BJP: Troubled in troubled waters
BJP led governments have always tried to pressurize Pakistan through blame games and false accusations. Despite Pakistan’s repeated calls for negotiations and peaceful settlement of all outstanding issues including Kashmir, the governments in New Delhi have been succeeding in burying their heads in the sand.
The current turn of events has exposed the intentions of the BJP government to the world. A US foreign policy magazine has recently declared that none of Pakistan’s F-16 jets were missing. This comes as a fresh blow to BJP at home and India at the diplomatic fronts abroad. This is troubling for the biggest democracy in the world especially at a time when elections are just round the corner.
According to popular belief, Indian elections were the major cause behind the military build-up and war hysteria created by BJP government to campaign against Pakistan and secure popular vote. Though highly unlikely, what if Modi was re-elected? But clearly the move has backfired. The PTI government has repeatedly shown its resolvoe to start a peaceful dialogue with India. Prime Minister Imran Khan, even before his oath, had stated that there sould be sustainable peace between the two countries.
Renowned Indian writer and photographer Sanjukta Basu tweeted that India has become a laughing stock during the rule of Prime Minister Modi. It is an opportunity in disguise for liberal Indian political parties to think peace. War has never been a solution for any country for any dispute in the world. Conflicts only result in further conflicts and disasters. The irony of the whole matter is that we are not unaware of this fact, yet for just petty power politics greater things are put at stake.
We have examples of European countries that have fought two world wars between them and their enmity goes as far back as the middle ages. It’s about time that New Delhi and Islamabad should sit together and workout a feasible solution to disputes acceptable to all parties. There are two ways to go about this. The first is to fight and mutually destroy one another only to realize that we need talks to solve our problems. The second is to learn from history and act like civilized nations by averting all impending disasters once for all. Pakistan has always been ready for peaceful talks.
India needs to wake up to the situation and take a decisive step towards peace. If not Modi, someone else should come forward to take India out of its troubled waters of embarrassment by pursuing peaceful talks.
