Pahalgam and Operation Sindoor must echo at UNGA
Perspective
JK News Today
The United Nations General Assembly session on its 80th anniversary is underway. The world leaders have started addressing the session with their respective world-view. And they, among other things, will be keenly watching what India will have to say in the world body.
For India, this has been a critically important year so far. It has weathered many diplomatic storms and redefined the war against terrorism, making the world aware of the disastrous consequences that cross-border terrorism entails.
Kashmir , as Jammu and Kashmir is popularly referred to in the world , was enjoying fresh air of spring and its environs were filled with tourists from all across the Indian cities and towns, enjoying the beauty and relishing moments of joy , when all of a sudden it came to an end . Terrorists from Pakistan showered bullets on tourists after having verified their religious identity. This jolted the Valley and the rest of the country.
The April 22nd massacre, now known as Pahalgam terror attack, woke the country to the attempts to revive the dark old past of the place when terrorism defined it with 24×7 bombs, bullets and explosions. The massacres were common, and there were no arrangements in place to punish the perpetrators and their backers except for the military action against them. Security forces were alive to the situation and they did what they were expected to. But that was within a restricted environment where the human rights of terrorists mattered more than the safety of the people. The victims were put aside. They had no vice, nor were it heard .There were occasional statements empathizing with the victims and nothing more. The world leaders who spoke regularly at the UNGA also never highlighted the plight of the victims and would often suggest, through their diplomatic channels, that India needs to sit with Pakistan and Kashmiris and resolve the issue, some would say, “dispute” as per wishes and aspirations of the people.
This historical background is necessary to underscore the double-standards that the international community applied, hesitant to accept the horrific nature of cross-border terrorism in India, while they would declare war on terrorism after they were hit by the acts of terror. 9/11 and what happened thereafter is a striking example of this duality.
Within days after the April 22nd terror attack in Pahalgam , India took punitive action against Pakistan , the neighboring country that had sponsored the attacks and defended it as a result of the” frustrated youth of Kashmir. The punitive action, launched under Operation Sindoor (vermilion) to avenge the loss of lives of men in Pahalgam . Sindoor symbolizes that Hindu women are married and their husbands alive.
This Indian military action, essentially directed at the terrorist infrastructure and factories in Pakistan and Pakistan occupied Kashmir, was responded by Pakistan by firing on the civilian areas and targeting the military establishments. This fresh wave of aggression by Pakistan symbolized two things – first it took this as an onslaught on Pakistan’s sovereignty and integrity, second it was to deny the reality that it was exporter of terrorists to India.
The Pakistani aggression made India to respond in kind, resulting in an 87-hour high intensity war, finally showing Pakistan its place as it beseeched for ceasefire. India granted that request.
It is time for India to put the record straight before the world at UNGA. This is obligatory as Pakistan has not changed its ways. It continues to oil its terror machinery. Though it knows what consequences another act of terror will entail from India, but it thinks that it can get away because of its changed equations with the US and increased support from China
India needs to reassert its position of zero-tolerance of terrorism in all senses of the word as also that let third countries watch the things and never attempt to intervene in its matters. The war against terrorism is not a country-specific, it involves the entire world, and those who claimed that they brokered ceasefire, should be asked to look back at their backyard. 9/11 continues to rattle them as they have not exacted their revenge; rather it is complete, because the country – Pakistan – that partnered in 9/11 has not been punished as yet.
