Indian soldiers on the street in Srinagar, circa August 6, 2019. Click to see full-size image
Tensions between Pakistan and India have been developing, since on August 5th India revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, in a unilateral move.
On August 6th, the Pakistan Army Corps Commanders Conference sent a message to India over the Kashmir dispute.
Image by Deutsche Welle. Click to see full-size
Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa reaffirmed Pakistan’s support of the population in Kashmir and said that the country was prepared to go to “any extent to fulfill its obligations.”
According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), General Bajwa presided over the conference at the General Headquarters and there was only one point on the agenda – the “Indian-occupied Kashmir.”
“The forum fully supported the government’s rejection of Indian actions regarding Kashmir. Pakistan never recognised the sham Indian efforts to legalise its occupation of Jammu & Kashmir through article 370 or 35-A link ago; efforts which have now been revoked by India itself,” the ISPR statement read.
“Pakistan Army firmly stands by the Kashmiris in their just struggle to the very end. We are prepared and shall go to any extent to fulfill our obligations in this regard,” the ISPR quoted General Bajwa as saying.
Local media in Pakistan reportedly claimed that it was planning to close its airspace to all Indian flights as the tensions escalate.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan said that Pakistan would never let India annex Kashmir and would go to any lengths to counter the illegal constitutional steps taken there.
He gave a policy statement in the joint session of parliament; he said the revocation of articles 370 and 35A by the Indian government would intensify the freedom struggle. He said all heads of states would be apprised of the issue besides sensitizing the international media to the human rights violations in the Indian Held Kashmir (IHK).
He said that if India does try to suppress the Kashmiris, there would be a reaction against them and Pakistan would be blamed.
Khan said the two nuclear states could not afford war but if India attempted any misadventure, it would get a befitting response. “We will fight until last drop of our blood like Tipu Sultan.”
He said that in the case of war there would be no victor.
“Is the world prepared for this? We appeal to the world that a country is violating laws and there will be serious consequences if the world does not intervene,” he said.
Imran recalled that there was no loss of lives when Indian jets crossed the Line of Control (LoC). “Had there been any causality on our side on February 26, our PAF jets would also have locked targets on their side too causing causalities.
“After India’s February 26 misadventure, we had a meeting at 3am where the army and air chiefs were also present and it was decided that India would be given a token response,” he continued.
Khan said that he spoke to US President Donald Trump on the Kashmir issue when he visited the US in July.
“During my meeting with the US President Trump, I sought his mediation for resolution of Kashmir issue, as it had made the people of the region hostage for decades, but the Modi government further worsened the situation. Even in their domestic politics, the BJP government has cornered the opposition parties and tarnished India’s image of being a secular state,” Imran said.
Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry has also said it “strongly condemns” India’s decision and “will exercise all possible options to counter the illegal steps.” Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has also taken the issue to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, to win over their backing for Islamabad’s stance.
Meanwhile, pro-India banners appeared in Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital.
Click to see full-size image
The police registered a case against unknown persons after taking down the banners which carried a message of Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut. The caption on the top read: Maha-Bharat A Step Forward.
This translates to, “Today we took Jammu and Kashmir, tomorrow we will take Balochistan and PoK. I am sure Prime Minister Modi will make the dream of undivided India come true.”
On the Indian side, not much has been undertaken since the move was made, Kashmir is under a curfew and a sort of state of emergency, with soldiers patrolling the streets in Kashmir’s capital – Srinagar. Associated Press reported, citing anonymous sources, that there were sporadic protests despite the curfew and several people were admitted to hospital with gunshot wounds. It could be fearmongering, but Pakistani officials claim that India would cleanse the region of Muslims by suppression and other actions, which is quite a serious accusation.
China, too, expressed a position on the situation, since the Indian government announced the region of Ladakh as Union Territory. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said that China opposed this move as it was encroaching on Chinese territory.
“China is always opposed to India’s inclusion of the Chinese territory in the western sector of the China-India boundary into its administrative jurisdiction. This firm and consistent position remains unchanged. Recently India has continued to undermine China’s territorial sovereignty by unilaterally changing its domestic law. Such practice is unacceptable and will not come into force. We urge India to exercise prudence in words and deeds concerning the boundary question, strictly abide by relevant agreements concluded between the two sides and avoid taking any move that may further complicate the boundary question.”
On the Jammu and Kashmir issue, Chunying said that China was seriously concerned regarding the situation and urged Pakistan and India to “exercise restraint and act prudently.”
“China is seriously concerned about the current situation in Jammu Kashmir. China’s position on the Kashmir issue is clear and consistent. It is also an international consensus that the Kashmir issue is an issue left from the past between India and Pakistan. The relevant sides need to exercise restraint and act prudently. In particular, they should refrain from taking actions that will unilaterally change the status quo and escalate tensions. We call on both India and Pakistan to peacefully resolve the relevant disputes through dialogue and consultation and safeguard peace and stability in the region.”
And China’s concerns are quite justified, India’s move is not specifically unprecedented since Israel did a similar move with the Golan Heights and the US recognized it as Israeli territory, but that took years.
There is a grorwing possibility of a local-scale conflict, which would unlikely turn “nuclear.” US President Donald Trump in late July offered to mediate the conflict, but India rejected his call. That is mostly due to Trump showing “affection” towards Khan on several occasions in the past year. Regardless, his offer is ample proof that a large-scale conflict between two of the most heavily armed countries on the globe would be an unwanted development.
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The BJP’s Sushma Swaraj the foreign minister of India passes away at 67. RIP. She was a very good lady. India lost a very intelligent politician. This lose will sink BJP party. Everybody feel pain for Kashmiris except Narindra Modi.
