After President Trump’s accusations that Pakistan has not been fair in the war on terror and threatening to cancel all military aid to Pakistan, the Indian side seems to be working towards increasing the pressure on Pakistani borders. A strategy that surely works well for them, since America in order to appease the Indians is diplomatically isolating Pakistan, and they on the other hand are taking advantage of the shared borders and terrorising the area. This Monday, we witnessed a clear violation of the Line of Control (LOC) when the Indian side started an unprovoked firing streak towards the Pakistani side and took the lives of four soldiers working on lines communication maintenance in the Jandrot and Kotli sectors of Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

Mind you, this is not the first attempt made by the country claiming to be the champion of human rights and democratic principles. On December 25, 2017, three Pakistan Army soldiers were martyred as Indian forces opened fire along the LOC’s Rakhchikri sector. According to the Foreign Office, India committed 70 ceasefire violations in the first 12 days of the year and 1,900 in 2017. Along with these violations, they have also resorted to actively picking out Kashmiri youth and killing them by simply labelling them as terrorists who are attempting to cross the border to enter into Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK). On Monday, the Indian army martyred six Pakistani youth for the same reason. This is a gross violation of human rights in this area.

To add insult to injury, the Indian Army Chief General Bipin Rawat accused Pakistan of sending militants across the border and threatened to teach Pakistan a lesson by taking strict action against the country. This not only creates further tensions between the countries but also points out India’s blatant refusal to keep a check on its own activities and its urge to paint itself as the democratic champion of the region by pushing its human rights violations under the rug. At the same time, this is also against the essence of finding a political rather than a military solution in Kashmir. Both countries have resorted to a military solution for the longest time; a political solution would not only slow down the arm’s race but also create stability in the region.