India’s Modi goaded Pakistan in deliberate yet risky move
NEW DELHI/ISLAMABAD, (Reuters) - When Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met top aides to prepare last week’s annual Independence Day address, some senior bureaucrats warned him against mentioning Baluchistan, arch-rival Pakistan’s restive southwestern province.
Referring to Baluchistan in such a prominent speech would be a highly unusual move bound to ratchet up tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours more used to trading barbs over Kashmir, the cause of two of their three wars.
According to a senior official at the meeting in early August, the more hawkish politicians in the room, angered by what they saw as Pakistan’s recent troublemaking in Kashmir, thought differently, and so did Modi.
By siding with the hawks, and including Baluchistan in his address, Modi signalled a more muscular approach towards Pakistan.
That dims prospects of bringing the bitter rivals closer together to reduce economic pain and the risk of more violence, an issue that will be high on U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s agenda when he lands in New Delhi on Monday for a three-day visit.
“The bureaucrats suggested that talking about Baluchistan is a good idea but may be the Independence Day speech was not a good platform for it,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the meeting’s sensitivity.
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar “rejected these ideas”, while Home Minister Rajnath Singh “supported him (Parrikar) by saying we should do everything to silence Pakistan”, this official said.
India’s Ministry for External Affairs declined to comment on the debate about Modi’s speech. His office, and the defence and home ministries, did not respond to requests for comment.
Speaking from the ramparts of the 17th-century Red Fort in Old Delhi on Aug. 15, Modi thanked the Baluch people for their support after a number of separatist leaders published videos praising him for acknowledging their cause previously.
He also lashed out at supporters of “terrorism”, in a more familiar broadside against India’s old foe. CROSSING THE RED LINE Pakistan has seized on Modi’s speech as evidence that India has a hand in a decades-long Baluch separatist campaign, in which insurgents in the resourcerich yet impoverished region have launched sporadic attacks and demanded independence. India denies the charge.
A senior foreign ministry official in Islamabad said Modi had “crossed the red line”.
Indian officials said Modi’s speech was designed to remind the world about alleged human rights abuses by Pakistani forces in Baluchistan, just as Pakistan accuses India of abusing civilians in the disputed region of Kashmir during recent unrest.
But outside Modi’s entourage, questions are being asked about what strategic reward, if any, India can hope to gain by raising the geopolitical stakes.
“Politically, it’s much less useful in terms of Pakistan using this as evidence of Indian meddling. It gives them ammunition,” said Daniel Markey, a South Asia expert at Johns Hopkins University in Washington, referring to Modi’s mention of Baluchistan. But he added: “There is a strategic utility in looking a little unhinged, in sending that message.”
A New Delhi-based diplomat from a major power with traditionally close ties to India said it will only escalate tension.
DETERIORATING RELATIONS
Relations between India and Pakistan have deteriorated since the killing of a separatist leader in Indian-ruled Kashmir on July 8 sparked the worst violence in the disputed territory in six years.
At least 66 protesters and two security personnel have been killed and thousands wounded on both sides, according to official state figures.