Whipped into frenzy by hysterical news anchors and egged on by opportunistic politicians, the Indian population is fast becoming an angry mob; riding a wave of hate and baying for blood. Pakistani blood, Kashmiri blood, Muslim blood; it doesn’t seem to matter. All this overseen by a man who has pulled this particular nerve many times before – the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi.
Even before the first responders reached the attack site, the Indian government had already blamed Pakistan, without a shred of evidence to back up the claim. Where else would a youth have gotten hold of so many explosives? This rhetorical question was bandied about as proof of Pakistan’s involvement and the war horns were sounded with disturbing relish.
Now an Indian military commander, Lt Gen D.S. Hooda has said that, “it is not possible to bring such massive amounts of explosives by infiltrating the border,” suggesting that “the material may have been taken from stashes of explosives” being used to broaden the Jammu highway where the attack occurred. Furthermore, the father of the attacker, Gulam Dar, told Reuters that Adil Dar and his friends “were stopped by the troops and beaten up and harassed. Since then, he wanted to join the militants”. These are not the only voices in India saying that the attack was a result of homegrown militancy – one that is a result of heavy-handed repression tactics employed by the occupying force in Kashmir.
These revelations only go to show how vicious and irresponsible the Indian knee-jerk response was. Beyond Pakistan this viciousness has been directed inwards as well; innocent Kashmiris are being attacked by mobs, those advocating a peaceful approach are being branded as traitors in an online witch hunt and individuals are being sacked from their positions on the suspicion of being anti-national.
India needs to calmly investigate and reflect on its actions; and their politicians must stop spewing baseless hate.