ISLAMABAD – Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi had something distressingto reveal about Indian intentions. “The possibility of a war between thetwo counties sill persists,” he said, “and the Pulwama-like incident couldhappen again in Indian-held Kashmir to justify the military action againstPakistan.”
He even mentioned a timeframe when it could happen: April 16-20. Theopposition PPP though tried to play down the significance of his comments,terming them an attempt to divert public attention from other importantissues. There are good reasons to take the minister’s words seriously.
He referred to Indian media reports about a recent meeting of thatcountry’s cabinet committee on defence, attended among others by the threeservices chiefs, pointing out that Prime Minister Modi told the threemilitary leaders they had his permission to act against Pakistan. And thatthey responded by saying they had already selected targets, which aremilitary in nature and are not necessarily restricted to Azad Jammu andKashmir, but can go beyond AJK.
Qureshi rightly averred, “New military action against Pakistan is beingannounced by India.” Considering this exchange was made public it can beignored, perhaps, as an attempt by the Modi government to play to thegallery at election time. Second and more importantly, Qureshi saidPakistan has reliable intelligence that India is hatching a new plan ofaggression, for which it could stage a Pulwama-like incident in occupiedKashmir to raise diplomatic pressure on Pakistan.
It is worth noting that two days earlier, the Foreign Secretary had given abriefing, based on reliable intelligence, to ambassadors of the P-5countries, apprising them of Pakistan’s concerns so India could berestrained from starting a fresh conflict. The fact that the Foreign Officeorganised a briefing session for the representatives of the P-5 countries,all major powers with their own independent sources to verify theinformation provided them, shows Pakistan’s concerns are not without abasis.
It is easy to see why New Delhi wants to climb up the escalation ladder. Ithas faced deep embarrassment for failure to prove the success of itsactions it took in the aftermath of the Pulwama incident. Its claim thatthe Indian Air Force took out a militant training camp in Balakot killingmore than 300 militants has been rubbished by many analysts and politicianseven inside India.
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And a few days ago, a report in the US-based Foreign Policy magazineconfirmed Pakistan’s stance that India did not shoot down its F-16 aircraftin a February 27 dogfight.
What is known is that an Indian jet fighter was downed in AJK and thepilot captured, though he was returned two days later as a “peace gesture.”All this has been quite damaging for the Modi government, and may be urgingit to embark on another adventure.
It is hoped the international community will do all that is necessary toprevent the outbreak of a fresh conflict between the two nuclear-armednations that could lead to unthinkable consequences for them and harmfulfallout for the wider world as well.
