ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has warned the international community that escalating protests in India against citizenship law have heightened threat of a military misstep by Delhi against Pakistan.

“As these protests are increasing; threat to Pak from India is also increasing,” Mr Khan said in a tweet on Saturday.

Referring to Indian army chief Gen Bipin Rawat’s statement in which he had warned of expected escalation at the Line of Control (LoC), the premier said it strengthened Pakistan’s concerns.

While Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi had earlier in the week voiced similar fears, Mr Khan’s statement on the social media indicates that those suspicions have now been expressed from the highest level in Pakistan.

Imran says growing protests against BJP govt over citizenship law have heightened the threat from India

Agitation against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), 2019 and National Register of Citizens (NRC) has been roiling India since Dec 4. Student organisations, human rights activists, opposition parties and citizen groups participating in these demonstrations fear increased discrimination on the basis of religion following the enactment of CAA. These protests intensified after police brutalities against the students holding a demonstration at Jamia Millia Islamia in Delhi on Dec 15. The violent protests have turned deadly and so far 19 people have lost their lives.

Internet and text messaging services have also been suspended in the areas affected by the protests and curbs have been placed on media outlets stopping them from broadcasting material that could further inflame the situation.

“Over the last 5 years of Modi’s govt, India has been moving towards Hindu Rashtra with its Hindutva Supremacist fascist ideology. Now with the Citizens Amendment Act, all those Indians who want a pluralist India are beginning to protest and it is becoming a mass movement,” the prime minister observed.

Pakistan’s official position on the controversial legislation has been that it is in violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international Covenants on elimination of all forms of discrimination based on religion or belief in addition to contravening various Pak-India bilateral agreements relating to security and rights of minorities in the respective countries.

It is feared that India may seek to divert the mounting internal pressure over CAA, NRC and similar anti-minorities steps by playing up Hindu nationalist sentiments and initiating hostilities against Pakistan after staging a false flag operation.

Foreign Minister Qureshi had a few days back disclosed that Pakistani intelligence had “picked signals and noticed extraordinary movements” revealing India’s malicious designs. In his recent letter to the president of United Nations Security Council, the foreign minister had emphasised that over 3,000 ceasefire violations (by India); partial removal of the fence on the LoC (by India) in five sectors; deployment of Brahmos Missile, anti-tank guided missiles and Spike missiles; and conduct of numerous missile tests since August 2019 constituted threat to peace and security.

PM Khan said: “I have been warning the international community of this for some time and I am reiterating again: if India does such an operation to divert attention from its domestic chaos plus whip up war hysteria to mobilise Hindu nationalism, Pak will have no option but to give a befitting response.”

Statements from Pakistani officials and leaders this week have repeatedly reminded India of the Balakot stand-off in which Indian strikes on targets in Pakistan were met with a robust response from Pakistani armed forces. India in the process lost two fighter jets and one of the pilots, Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, was captured. The pilot was, however, set free a few days later to prevent the situation from escalating further.

Meanwhile, the continuing crackdown in Occupied Kashmir, which was annexed by India on Aug 5 and has since then been under a lockdown, is also of concern for Pakistan. The lockdown in the Valley, which is now over 140 days old, is aggravating the humanitarian situation there because of shortage of medicines and other essential commodities.

Mr Khan said: “The siege by Indian Occupation forces in IOJK continues and a bloodbath can be expected when it is lifted”.

Published in Dawn, December 22nd, 2019