When you’re making a statement as big as accusing another state of being the “mother of terrorism” in the region, it is always a great idea to have evidence at hand.
Notwithstanding the growing links between Indian intelligence and both separatist militancy and jihadism – both of which might be exacerbated, but not created, by New Delhi – there are myriads of examples of the state’s human rights abuses in Kashmir.
To be fair to Maleeha Lodhi, Pakistan’s envoy to the United Nations, it is from that blooded pool that she pulled out a picture that was always supposed to be a gimmick more than any actual case-defining proof. For, even the most devoted of Indian state apologists won’t dispute the horrific use of pellet guns, which has been on the rise since last summer, blinding hundreds of Kashmiris – they might make excuses, but would never contest it.
Therefore, the display of an image depicting a victim of the pellet gun attacks was to back the label that Ms Lodhi was going to slash on India: mother of terrorism in South Asia that is carrying out a “campaign of brutality... including shooting and blinding of innocent Kashmiri children with pellet guns”.
This is where the picture was supposed to be used, for impact.
Earlier, the Indian Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj had traced the nadir of embarrassing kindergarten trash-talk by calling Pakistan “the greatest exporter” of terrorism, following it up with a list of India’s top educational institutes, which had been juxtaposed by a list of jihadist groups.
With a wittier writing team at her disposal Ms Swaraj might’ve got the punch right, even if it might’ve smacked of hawkish hypocrisy.
This, of course, is not to deny Pakistan’s troubles with sheltering jihadist groups. But there could hardly be a worse time for India to pointing fingers elsewhere, at instances of “havoc, death and inhumanity”.
Therefore, Ms Lodhi, on behalf of Pakistan, had the perfect opportunity to put India in its place by taking the backseat in the mudslinging contest and simply stating Islamabad’s narrative amidst atrocities New Delhi continues to overlook, if not actively back – as PM Shahid Khaqan Abbasi had so eloquently done a day before.
However, Islamabad – through Ms Lodhi – chose to follow up New Delhi’s “my daddy is stronger than yours” with “no, mine is”.
Fair enough, when the opponent is plunging deep into the mud-pool and throwing whatever they can get their hands on at you, you might not be able to keep that collar white for too long.
Even so, when theatrics had been decided over an issue as cumbersome and contentious as Kashmir, that howler that Ms Lodhi pulled off is criminal on many fronts.
For starters, the fact that it wasn’t a revelation on Islamabad’s part saved Ms Lodhi from further damage, if not embarrassment – imagine dossiers of Indian crimes in Kashmir turning out to be documents on Israeli Defence Force.
But if you ever needed one example of Islamabad being completely oblivious to the on-ground realities of the Kashmir conflict, and its unflinching ‘support’ being a perpetual cause of trouble for those striving for their right to self-determination, look no further than Pakistan’s envoy to the United Nations using the picture from Gaza to present its case for Kashmir.
The picture of Rawya abu Jom’a, taken at the Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, captured by Heidi Levine in 2014, has been used by publications as illustrious as The New York Times and The Guardian.
If Pakistani UN Mission’s research team had gone beyond the first row of the first page that showed up in their Google Images search for ‘Indian atrocities in Kashmir’, they might’ve realised their mistake – this, of course, is considering that they’ve already pleaded guilty to their inability in using basic fact-checking tools to verify images and videos, through this criminal faux pas.
Now, using the wrong image itself mightn’t be detrimental to the Kashmiri cause itself, considering again that everyone not residing under a rock would’ve seen the horrifying images from Kashmir, and can assume on Ms Lodhi’s behalf that she had actually showed one of the many truly bloodstained photos.
What it does do, however, is find Islamabad guilty of both negligence and/or complacence on the Kashmir crisis that can only come from a) the long-held assumption that Pakistan’s position is so morally superior, that there actually is no case to be fought – or b) Islamabad’s helplessness in mustering support for the aforementioned case, which even the Muslim world has abandoned.
Case in point: there have been 223 UN resolutions against Israel over Palestine in the last decade, none on Kashmir since 1957.
But why are the ‘Muslim brethren’ refusing to support Pakistan over Kashmir, where so many Muslims are being victimised by a ‘non-Muslim’ state?
The answer can be found in the image of Rawya abu Jom’a and its wielding at the UN by the convoy of Pakistan – a state that has only ever aggravated the Kashmiri struggle, all the while using it to take strategic decisions that have become guillotines of human rights abuses and violence in its own backyard.