ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday urged the world to stop India from disturbing the region’s peace.

“The international community must act before India’s reckless moves jeopardize peace & security in South Asia,” PM Khan tweeted as he again warned of Indian attempts to execute a ‘false flag operation’ in occupied Kashmir, which can then be used for targeting Pakistan.

Mr Khan’s tweets came in the midst of regular trickle of allegations from India about attempts to infiltrate the Line of Control from the so-called ‘launch pads’ in Azad Jammu and Kashmir. Besides several media stories containing these allegations, which were attributed to unnamed ‘security sources’, Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Army Chief Gen M.M. Naravane and other senior officials have also levelled accusations against Pakistan.

The Foreign Office and senior military officials have categorically rejected these Indian allegations, terming them baseless.

Last week, Pakistan had asked the United Nations to seek proofs from India about the alleged ‘launch pads’ near the Line of Control (LoC) and offered full cooperation to UN military observers for probing Indian accusations.

Pakistan believes that intensification of violations of LoC and infiltration allegations were meant to distract the world attention from the aggravating situation in occupied Kashmir, where occupation forces have continued with ‘cordon and search operations’ and other heavy-handed actions. Twenty-nine Kashmiris were martyred last month by occupation forces in the valley and several others lost their lives because of excessive use of force by troops there since the start of this month.

Senior Kashmiri commander Riyaz Naikoo and four other fighters were martyred in Pulwama in the early hours of Wednesday morning. Naikoo was seen as a successor to Burhan Wani, who was martyred in July 2016.

Indian occupation forces have been particularly unnerved by two incidents in Handwara, in the north of the valley, over the past few days in which about eight Indian security officials were killed.

“The recent incidents in IOJ&K are reflective of the inescapable reality that India’s brutal campaign of violence and repression is meeting its logical consequences. Attributing this indigenous Kashmiri resistance to any alleged ‘infiltration’ is a travesty,” the FO had earlier said.

“India’s typical allegations of ‘infiltration’ ring hollow also because all these incidents have taken place deep inside the valley, several miles behind Indian military’s extensive infiltration grid, comprising several layers of security,” it added.

In his tweets, PM Khan, too, emphasised the “indigenous” character of the Kashmiri resistance and said that it was the outcome of “India’s oppression & brutalisation of Kashmiris. The fascist policies of the RSS-BJP combine are fraught with serious risks”.

Meanwhile, ISI Director General Lt Gen Faiz Hamid met Prime Minister Khan, the PM Office said in a statement. “Matters pertaining to national security were discussed during the meeting,” it added.

Published in Dawn, May 7th, 2020