New reports suggest Indian PM Narendra Modi and his BJP are laying the groundwork for another false-flag operation against Pakistan, hoping to recreate the electoral success that followed the Pulwama attack in 2019. Recent weeks have increased media reporting about Indian soldiers and other security officials killed while enforcing New Delhi’s illegal regime in Occupied Kashmir. But local sources say no such violent incidents have occurred.
The move makes perfect sense for the unscrupulous and authoritarian BJP regime. While India’s economy is progressing at a healthy rate, many experts feel the decisions of the Modi government are actually holding India back, rather than encouraging economic growth. A major reason for this is Modi’s relative success in turning India into a dictionary example of crony capitalism, with a handful of friendly businessmen hoarding all the wealth and avoiding prosecution for fraud on a global scale. His authoritarian tendencies have many concerned that the end game is doing away with democratic structures using violence and propaganda to rile up and expand his Hindu extremist support base, even if it means damaging his own country by creating civil unrest, which reduces investment and economic activity.
Satya Pal Malik, a BJP leader who was the Modi-appointed governor of IIOJK at the time of the Pulwama attack, recently said on record that Modi and his team admitted in private that their incompetence allowed the Pulwama attack to occur, and that despite a lack of evidence tying Islamabad to the attack, all efforts would be made to blame the incident on Pakistan as this would have electoral benefits. Malik also said Modi did not care about justice for the soldiers killed, which is more descriptive of a sociopath than a national leader.
But the Indian media is so deep in Modi’s pocket that some channels are airing four-year-old speeches as “live”, and others are not even willing to question why he would take credit for bringing peace to IIOJK hours after his own government claimed several soldiers were killed by a ragtag group of freedom fighters.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 19th, 2023.
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