News Desk |
In the most significant development on the Kashmir issue in decades, the BJP’s Amit Shah tabled resolutions to integrate the Indian-occupied Kashmir (IOK) into the Indian Union on Monday by eviscerating article 370 and scrapping 35 A. Approved now both by the Rajya Sabha and the Lokh Saba, the IOK is set to be open up to the rest of India and to be treated like just another state.
PM Khan vowed to combat this ideology. He clarified that the government would open a comprehensive and aggressive diplomatic front against India.
This move is in flagrant violation of international law and the Indian constitution which states that the IOK’s constituent assembly must consent to such an accession, and it is hoped that the Indian Supreme Court will be the voice of reason that reverses this ham-fisted act of aggression. However, given the crumbling democracy and decaying institutions under the Modi government’s “rising fascism”, this looks increasingly like a dream.
Read more: New York Times slams India’s Kashmir move
This first-time MP delivered a vicious attack on the Modi government in her maiden Parliament speech. 😱 pic.twitter.com/I53dPBBchP
— Brut India (@BrutIndia) June 27, 2019
In his response to this act of blatant aggression that united all Pakistanis in outrage, the PM made a historic address to the emergency joint session of parliament he had called. While previously adopting softer rhetoric against India in “take one step towards us and we will take ten towards you” and even welcoming PM Modi’s re-election, PM Imran Khan significantly ramped up his aggression.
The crumbling democracy and decaying institutions under the Modi government’s “rising fascism”, this looks increasingly like a dream.
He stated that war would not be ruled out if Pakistan is left with no other choice. PM Khan called out the ideology of racial superiority that is promoted by the RSS, the main proponent of Hindutva in India since 1925. Its attacks on mosques and Muslims in the form of disturbing mosques with pigs and music, abducting and raping Muslim women, and killing dozens of Muslims provided a central impetus to the Pakistan movement.
Read more: Imran Khan: BJP has proved it does not want Muslims in India
The present-day manifestations of this violence inherent in the RSS/BJP’s irredentist vision are the mob lynching over eating beef and refusal to say slogans like “Jai Sri Ram” or “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” as a test of loyalty to the country.
(4/4) Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan Policy Statement Speech at Joint Session National Assembly Islamabad (06.08.19)#Pakistan 🇵🇰 #Kashmir #StandwithKashmir #Article370Scrapped@ImranKhanPTI pic.twitter.com/UqEX77G6wY
— PTI (@PTIofficial) August 6, 2019
PM Khan vowed to combat this ideology. He clarified that the government would open a comprehensive and aggressive diplomatic front against India. However, alongside the Corp Commander Conference’s announcement, it was also asserted that in the event that war was forced upon Pakistan, it would not hesitate to engage. In an emotional allusion, he stirred the parliamentarians to applause as he declared that Pakistan would fight “till the last drop of blood” if it had to “just like Tipu Sultan.
At the same time, he maturely insisted that “no one would win that war” and that it would only be Pakistan’s last resort. He promised that was not raising the specter of nuclear war, but instead facing reality and trying to ensure that this confrontation did not reach a point where a nuclear engagement ever became a reality. That would be a heavy toll for the whole world to pay.
Phenomenal speech by the Prime Minister @ImranKhanPTI. Proud to be 🇵🇰! Surprisingly, not shocked at the poor speeches by leaders of the opposition. Kashmir has been bleeding for 72 yrs & yet in the NA today, pure drama from BBZ & SS. #IStandWithKashmir#ModiKillingKashmiris
— ShandanaGulzarKhan (@ShandanaGulzar) August 6, 2019
The BJP vs the Constitution of India
The RSS birthed the BJP as its political wing decades ago and made steady progress till this day. PM Khan mentioned Gowalkar by name, who alongside Modi’s principal ideologue Deendayal Upadhyay, is the forefather of the violent Hindu Nationalism gripping India since the rise of the BJP. PM Khan explained that this move in IOK was expected, not only as it was outlined in the manifestos of the various RSS ideologues that rejected the modern secular constitution of India, but by the BJP’s pre-election manifesto too.
PM Khan called out the ideology of racial superiority that is promoted by the RSS, the main proponent of Hindutva in India since 1925.
The oft-ridiculed “fearmongers” in Pakistan who predicted the effacement of Ambedkar’s secular constitution once the Rajya Sabha was in the hands of the BJP stand vindicated today. Prominent analyst Orya Maqbool Jan was one of these voices and maintains that this situation will only deteriorate was the possibility of an Israel-style settlement of Palestine opens up. In fact, Shashi Tharoor on the other side of the border had already predicted the changing nature of the constitution in a famous speech last year.
Read more: What Imran Khan means to Indian occupied Kashmir
The integration of IOK was always in the making and is sudden by no means. It was simply the refusal of the world community to accept that the “world’s biggest democracy” is run by a religious extremist masquerading as a people’s man that let this development catch them off-guard. The fact that the decision to integrate IOK is not legal in any way, including in light of the agreements India itself had with Maharaja Hari Singh, the only justification for the move lies in classical Hindutva thinking of an “Akhand Bharat”, and should be all the proof anyone needs that India is turning Saffron.