My Opinion

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s ‘khoon ki dalali’ remark about Prime Minister Narendra Modi has had three effects: one, this has embarrassed his party because normally senior Congress leaders never use such language on issues pertaining to national interest; two, Rahul Gandhi has given Pakistan a good handle to embarrass India because Pakistani channels will show what the senior Congress leader has said about the surgical strikes and Indian army; and, three, he has indirectly reminded people of how his mother Sonia Gandhi had made the ‘maut ke saudagar’ remark for Narendra Modi several years ago. On the other hand, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has replied to all doubts raised by the leaders of Pakistan, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal and some Congress leaders on surgical strikes. Parrikar said he could show video proof of surgical strikes, but where is the guarantee that such Doubting Thomases would question the veracity of that video itself? I think, this controversy shoud now end here, our leader should stop giving a handle to Pakistan, and the nation should accept the Defence Minister’s assurance that if Pakistan indulged in more nefarious activities, our army can go in for a surgical strike again.

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif did not tell his National Assembly why his country has become a hub for exporting terrorism, why his country runs factories that churn out terrorists, why terror masterminds like Hafiz Saeed and Masood Azhar openly move around and then plan and threaten fidayeen strikes against India. The question now is: whether there is now any chance of friendship between India and Pakistan under these circumstances. It seems author Tarek Fatah was right when he said Nawaz Sharif is afraid of his Army Chief Gen Raheel Sharif. Tarek Fatah had also said that Hafiz Saeed is the real Prime Minister and Syed Salahuddin is the real Defence Minister of Pakistan. It appears that Nawaz Sharif has spurned the hand of friendship offered by Prime Minister Narendra Modi because of this reason. Modi never imagined Nawaz Sharif would change to such an extent, and probably Nawaz Sharif, too, never imagined Modi would respond to the Uri attack in this manner. No country in the world now believes Pakistan. The present situation has been created by Pakistan itself over the years. It used to take money from the US to fight terror, even while its army was hiding Osama bin Laden, it projected itself as a friend of Afghanistan, but it was simultaneously sheltering and supporting the Taliban, it speaks of friendship with India, but has stabbed its neighbour several times in the back. The entire international community now understands the real face of Pakistan.

Two Srinagar youths interviewed by India TV have exposed the hollow claims being made by separatist leaders in Kashmir.

Five points emerge from the interviews of these two young men – one, Hurriyat leaders are playing with the fate of young Kashmiris for their own petty interests, two – Hurriyat leaders do not want peace in the valley and want young men to be killed by security forces, three – terrorists are attacking security forces in Kashmir by using young protesters as human shields, four – the common Kashmiri youths has no interest in waving the Pakistani flag but Hurriyat activists are coercing youngsters to do so, and five- people in the Valley are suffering financially as their earnings have completely dried up in the last three months because of the continued general strike and protests.

And yet the Hurriyat leaders continue to give calls for bandhs because it suits the interests of their political masters. Both the youths have given a valuable suggestion – if the government provides them jobs and guaranteed work, the separatist leaders will soon have to shut shop.

With both the National Security Advisers of India and Pakistan contacting each other, Pakistan’s reported offer for talks is an exercise in deception. Pakistan is offering talks under pressure from the US, while on the ground level, it’s the Jamaat ud Dawah chief Hafiz Saeed who is calling the shots. Post-surgical strikes by India, the Pakistan army now appears to be desperate. It has violated the LoC ceasefire at least four times in the last 48 hours, and has tried to send infiltrators twice. But each time, Pakistan army’s efforts were foiled by our valiant jawans. Our armed forces are on high alert and ready to defend our territory. On the other hand, the Pakistan army is trying to stage manage shows on its side of LoC by conducting guided tour for the media. The versions of Pakistani army officers on surgical strikes are in conflict with the versions of local villagers. Even the international media is skeptical about Pakistan’s claims. It was not for nothing that Tarek Fatah told me in Aap Ki Adalat show that the Pakistan army generals are liars and their nuclear missiles contain nothing but ‘faluda’.