India, Pakistan and US
The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, has reiterated that the Government will take strong and firm action against terrorism and strict decisive action will be taken against those who support terrorism. The killing of 27 Indian tourists in Kashmir's Pahalgam on April 22 by terrorists from Pakistan on the pretext of asking about their religion has sparked outrage not only in India but across the world. This is the reason why most of the developed and developing countries of the world are supporting India on this issue. After the Pahalgam incident, the first call came to Shri Narendra Modi from US President Donald and later Russian President Mr. Putin also spoke to Shri Modi. Incidentally, when this incident took place in Pahalgam, the Vice President of the United States, Mr. J.D. Singh, was also present. Vance was on a trip to India with his family. It was during his stay in India that a terrorist incident took place in Pahalgam. Obviously, the US does not disagree with the lesson India wants to teach Pakistan in response to Pahalgam.
In the last few days, the US Secretary of State and Defense Minister also had a telephonic conversation with India's Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar and Defense Minister Shri Rajnath Singh. The US Defense Minister clearly told Shri Rajnath Singh that India has every right to protect itself. Due to the support that India is getting from world powers on the diplomatic front, Pakistan is becoming lonely and nervous all over the world. I have been saying from the very beginning that Pakistan is an illegitimate state based on the Hindu-Muslim two-nationalism theory. India never accepted this principle even after its independence and partition. It is not without reason that more Muslims live in India than in Pakistan, and they are staunch patriots. But India has not forgotten the tragedy of partition in 1947. We also find an example of how strong India's Hindu-Muslim unity is in Kashmir. In 1947, when the country was being partitioned and Muhammad Ali Jinnah was creating Pakistan for Muslims, there was not a single communal riot in the Muslim-majority state of Jammu and Kashmir, while such incidents were happening all over India. Seeing this, Mahatma Gandhi had said that when there is darkness in the whole country, a ray of hope has emerged from Kashmir.
The Father of the Nation's remarks about Kashmir are a historical heritage that always sparkles in Kashmir, but in the 1990s, some pro-Pakistan terrorist people forced the exodus of Hindu Pandits from the Kashmir Valley. These Kashmiri Hindus are still preparing to return. But on August 5, 2019, when the Home Minister of the country, Mr. Amit Shah, removed Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir, after that Kashmir started moving towards illumination again. But this was not tolerated by Pakistan's unrelenting army and it continued to engage in terrorist activities in Jammu and Kashmir. India's armed forces fought it fiercely, but on April 22, Pakistan's terrorists crossed all borders and brutally killed 27 people in Pahalgam. India will have to answer this. Therefore, it is not far from reality that the Vice President of the United States, Mr. Vance, should not take such steps against terrorism that will create a crisis of war in the entire region because both India and Pakistan are nuclear powers. But Pakistan's nuclear power is illegal, while India's nuclear power has the legitimacy of the whole world and India's declared policy is that it will never use the nuclear bomb first. These weapons are for its self-defence and India has the legitimate right to defend itself. Therefore, if the world has to be persuaded, then Pakistan has to be persuaded not to move towards terrorism. However, the kind of evidence that India has given to the countries of the world about Pakistan, this whole country is a terrorist country. Therefore, America will have to ensure that Pakistan does not use the weapons given by it against India under any circumstances.
As far as China is concerned, it is definitely roaming around with Pakistan on its shoulders nowadays, but it also knows the reality of Pakistan. India has put the Indus Water Treaty on the back burner and made it clear that it wants to teach Pakistan a befitting lesson because even today its army chief drums the two-nationalism theory that was buried in the grave of its people in 1971 to create Bangladesh. Of course, in 1971, the US openly supported Pakistan, but today the situation has fundamentally changed and American leaders and administration will have to decide their position accordingly.