REFERENCE Moeed Yusuf’s article ‘Modi’s objective’ (Aug 23). The writer has argued that there is a reason why Indian Prime Minister Modi has surprised everybody, including the Indian intelligentsia, by stirring the pot by talking about Gilgit Baltistan and, in a first, equating Balochistan with Kashmir.

Mr Modi apparently thought that “if there is a serious controversy with Pakistan that extends beyond Kashmir, irks Pakistan and elicits a tit for tat response in a non-Kashmir issue, and links the conversation about terrorism to Pakistan instead of India’s role in Kashmir,” then attention would get diverted and give him precious time to try and pacify Kashmir.

While agreeing with his contention, I would like to add that the recent turn of events in Karachi also seems related to Mr Modi’s planning and he would have known what was going to happen here if he has indeed instigated it beforehand.

In that case, if there occurred an ethnically linked crackdown, he would tell the world: look, there’s the same state sponsored violence against all those peoples the government considers to be anti Pakistan.

Therefore, the civil and military authorities should cater for such possibilities in their strategy, instead of failing for this trap.

Tauhid Ahmed
Karachi

Published in Dawn, August 30th, 2016