And Pop Goes The Weasel! Is Kashmir A Mere Bait for The Rising Central Asian Dominion?

It’s no secret now that Indian PM Modi has recently convened a cagey meeting to discuss the Kashmir issues with the regional parties in New Delhi. A hush-hush rumor has it that the Center may reinstate the Statehood of the erstwhile Union Territory that was nixed by the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5, 2019. Which was followed by the incarcerations and house arrests of several distinct party leaders of Kashmir and a ban on 4G internet services.

But what triggered such an enormous pull in by the Modi government from its previous stance and ‘bold’ initiatives? Many would assume it is the cumulative effect of a series of massive policy failures, right from demonetization to the recent covid fiasco. But well, the answer can be safely presumed to be the rising powers of Asia, specifically those in the northern central hemisphere, the likes of Iran and Pakistan, along with the tacit superpower China.

Albeit, truth be told there’s also an immense international pressure building up especially after the West Bengal elections, which as experts believe, paved the way for the second wave of corona that witnessed a total collapse of the healthcare system and overwhelming loss of life. There’s an ever-growing dissonance amongst the supporters of Modi in India now, the same people who earlier saw him as a savior and avenger of their religion and motherland.

It should, however, be noted that ever since the UAE brokered detente between the two arch-nemesis came to pass, India and Pakistan have been covertly negotiating peace roadmaps to patch the differences. But are differences the reason alone behind this venture? Hardly!

China has kept India on tenterhooks with aggressive ingression into her territory and completely isolated the country within the region, or what used to be India’s power dominion. India stands on the tough ground with the current economic meltdown with no choice but to accept the scathing defeat whilst moving ahead to save whatever’s left of her past glory.

The Pakistan anomaly

While PM Imran Khan of Pakistan has tenaciously voiced his concerns over the situation in Kashmir, the Biden administration too has been critical of the Modi government ever since Joe Biden assumed the Oval Office. But one would still wonder why an Arab country would jump right into this issue, what does UAE stand to gain? We all know UAE has normalized its relations with Israel recently and a pernicious bromance has bloomed between the two nations. So much so, that the UAE doesn’t say a word against the Israeli occupational onslaught in Gaza.

And to top it all, UAE is desperate to please its ally, hence, it facilitated the truce between India and Pakistan, forcing India to retract its Kashmir policy by retaining the former status quo of the occupied territory. But why make Pakistan happy? That’s where the real deal starts to unfold. Pakistan is the only Muslim nuclear power in the region and while Israel has had it all very convenient up until now, there’s still an imminent threat from Pakistan to the Zionist nation’s security. The recent tensions in Sheikh Jarrah and a subsequent bombardment of innocent civilians in Palestine have gained Israel’s global ignominy and brought about a serious implication of Pakistan leading other Muslim nations alongside Iran to attack.

For Israel’s secure future, the West and its allies must ensure that Pakistan is denuclearized. And to achieve it, the restoration of the statehood of Kashmir is of paramount significance. This would buy Modi some time to recover from the current mess and provide an opportunity to wage war on Pakistan on the pretext of terrorism while remaining in power. This would be similar to the Pulwama attack back in 2019, which resulted in the killing of 40 Indian soldiers, a stunt which is now overwhelmingly concluded as politically motivated or state-orchestrated. This way the West would finally be able to get rid of Pakistan for good but also help Israel achieve its goal of zero threat to its security.

If only both these nations would understand their interdependence on each other for their survival, then they may be able to chalk out a solution and prevent themselves from being manipulated by the West. The age-old policy of the former colonial powers has always been to pit nations against one another, watch them destroy each other, and enjoy their hegemony over them.

The West will never forgive any poor nation (specifically a Muslim country) to stand up for itself and challenge its supremacy. A very recent example is PM Imran Khan’s candid interview with HBO Max, where he gave a very loud and clear message to the US, that Pakistan would not allow any military bases to the American army to wage war on Afghanistan. And its direct impact was seen the very next day when the FATF unjustifiably retained Pakistan on its grey list despite fulfilling 26 out of 27 action items.

The vengeance of the West against developing nations isn’t hidden from the world and it never forsakes any prospect to exploit them, rip them off of their resources, and destroy their economic and political sovereignties. While we may agree that harmony and progress is a matter that is mostly subjective and not objective, as opposed to the world view, yet in all honesty, colonialism was never abolished, slavery persists, communism has been replaced by cruel capitalism and oppression of weak nations is conveniently practiced by the same enlightened West that preaches others about democracy, liberty, and social justice.

So the question remains, will normalcy finally return to Kashmir? Will there be peace between India and Pakistan that is crucial to the South Asian region and their survival and existence? Will there be peace or a solution to the cesspool of humanitarian crises in Palestine? These are some of the questions we can neither stop posing to ourselves nor the International community. That is unless we are sincere in our convictions that human lives in any part of the world deserve to be saved.