Following the abrogation of Article 370, Pakistan is desperately trying to instigate violence in Kashmir in order to mislead the world community.
By Imran Mehraj
Post abrogation of Article 370 and bifurcation of erstwhile J&K state into two union territories, the centre and the local government has been handling the situation in Kashmir with renewed strategies and policies. The international ramifications in the wake of the historical decision were addressed by employing extensive diplomatic efforts. At the same time, Pakistan’s proxy war in Kashmir has undergone a complete paradigm shift.
Apart from carrying out killings, Pakistan has been running propaganda war against India at various fronts. The country has launched a full-fledged information war on social media, especially on Twitter, as it continues to peddle lies and disseminate provocative content through fake social media accounts. In order to evade FATF (The Financial Action Task Force) blacklisting, Pakistan has made a tactical shift in machinery of terror. While the country claims that it has been successful in banning terror organizations like LeT, JeM and other proxy organisations, the emergence of ‘The Resistance Front’ (TRF) questions theses hollow claims made by the Pakistan. The modus operandi – killing of local political workers, policemen and other government officials – of TRF provides enough evidences to suggest that the terror outfit is being used by Pakistan to further its agenda of terrorizing political workers in Kashmir. Recently, the brutal killing of a local Sarpanch namely Ajay Pandita and a political worker Waseem Bari was a case in point.
Following the abrogation of Article 370, Pakistan is desperately trying to instigate violence in Kashmir in order to mislead the world community. Given the record elimination of terrorists and decrease in local terrorist recruitment, Pakistan is planning for another wave of violence in Kashmir by trying hard to push foreign terrorists into Kashmir. The foreign terrorists have adopted a new strategy, which has been crafted by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), of trying to infiltrate into Kashmir. Those who succeed to infiltrate are disguising themselves as non-local labourers. As per the intelligence reports, some of them even do manual work in the orchards of south Kashmir and some work as construction labourers. According to the intelligence reports, a group of terrorists had recently infiltrated into south Kashmir and were in constant touch with handlers across border. The group was sent to Kashmir to carry out a big terror attack that would obstruct the anti-terrorist operations in Kashmir, especially in district Shopian. They were eliminated by army’s 62 RR in the wee hours of 17 July, 2020 in the orchards of Check Mirzapora area of Shopian. This was a group of 4-5 militants and it is believed that two terrorists have escaped from the encounter site leaving behind incriminate material and devices used in making the IEDs. Some Pak based twitter handles claimed that the eliminated terrorists were non-local labourers from Bihar and UP. This was done to vitiate the atmosphere in Kashmir and create a false discourse about the encounter.
From terrorism and propaganda war to indoctrination of Kashmiri youth, India has been showing the world the facts on how the Pakistan is running its machinery of terror in Kashmir. The international community should take a strong note of these facts and hold Pakistan accountable for committing acts of terrorism on foreign soil.
(Author is Student of Political Science, he tweets at @ImranMehraj2)
