ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Army on Saturday dismissed as “routine rhetoric” Indian army chief Gen M.M. Naravane’s statement on plans for large-scale cross-LoC (Line of Control) operation for occupying Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

Military spokesman Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor responded to Gen Naravane’s remarks on Twitter, saying the “statements by Indian COAS to undertake military action across LoC are routine rhetoric for domestic audiences to get out of ongoing internal turmoil”.

Gen Naravane, who recently took over the command of Indian Army, in his first press conference in Delhi said that his troops can occupy Azad Kashmir, if the parliament mandates the army to do so.

“If parliament desires that area to also become our part at some point and if we receive any orders to this effect then action will definitely be taken,” Gen Naravane said while recalling a parliamentary resolution claiming “entire Jammu and Kashmir” to be part of India.

Gen Naravane said his troops can occupy Azad Kashmir if parliament mandates the army to do so

However, he insisted that Indian army would undertake a major cross-LoC operation “should that be the mandate”.

The statement has come in the midst of heightened tensions between India and Pakistan over the latter’s move to annex held Kashmir by revoking the special status enjoyed by it in India’s Constitutional scheme. Moreover, India has recently been roiled by widespread protests against BJP government’s Hindu nationalist agenda, which discriminates against minorities and particularly puts Indian Muslims in a disadvantageous position. The protests were sparked by the enactment of the controversial citizenship law.

Many believe that the Indian government, which is under intense pressure due to the aggravating domestic situation, is desperate to defuse the situation through an external distraction.

Prime Minister Imran Khan has time and again cautioned about the threat to peace from rise of Hindutva likening it to fascism and Hitler’s Nazism. In a tweet on Saturday, the prime minister said: “An extremist ideology RSS has taken over a nuclear-armed country of over a billion people. It is an ideology based on racial superiority & hatred of Muslims & all minorities. Whenever this genie has come out of the bottle, it has always led to bloodshed.”

The Inter-Services Public Relations dismissing such a major threat from the top Indian commander as “routine rhetoric” sounded a bit odd, because the government has over past few months repeatedly warned of India finding an excuse to undertake a military misadventure against Pakistan and that it could even carry out a false flag operation to get a justification for doing so.

The plans to occupy Azad Kashmir are by no means new. India has always nursed this desire. Such calls have intensified following the annexation of Occupied Kashmir. Since then defence minister Rajnath Singh, external affairs minister S. Jaishankar and vice president M. Venkaiah Naidu have all claimed that henceforth talks with Pakistan would be only about Azad Kashmir and not on India-held Kashmir.

In a press conference in September, Jaishankar said: “Our position on PoK (Pakistan Occupied Kashmir — the terminology used by India for Azad Kashmir) has always been and will always be very clear. PoK is part of India and we expect one day that we will have the physical jurisdiction over it.”

The Indian army chief, while talking about the possibility of an operation to occupy Azad Kashmir, said: “We have our forces deployed all across the border, including J&K, and we have various plans, and if required, those plans can be put into action. We will carry out — and carry out successfully — any task that we are tasked to do.”

The military spokesman, meanwhile in his response, said Pakistan’s armed forces are fully prepared to respond to any act of Indian aggression.

Published in Dawn, January 12th, 2020