Modi revoked the Kashmir independent status by scraping the article 370. Nobody is happy with the decision of the PM Narendra Modi. Opposition parties Congres and even the Modi own party members all shocked on Modi decision on Kashmir. Therefore, yesterday on 6th August the senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sushma Swaraj passed away “after suffering a heart attack in the evening”.
Bullseye on her dothead :)
In the 16th century, when the Mughal (Mongol) Empire conquered India the subcontinent, so then India became the biggest global economy and a manufacturing power, with a nominal GDP that valued a quarter of world GDP, superior than the combination of Europe’s GDP but then in the early 18th century the new Mughals were involved in poetry, music and injustice. Therefore, their sultanate suffered a gradual decline until they lost power to British government. Mughals were Muslims who developed India as a modern state and a world top class economy and then they were also Mughal Muslims that destroyed Indian economy due to which Indian security was compromised and then British government took India. 1600 to 1947 India was a largest Muslim State in the world but then in 1947 Qaedi Azam split this Muslim state and made it further weaker. 200,000 Muslims were martyred in the result of Indian division.
Your basic premise is fine, but the unnecessary partition of India by the British devious bastards like Palestine was a disaster. More than 2 million Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs died for no good reason that the British evil design not to leave a strong united India. If India had remained united, Muslims would have been in absolute majority or near it as Pakistan, Bangladesh and India have over 600 million Muslims. The British used their agent, the arsehole Jinnah to carve up India and create a moth eaten Pakistan and sow the seeds of permanent conflict, just like the Zionist occupation of Palestine. Pakistan is now a cesspool of Wahhabi terrorism and has worked against all progressive Muslim causes. India under the Hindu chauvinist BJP and illiterate swine Modi is hardly any better. After spending some time in South Asia it is fair to say that it is a complete shithole with some of the most disgusting and unclean people on earth. Only a mega nuclear war might improve the Indian shithole subcontinent, but both are incompetent and gutless. All their wars have been a joke and more like a border skirmish.
Pakistan has been after Kashmir since the Partition, and have taken Gilgit by force of arms. The Saudi’s used Pakistan as their base in their creation of Al Qaeda, along with the CIA and the Pentagon, in the 80’s. So the Pakistani military was the first to be “converted” into the Wahhabi doctrine, specifically its Intelligence units. Pakistani and Saudi Arabian Intelligence became so integrated that they were One. The Saudi’s contracted all their Intel., to Pakistan. From a military perspective it is advantageous to hold the high ground, especially when that high ground is the source of “the enemy’s” water. It is high time that India took Pakistan’s military seriously. Since 47, Pakistan has devoted almost their entire government budget to the military. They are well trained and equipped. If India haven’t got the S 400, they best get on it.
India and Pakistan have fought many wars, and Pakistan has never managed to win any of them, losing even two of them. Stalemate has been Pakistan’s best result. India is bigger, better developed and overall has better equipment. It’s economy is doing fairly well and in a better state then Pakistan. Pakistan is also suffering from political instability, having seen how many military coups since independence? In contrast India is the worlds largest and fairly stable democracy. In any long term conventional war Pakistan would not win a war of attrition, even if they achieved the Wehrmachts Eastern Fronts 1:3 to 1:4 exchange rates in losses. And the Wehrmacht lost that war too. Frankly the only thing that prevents Pakistan from being overrun in a long conventional war with India is that Pakistan nowadays has nukes. And India probably figures it has enough Muslims within its borders as is. By themselves nukes don’t win wars when both sides have them. And while Pakistan can support more Jihadis in Kashmir, the Indians can retaliate by supporting the Pakistani Taliban.
I reckon this talk is mostly for interior consumption. One cannot appear to look weak when the local voters are outraged, so tough talk has to be said. It’s one thing to talk tough and poster and whole other thing to actually go to war. I mean, just look at Erdogan, how many times now has he threatened to invade Kurdish territory east of the Euphrates and how many times has the Turkish army actually done anything?
Well I appreciate your positive outlook for India, but maybe re-read my post. The Pakistani Taliban are those jihadists that Saudi Arabia created with Bush. When Al Qaeda “won”, driving Russia from Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden had a falling out with the CIA, and withdrew his forces from Al Qaeda, creating “The Taliban”. The CIA then moved Al Qaeda to Iraq, and you know that story. The Taliban are Afghani, and as such are most concerned about Afghanistan, still as Wahhabi Sunnis, they will support any “protection of the faithful” by Pakistan.
There are two branches of the Taliban, Afghan and Pakistani. Pakistan supports the Afghan branch, but fights the Pakistani branch. And the Pakistani Taliban are not the only insurgents fighting in Pakistan, there are also Baluchi separatists. And they are most definitely getting Indian support.
In the end two can play the ‘lets support each other’s terrorists’ game. And the point remains, Pakistan has never been able to beat India in a conventional war, whereas India has.
The Kashmir conflict, and Afghanistan, is part of the developing confrontation between the US and a Sino-Russian alliance. An Indian-Pakistan conflict could trigger the wider war, or be triggered by it. Regional disputes are dangerously connected to global ones, which history demonstrates can become a conflagration. Events point to another world war. https://www.ghostsofhistory.wordpress.com/
I think the India division was a totally wrong decision. Then the division of Punjab and Kashmir that was further wrong because Punjab is the province of mostly Sikh ethnic groups and Kashmir belongs to Kashmir. Both should be separate entities linked with India or to Pakistan. Now one side Kashmiris crying so the other side Sikhs crying.
Well the British devious gits could hardly leave a UNITED India could they. They ripped of India of over $45 TRILLION in wealth as Shashi Tharoor writes in his book Empire of Darkness. In 1800’s India was the richest country on earth and then the British thieves started the plunder of its resources on industrial scale.
Yes this is true.