A stumbling economy and unhappy citizens flooding the streets protesting the Citizen Amendment Act (CAA); the Modi government in India currently has its hands full with domestic issues. Yet strangely, the Prime Minister of India cannot seem to get over his obsession with Pakistan.
His statement regarding India’s ability to defeat Pakistan in a war in 7-10 days was resolutely rejected by the government as were the usual unfounded claims of our state engaging in a proxy war, using terrorists. Pakistan has categorically denied India’s baseless accusation of fomenting terrorism against them, and the lack of any evidence behind Modi’s unsubstantiated statements tells us that this narrative is a deliberate attempt to malign Pakistan, when the Indian government is essentially engaging in state-sponsored terrorism against its own citizens and Kashmiris in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK).
As far as winning a war against us goes, Modi and his armed forces should remember the last time they attempted to strike Pakistan. Wing Commandar Abhinandan was full of tales of Pakistani hospitality, but only after our brave fighter pilots shot down his jet. Our armed forces are more than capable of defending us from anything that India could possible throw our way, and the eastern neighbour knows this all too well, even if it is not brave enough to admit the truth about its own failures in attempting to attack Pakistan, through both conventional and diplomatic strikes.
Pakistan’s consistent overtures to develop positive relations come from our intention to see peace in the region, something Modi is desperately fighting against in order to keep his own party in power at home. Everything the Prime Minister of India says about us has no basis in fact. India’s current unrest comes as a result of its own attempts to marginalise Muslims in both IOK and the rest of the country. The state has been actively depriving over 200 million people of their rights, and yet somehow, they have the gall to blame us when the unrest manifests into something uglier.
Modi’s divisive and hateful politics are not even disguised anymore, his government has no leg to stand on when it attempts to deflect by dragging our name in the mud. The marginalisation of Muslims, the hatred for Pakistan, these are all attempts at garnering more votes; and up till now, Modi and BJP’s success in elections since his rise to power tells us that his strategy is effective. The only way to adequately counter this is if the majority in India rises up against this type of political manipulation; the kind that sets groups against each other and encourages violence instead of unity. It is hoped that the Indian people see Modi for what he is and use the ballot to finally express their own differences with his hateful narrative.
