Amid raging insurgency in Indian-controlled Kashmir, former prime minister Manmohan Singh has accused the ultrantionalist Narendra Modi government of failure to address troubles in the disputed territory – also a scene of worsening Pakistan-India shelling.
Singh, who led New Delhi into a comprehensive peace process with neighboring Pakistan during the last decade, says prime minister Modi – who espouses extreme religious of Hindu superiority over all other communities – has failed to understand the Kashmir situation.
He told the Indian National Congress in New Delhi that India must recognize the “problems in Jammu and Kashmir” and ensure that these problems are “tackled and sorted”.
Manmohan Singh, Photo White House
Singh pointed Modi’s BJP – which is popular among Hindutva following extremist groups – and the People’s Democratic Party have not been able to deliver in terms of governance. with the “two wings of administration” working against each other.
“Our borders are not secure. Cross-border terrorism, internal terrorism, internal insurgency; they are today issues which are a source of great worry to all our citizens as the Modi government has not found a way of tackling this problem,” Singh said.
His remarks come after months of Indian forces’ crackdown against Kashmiris, who want to sepearte their territory from India. The PDP government in Kashmir supports negotiations with freedom-seeking groups while the BJP opposes the idea.
Jammu and Kashmir is divided between Pakistan and India. Indian Muslims and other minorities live under the perpetual threat of violence from BJP-allied fundamentalist groups including cow vigilantes.
Meanwhile, Pakistan and India exchanged heaving shelling across the Line of Control in Kashmir. India claimed that Pakistani firing killed five members of a family while Pakistan reported ten injured in Indian shelling in the Nakyal sector in the Pakistan-administered area of Kashmir.
Islamabad has also accused New Delhi of fueling insurgency in its southwestern Balochistan province from the Afghan soil.
India has openly opposed China Pakistan Economic Corridor which passes through strategic Balochistn province with its Gwadar deep sea port connecting China with the Gulf and Arab regions.
Photo : Wikimedia Commons Narendra Modi with Anandiben at a meeting in May 2014
In the face of fast-deteriorating situation in Kashmir, Modi’s New Delhi often escalates war of words with Islamabad, blaming it for fomenting militancy in Kashmir. Pakistan calls such allegations a tactic to shift world attention from the deep and festering Kashmir unrest.
Pakistan also has caught an Indian spy, who has confessed to India sponsoring terrorism in Balochistan.
On Sunday media reports suggested that India might also be contemplating a surgical strike inside Pakistan. Pakistan has pledged a telling response to any Indian aggression.
