Who benefits from the escalating tension between India and Pakistan?
On September 29, 2016, at a joint Press Conference by the Army and the External Affairs Ministry in New Delhi, the spokesperson of the army announced: “Based on very credible and specific information which we received yesterday that some terrorist teams had positioned themselves at launch pads along the Line of Control with an aim to carry out infiltration and terrorist strikes in Jammu & Kashmir and in various other metros in our country, the Indian army conducted surgical strikes last night at these launch pads.”
Immediately, the monopoly controlled electronic media went into overdrive, whipping up frenzy and anti Pakistan hysteria, and beating the drums of war. Tens of thousands of villagers living in border villages were forcibly evacuated to the interior. Senior ministers of the government threatened to drop the nuclear bomb on Pakistan. A joint meeting of the Government and the leaders of the parliamentary opposition was convened which applauded the army action.
Since September 29, there has been intense cross border firing along the Line of Control that divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan. Each side has accused the other of being responsible for cease fire violations.
Officially, the Indian government has not declared war against Pakistan. According to the government’s logic, it has only carried out “pre emptive strikes” against alleged terrorist camps in Pakistan from where it was expecting terrorist attacks to be launched.
The government of Pakistan has denied that any surgical strikes took place. It has declared that its Armed forces will defend the sovereignty of Pakistan if any such attacks take place. The government of India has decided not to reveal any evidence of these strikes. At the same time, it has deliberately organized leaks through the monopoly controlled media and permitted all kinds of video clips to be aired by television channels to whip up chauvinist frenzy. It has also declared that it will carry out more such strikes in the future if there are any more terrorist attacks in India.
Spokespersons of the Congress Party, meanwhile, have announced that the UPA government had carried out several “surgical strikes” in the past, without publicizing it. While such strikes in each other’s territory, in violation of each other’s sovereignty, has occurred many times in the past, this is the first time that the Indian State is openly boasting that it has done so. For the moment, the two governments have refrained from going to war with each other. However, there is very real danger of the two countries getting embroiled in a full-fledged war.
According to the government, the surgical strikes were carried out as retaliation for the death of 19 soldiers of the Indian Army in an Army camp in Uri, Jammu & Kashmir on September 18, 2016. Even before investigations into the Uri incident had begun, the government blamed it on terrorists who had infiltrated from Pakistan. Prime Minister Modi and his ministerial colleagues repeatedly swore vengeance. The government initiated a public debate on the measures it should take to attack Pakistan. The measures proposed included “surgical strikes”, depriving the people of that country of their share of the waters of the Indus, and stepping up India’s intervention in Baluchistan.
Immediately following the Uri attack, it is reported that the National Security Advisor, Ajit Doval was “warned” by his US counterpart, Susan Rice, that there could be another major attack in ten days. Just hours before launching the “surgical strike”, on the night of September 28, Ajit Doval spoke with Susan Rice. It can be safely concluded that the two discussed the “surgical strikes” that was being planned by the Indian government. This conversation was immediately followed by a statement from the US condemning the terrorist attack on the Uri camp, and calling upon Pakistan to take action against terrorists in its territory. It is clear that the “surgical strikes” carried out by the Indian Army were carried out with the approval and close collaboration of the US. The source of the “credible and specific information” referred to by the spokesperson of the Army which prompted the “pre-emptive strike” must be none other than the US!
Who organized the Uri attack? To answer this question, it is necessary to understand who benefits from it.
The Uri attack must be seen in the context of a three month long upsurge in the Kashmir Valley in which lakhs of men and women have been coming onto the streets, defying brutal state repression unleashed by the army and paramilitary forces. They have expressed their complete opposition to the savage rule of the armed forces and asserted their right to self-determination. People of our country have been increasingly questioning the propaganda of the government that the struggle of the people was “Pakistan instigated”. In such a situation, the Uri attack has served the Indian state to divert attention from the raging struggle of the Kashmiri people, and the savage state repression unleashed there.
All the parliamentary parties are one with the government in declaring the hand of Pakistan and its intelligence agencies behind this attack. The question arises, how does Pakistan benefit from it? Pakistan was raising the issue of state repression and violation of human rights in Kashmir in international fora in its own narrow interests, in the same way as the Modi government is raising the issue of violation of human rights of the people of Baluchistan. The Uri attack, far from benefiting Pakistan, has made Pakistan the target of attacks as a “sponsor of terrorism”.
