Islamabad - Military’s media wing Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) Thursday rejected the story carried by Hindustan Times that Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa had approached his Indian counterpart and both had served together in Congo.
In a tweet, DG ISPR Maj-Gen Asif Ghafoor has said the story is factually incorrect and Army Chief has neither approached his Indian counterpart nor had served with him in Congo.
He said the decision for talks is prerogative of both the governments.
On the face of it, the development seems to be part of larger media propaganda by the BJP government always trying to create some sort of leverage for domestic political consumption.
This is not India’s first attempt; the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also tried to create a stir in the recent past claiming that Indian security forces had carried out surgical strikes against Pakistan which was strongly rejected by Pakistan.
BJP government since it came into power has been trying to drive political mileage through national media and that too at a time when it is under some pressure.
Analysts believed that latest development attributed to Indian Army Chief also seems to be part of the same strategy of the Indian government. They believed that it could be out of frustration over the failure of the Indian security forces in Indian held Kashmir to crush the peaceful struggle of Kashmiris seeking right of self-determination in line with the UN resolutions.
The Indian security forces in Held Kashmir have miserably failed despite employing all types of tactics and repression resulting into massive human rights violations which UN Commission on Human Rights had exposed last year.
Experts believed that the move could also be another tactic of the Indian Army Chief to cover up the fresh wave of repression being carried out by the Indian security forces against the unarmed Kashmiris.
The proposition assumes significant importance in view of the latest developments in the Indian held Kashmir. BJP government has launched fresh but its last-ditch effort to calm the situation in Kashmir to step up repression against the Kashmiris.
Some experts viewed the new strategy of the BJP government in Held Kashmir as doomed to fail insisting that the Indian security forces have done what they could do but to no avail, and their failure has also led to a national debate across India.
“Failure of the security forces in Held Kashmir will have adverse political impact on the forthcoming general elections in India and the ruling BJP junta has nothing at its credit to justify long repression in the Indian held Kashmir.
“Kashmir policy of the BJP’s central government has failed to achieve its objective, and it will also have negative impact on the forthcoming general elections in India”, remarked a senior retired diplomat.
He was also of the view that frequency in unprovoked fire by the Indian security forces across the Line of Control (LoC) by targeting the civilian population is also part of their frustration and strategy to lessen political pressure on BJP government.
