~ By Sudarshan Ramabadran
The Indian Armed Forces have killed two terrorists in Machchil Sector, North Kashmir on September 17 and all this while without in any way slackening their vigil, as on date they have simultaneously distributed food to over 1.2 lakh persons in Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) and ensured treatment to over 75,000 people through various medical teams.
At a time when The Indian Armed Forces and National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF) have earned appreciation internationally for carrying out relentless humanitarian tasks in J&K, nefarious designs have emerged to pull out all stops to ensure that the people of J&K, in no way identify with India and its armed forces. These designs have been carefully timed and unleashed by the selfish separatists who under the false garb of “azadi” seek to please their handlers from across the border.
Hafeez Saeed’s tweet attack
To begin with Hafiz Saeed, an evil mind who enjoys absolute patronage from Pakistan never leaves an opportunity to unleash an attack on India through words or arms. As soon as the unfortunate floods struck J&K, Saeed launched his tweet attack. In a series of tweets, the 26/11 Mumbai attacksmaster mind Saeed made bizarre accusations against India. He tweeted, “India has used water to attack Pakistan, we are in a state of war. India’s water aggression must be taken to the UN Security Council. If India’s Ladakh dam project is completed, even Islamabad will become unsafe. Indian water terrorism is more lethal than its Line of Control (LOC) violations.” The opportunist Saeed wasted no time to reiterate the Azad Kashmir stand in a subsequent tweet which was carefully worded as an attack on the Indian Government, “Occupied Kashmir cannot be looked after by the Modi-led government, what it can do for those in Azad Kashmir? Give them Freedom if you may”
Though Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif did acknowledge and offer his support to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call to jointly rehabilitate those affected in Pakistan occupied Jammu & Kashmir (PoJ&K), there was not a single step from the Pakistani dispensation to come down hard on Saeed or even a gag order against himfor provoking India during such a calamity. In fact, Pakistan’s envoy Abdul Basit’s recently stated that Saeed enjoys the complete support of Pakistan and is a free citizen,“Hafiz Saeed is a Pakistani national so he is free to roam around. So what is the problem…he is a free citizen so there is no issue as far as Pakistan is concerned. Courts have already exonerated him. There is no case pending against him.”
This despite India’s countless dossiers to Pakistan on 26/11 attacks as well as US’ bounty of $10mn on Saeed.
Geelani’s appeal to Pakistan
Taking cue from Saeed was none other than Hurriyat Conference chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani.Take this for a partnership, Geelani and Saeed appeared in the same debate on a Pakistani news channel, where Geelani began spewing venom, “Armed forces are busy rescuing their own personnel, tourists and only a few Kashmiris, in that order”. He added that, “Indian Army and media are insulting Kashmiris by taunting them about being saved by those whom they pelted stones at once.”
Hang on; Geelani did not stop here, he further explained, “Indian Army men were moving around in boats with TV crews only to stage an act of rescuing a few locals for the purpose of publicity and propaganda”
When we just thought where was Geelani headed, here comes his appeal for help from across the border, where he asked Pakistan to take out time from its internal strife and contribute to the ongoing rescue efforts in J&K, “Pakistan must showcase the cause of floods to the UN as well as other Islamic countries”. Citing this he asked Pakistan to mobilize funds for J&K.
Yasin Malik joins the bandwagon
Next up, we had the man who hadpreviously shared the dais with Hafiz Saeed. Yasin Malik led a gang of crooked elements and forced ailing lady patients to get off an Army relief boat despite strong criticism of the shocking move by women in the area. Malik told the Army patrol to leave the patients and withdraw from the area. When the Army patrol boat returned, Malik told the boat patrol to get the patients off and leave. He claimed the Kashmiris do not want the Army rescue efforts to continue. Women in the boat and in the vicinity protested loudly at this insane act by a bunch of goons even as Mir, an aide of Yasin Malik, shouted at the ladies in Kashmiri and forced them to be silent.
Irony has it, this is the same Yasin Malik who is accused of killing four Indian Air Force Officers in J&K in the 90s and come the floods, he is rescued by the Air Force personnel!
If this is not enough, desperate separatists have also ensured to instigate people to take to stone pelting. Reports have emerged that aircrafts and helicopters flying across J&K have suffered damages due to stone pelting.
The nefarious design is clear; separatists are pawns in the hands of their handlers from Pakistan. Under the false garb “azadi”, they will go to any extent to destabilize J&K for the benefit of their vested interests. Anti India disruption is their sole aim. Negating these nefarious designs and facing innumerable hurdles of disruption, the Armed forces have not till this second brought the rescue efforts to even a mini pause. So much so, nationals from Pakistan have expressed their gratitude to the Indian Armed forces for restoring a bridge in their ongoing rescue efforts.
While a lot of criticism has come the Indian Army’s way with respect to Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), countless men continue to put their lives in danger to ensure relentless rescue efforts continue with an objective that they will reach every single individual stranded. All of India wishes and prays that anti national elements like the separatists continue to be kept at bay and J&K bounces back to normalcy soon!
Sudarshan Ramabadran is a Research Assistant with India Foundation. The views expressed are his own.
