A suicide car bomber rammed into a bus belonging to the Indian police in Kashmir on Thursday, killing at least 44 people. This is the deadliest attack in Kashmir in decades.
This is the latest in a growing number of attacks by militants against
Indian forces in Kashmir. The Jaish-e Mohammed (JeM), a Pakistan-based
group, has claimed credit for this attack. Pakistan’s government denied
involvement.
This attack on the main highway through Jammu and Kashmir was a huge
explosion, heard several miles away. Journalists reported body parts and
blood scattered for 100 meters along the highway around the attack.
Indian officials expressed anger at the attack and blamed the Pakistani
government, demanding they do something to JeM. The US also issued a
statement condemning Pakistan, and demanding the halt all support for
terrorists.
Back in 2013, a year before Modi had taken power, I had written a long story (available online) called Armageddon: The India Pakistan War Of 2019. In it I had said that in early 2019, Modi would be mired in a corruption scandal, faced by a uniting opposition, and likely to be defeated in the next election. Then there would be a bomb blast, in response to which certain media outlets and people would demand a war with Pakistan. Modi would seize on these demands as an opportunity to start a “short victorious” war, hoping to get it “won” in a couple of days and win the election. The war goes nuclear when Pakistan destroys Indian armoured divisions with tactical nuclear weapons, India retaliates, Pakistan does the same, and ends with the virtual destruction of both countries.
Today, in early 2019, Modi is mired in a corruption scandal, is faced with a uniting opposition, will lose the next election, and there has been a bomb blast. The usual suspects are already screaming for a war.
Apparently, my 2013 story is a situation some people are actually pining for.
By the way, Modi’s famous alleged “surgical strike” on Pakistan in 2016, which almost certainly never happened, hasn’t seemed to have achieved much, has it?
According to the Indian CRPF authorities, they had been tipped off that a suicide car bomb attack would be attempted, but they didn’t have a “feasible way” of preventing it. Maybe they could have asked Damascus how to deal with the problem. Or maybe it was more politically convenient to just let it happen.
The people of Kashmir have the right to decide their future.
Isn’t it strange that on Kashmir, the one and only thing India and Pakistan are in full agreement on is that Kashmiris cannot be permitted a choice? India claims all Kashmiris are Indians, even those whom the modern Indian state has never ruled over, since by the time the king of Kashmir provisionally signed over the state those parts were already occupied by Pakistan. Pakistan pretends Kashmir is an “independent country” (Azad Kashmir) yet occupies part of it militarily while having absorbed the rest (Gilgit and Baltistan) into Pakistan and even ceded territory from it to China. Both sides are united in saying in any case that regardless of what Kashmiri people want an independent Kashmir is not permissible; in 1948 India agreed to hold a plebiscite (which it did not hold because it would lose) in which the only two options Kashmiri people would have would be India or Pakistan. Independence was ruled out. In 1972 Pakistan agreed to divide the state between the two countries at the Shimla conference (again something never carried out), ruling out Kashmiri independence.
As an Indian who has written a book on Kashmir, I have no idea why we persist in this position. Both India and Pakistan would benefit by getting rid of Kashmir; it would stop a huge financial drain and military liability on both sides, and remove the worst hurdle in bilateral relations.
Oh, wait, that’s the point, isn’t it. We need a quarrel to distract the masses.
An other drama of Killing Her Own People at Certain Special Times by Criminal War Monger Terrorist India as per Her Previous Records show, Killing of Sikh at ChakiWada before Clintonès India Tour, Taj Mahal Hotel then Hanging the Person Saying BHAGWAN MUJAY MAAF NAHI KARAY GA, Plane Hijacking by RAW Agents Hasim & Qasim in 1971 thus Blocking PIA Flights Over India and through Intrigue Creating Bangla Desh, Destroying Indian High Commissioner Office by Himself (Indian High Commissioner) and Lodging FIR against A Sikh Young Man in Canada during 1980s, also Destroying AIR INDIA FLIGHT that Killed 329 Indians; Through RAW AGENTS, Book SOFT TARGET by Indian Zuhair Kashmiri and his Canadian Journalist Friend. Dear Sir, List goes on and on for Crimes of Criminal War Monger Terrorist India. But according to Indian Chankia Policy, India will Always Blame Pakistan.
You’re right, India should certainly not have helped create Bangladesh. All it did was remove the economic millstone and demographic nightmare that would have sunk Pakistan long before this, and converted a liability for Pakistan into a liability for India. India got nothing out of it and did the radical surgery Pakistan desperately needed but could not admit.