Indian army chief ignoring internal problems: Pakistani paper

ISLAMABAD - Indian army chief Gen. V.K. Singh’s terming Pakistan and China as major threats “hides the real danger posed to his country by the on-going open revolts in Indian-administered Kashmir and the northeast”, an editorial in a Pakistani newspaper said Sunday.

“The Indian army chief mentioned the two troubled regions in passing”, said an editorial in the English daily The Nation, adding: “The Indian COAS is again imagining things when he says that Pakistan is supporting terrorist outfits; the truth, however, is that it is fighting them”.

“India, on the other hand, is indulging in state terrorism by using brutal means to suppress the Kashmiri resistance against its illegal occupation of the state,” the paper said. “Besides, Pakistan is busy sorting out certain internal political issues and that obviously is hardly the time for any country to think of engaging in military adventures,” it contended.

Singh had made the remarks while addressing a seminar on “Indian Army: Emergency Roles and Tasks” in New Delhi on Friday.

“Pakistan, the general should know, has not only recognised peaceful credentials, but is also currently engaged in the war on terror foisted on it by the US. And no military strategist worth his name could think of suggesting that it could entertain any intention of attacking another country in a scenario where its fighting resources are heavily committed elsewhere,” the editorial said.

“Both ’state terrorism’ and the ‘indigenous and peaceful nature of the resistance’ are realities that independent foreign observers have brought to world attention. They have even documented the acts of terror - rape of women, disappearance of the youth and their torture and the trigger-happy Indian security forces whom a draconian law absolves from any crime they commit,” it said.

The editorial said the “vibrant freedom struggle, unbowed by death and destruction, should be an eye-opener for New Delhi of what lies ahead for it, unless it listens to saner counsels that point to a way-out through the relevant UN resolutions”.

This would add to India’s stature as a democratic country and strengthen its demand for a permanent seat in the Security Council, if it were to let a free and fair plebiscite be held under UN sponsorship as envisaged in the resolutions, it suggested.

(Awais Saleem can be contacted at ians.pakistan@gmail.com)