South Asia’s hostility festered into another nasty round of allegations as India Monday threatened Pakistan with breaking up the country into 10 parts in a repeat of the 1971 dismemberment.
Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh raked up the 1971 scenario- when Pakistan was split into two halves with the birth of Bangladesh – and issued a stern warning.
Blaming Pakistan for fomenting terrorism, Singh warned of ‘splintering it into 10 parts if it does not mend ways.’
Prime Minister Narendra Mondi’s New Delhi has been following a hawkish line on Pakistan in what is seen in Islamabad as an apparent to obfuscate the real cause of tension – the Kashmir dispute – which hurts peace search as well as inflames militancy in the region.
Since July – when a spontaneous protest demonstration broke out in Indian-controlled Kashmir – New Delhi’s security forces have clamped down on the territory, used pellet guns against thousands of unarmed civilians and mounted a campaign to hold Pakistan responsible for the uprising.
Indian BJP leaders including National Security Adviser Ajit Doval have openly threatened Pakistan with unrest in Balochistan – a key strategic region to serve as China Pakistan Economic Corridor.
Reacting to Rajnath’s threat, Pakistan’s interior minister Chaudhary Nisar Ali Khan has said the Indian dream of splitting Pakistan into several geographical entities will never be realized.
“Bharatiya Janata Party’s (the ruling party in India) dream of splitting Pakistan is nothing but a fallacy,” Nisar said.
Pakistan’s minister slammed the eighboring arch-foe for ruthlessly spilling blood of innocent Kashmiris in occupied Jammu and Kashmir. “Oppressing masses in Kashmir is part of the Indian government’s policy,” he added.
He said New Delhi has been openly interfering in Balochistan and other parts of Pakistan.
“We wish peace in the region, however, will not accept Indian hegemony,” he asserted.
In Washington, Pakistan’s visiting envoy Tariq Fatemi raised the issue of Indian aggression along the Kashmir Line of Control with US National Security Adviser Susan Rice.
The United States has been urging the two countries to hold direct talks while the United Nations has offered to mediate between the two nuclear powers, provided both capitals agree to such a diplomatic drive.
President-elect Donald Trump has also offered to help resolve the disputes between Pakistan and India if the two countries so desired.