It is important for the people of our country to understand that while many capitalist states including India and Pakistan organize covert terrorist attacks both within their countries and other countries to advance their interests, it is US imperialism that is the biggest sponsor of terrorism world over as well as in this region. Its intelligence agencies have infiltrated deeply into the Pakistani state as well as society and set up numerous terrorist groups in that country. These terrorist groups are set in motion from time to time, to implement the US agenda in various countries. Circumstantial evidence points to the hidden hand of the US imperialist behind many terrorist attacks in India, Pakistan as well as other countries.
The development of events highlights the close coordination between the Indian state and the US in intelligence and “counter-terrorism” operations. This increasingly close collaboration is extremely dangerous for our country. It has allowed the US to infiltrate ever deeper into the Indian state and society.
The US intelligence agencies are known to be experts in using a variety of methods to advance US interests in different regions of the globe. These include organizing terrorist acts through the medium of one of the numerous terrorist groups set up, trained, and armed by these agencies. It was the US which set up the Al Qaida and other terrorist groups with bases in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and other countries to carry out its agenda in Afghanistan, Syria, Checheniya and elsewhere. It is known that the US intelligence agencies set up the ISIS as part of the plan to redraw the map of West Asia. The US intelligence agencies routinely ensure that many of their operations remain covert. They hide their hand and instead plant evidence that points fingers somewhere else.
The escalating tension between India and Pakistan is not in the interest of the people of the two countries. It is not in the interests of the people of the region. It is important for the people to understand that it is foreign powers, especially US imperialism at this time, who benefit from the present state of “no war— no peace” between our two countries.
British imperialism organized the bloody partition of India on communal lines nearly 70 years ago creating two states, India and Pakistan, which would be perpetually hostile to one another, work to weaken each other. In this way, it ensured that the imperialist domination over South Asia would continue. It is in the interests of the peoples of India and Pakistan to overcome this bitter legacy.
The US is deliberately playing India and Pakistan against each other. It suits the US that India and Pakistan are perpetually in a state of “no war – no peace”. After deliberately bringing the two countries to the brink of war, it preaches “peace”. This is what it is doing at the present time too. This suits its strategy for domination over South Asia, and it is integral to its Pivot to Asia policy through which it wants to exercise domination over the whole of Asia. It does not want Asian countries to overcome their differences and jointly oppose its imperialist strategy. Keeping India and Pakistan perpetually at loggerheads is an essential component of this strategy.
Every now and then, the governments of the two countries begin the process of engagement with each other. However, with clockwork precision, terrorist attacks are organized in India, and the ruling class of India uses these attacks to whip up chauvinist hysteria against Pakistan.
It is in the interests of the people of the two countries to establish relations of lasting peace. This demands the resolution of the Kashmir problem respecting the right of the Kashmiri people to self determination. It demands resolution of other outstanding problems between the two countries.
Our enemy is not Pakistan or its people, as promoted by the ruling class and its media. Anglo-American imperialism is the source of disunity and discord in this region. The problem is aggravated by the Indian big bourgeoisie and its collaboration with these big powers to advance its own imperialist aims.
The peoples of India and Pakistan need to unite against US imperialism and its plans to dominate Asia. The people of India must oppose the growing Indo-US strategic alliance and cooperation in military, intelligence and “counter-terrorism” operations.
The ruling class of our country and its political parties cannot be expected to overcome this legacy of partition and work for lasting peace. Life experience confirms this. Whipping up chauvinism and war hysteria against Pakistan serves the aim of diverting and disrupting all opposition to the anti-people course of the Indian ruling class.
While acting like an imperialist power and endangering the cause of peace in this region, the rulers of our country claim to be defending “national unity and territorial integrity”. This slogan has been repeatedly used by the Indian bourgeoisie, both to crush the resistance struggles of workers and peasants, as well as to put down opposition within its own ranks.
By treating just struggles for national and human rights in Kashmir as a Pakistan-inspired security threat, our rulers are endangering the unity and solidarity of the diverse peoples who are part of this union. They are increasing the vulnerability of this and other unresolved problems being manipulated by external powers including the US. Thus, it is the ruling big bourgeoisie which is endangering the sovereignty of India.
Communist Ghadar Party calls upon all communists and all peace-loving and patriotic Indians to unitedly oppose the whipping up of chauvinist anti Pakistan war hysteria and the growing collaboration of India with the US in so-called counter-terrorism operations.