponents of the human rights. That is the irony and dichotomy of the world politics whose direction is determined by commonality of interests rather than internationally recognised principles of inter-state relations and adherence to fundamental human rights as enshrined in the UN Charter.

The BJP government headed by Narendra Modi, ever since its inception, has been pursuing discriminatory policies against Indian Muslims and other minorities, inspired by the RSS ideology of Hindutva, a form of extremist Hindu nationalism which explodes the myth of the much touted Indian secularism. Hindutva means India for Hindus to the exclusion of all other communities and religions. That philosophy adequately explains the occurrence of incidents of violence against Muslims and Christians under the Modi government.

In fact even during the previous BJP government anti-Muslim and anti-minorities policies were either pursued at the official level or the extremist elements were encouraged to pursue the BJP agenda based on RSS ideology. Who can forget the demolition of Babri mosque by a Hindu mob led by ALK Advani in 1992 and consequent riots in which 1000 thousand people mostly Muslims were killed and incidents like: Samjhota express; Gujrat carnage and massacre of Muslims in 2002 in the backdrop of burning of Hindu pilgrims travelling from Avodha to Gujrat. An Indian government inquiry in 2005 revealed that the fire was an accident and the Muslims had nothing to do with it.

The recurring episodes of Christian bashing and violence against communities other than Hindus have assumed alarming proportions under Modi. The BJP government has used anti-Pakistan and anti-Muslim sentiments as a tool to gain vote bank in the election campaign. Banning cow slaughter in various states like Maharashtra and Haryana and killing of a fifty year old man Muhammad Akhlaq in Utter Pardesh by Hindu mob on suspicion of storing and consuming beef are the consequences of the communal politics of the Modi government. Threats to Pakistani artists in India by Shiv Sena, attack on Sudhendra Kulkarni who heads the Observer Research Foundation, assault on an Independent Muslim lawmaker from Kashmir by Hindu extremists in Mumbai are also irrefutable testimonies of communal politics pursued by BJP. These are dangerous premonitions for the things to come.

Notwithstanding the fact that the communal politics and the philosophy of Hindutva have been rejected by a vibrant majority of Indians, the Modi government continues to pursue the RSS philosophy faithfully. BJP defeat in Delhi and Bihar reveal political implications of the communal politics. The fact that 50 intellectuals and writers returned literary awards in protest against the rising culture of intolerance and assault on free speech, also speaks volumes about the resentment that the Modi government is confronted with in India for its discriminatory and oppressive policies.

Staying true to his promise during the election campaign, Modi government is engaged in a deliberate attempt to change demographic features of Kashmir by pursuing a policy of settlement of Hindus in the valley besides a move to repeal article 370 of the Indian constitution that gives special status to Kashmir. In defiance of the UN resolutions and the commitments given by the Indian government regarding holding a plebiscite in Kashmir, ruthless reign of terror has been let loose to suppress the freedom movement of the Kashmiris.

Since the current uprising against Indian occupation in the backdrop of extra-judicial killing of Burhan Wani, more than 100 Kashmiris have been killed and thousands have been either maimed or injured by the pellet guns. The Indian government in a bid to stoke the uprising in Kashmir into acts of terrorism to hood wink the world community and to rub in the notion that it was sponsored and facilitated by Pakistan, seems to have carried out a false flag episode of Uri attack.

Modi government is also trying to build up hate syndrome and war hysteria against Pakistan besides mulling over other options to harm Pakistan, including the threat to revoke Indus Water Treaty. A fake drama of surgical strike has also been staged to assuage the streak of revenge itself built by the government, which has been appropriately exposed by Pakistan through a well thought out strategy. It organized a trip of journalists and UN observers to the place where India said it had conducted the surgical strike to unravel the hollowness of the Indian claims. The UN observers have unequivocally stated that they did not find any trace of the surgical strike.

Influenced by the hate syndrome against Pakistan, stoked and sustained by the Modi government a Hindu extremist entity has even announced Rs.10 million as head-money for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Pakistan has done well to sensitise the world about human rights violation in Kashmir, raising the Kashmir issue at the international level and urging the UN and the world community to implement the UN resolutions on Kashmir. Those efforts need to continue while effective and befitting responses to the Indian propaganda and indiscretions along the LOC are firmed up.

The international community and UN whose basic role is to promote peace and security in the world must take notice of the obtaining situation in Kashmir and rising tensions between Pakistan and India. Instead of simply advising both the countries to defuse tensions they needs to get directly involved to ensure that the Indians do not commit the indiscretion of attacking Pakistan that could invoke a matching response and may be even stronger than that jeopardizing peace and security in the region.

By remaining oblivious to the unfurling situation in Kashmir and its fall out, the UN and the international community is in fact encouraging the Modi government to continue suppressing the freedom movement of the people of Kashmir and persist with its unmitigated hostility towards Pakistan. The solution lies in settling the disputes between the two countries, including Kashmir in line with the UN resolutions. The bilateral mechanism evolved through Simla Agreement has failed to make any headway and the situation warrants the intervention of the UN and the powers that be to play their role in de-escalating the tension between the two countries as well as the final solution of the Kashmir dispute.