India, a large and uncontrollable country with over 1 billion people has yet to find peace and security in South Asia. It routinely points the finger of blame towards neighboring countries yet never blames itself for its own and quite often obvious failings.
One closer look at history of the region and it becomes evident that it is India which is the root cause and inflamer of much of the terrorism and instability in the region. While it is quick to blame others for carrying out such activities, it rarely has ever blamed itself for carrying out similar deeds, a deadly mix with a nation facing dozens of separatists movements, chronic poverty and disenchantment and possession of nuclear/chemical and weapons of mass destruction(WMD).
It has long been accused of foreign interference, particularly its intelligence agency (RAW - a menace 100 x more dangerous than Pakistan’s ISI) This indian intelligence agency-RAW has been implicated in bombing campaigns targeting innocent civilians in Bangladesh, Kashmir, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, China, Afghanistan, Nepal and even Burma; a staggering number of countries.
It has a long standing border dispute with Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and China with which it went war and lost in 1962. Its continuing reluctance to settle the issue of Kashmir with neighboring Pakistan has led to an increase in militancy within its territory and nuclear brinkmanship with Pakistan, its continued interference in the affairs of Sri Lanka, first helping to create Tamil resistance groups(terrorist outfits known for suicide missions) to divert attention from its own larger Tamil province and later physically sending its troops there only to be humiliated, having their prime minister assassinated and hurriedly retreating.
The fact of the matter is that India has border disputes with all of its neighbors bar no exception. It unnecessarily introduced nuclear weapons into South Asia back in 1974(detonating a nuclear device a mere 30 kms from Pakistan’s border) along a procurement program involving illegal and often controversial channels. A move that forced its rival Pakistan to follow suit several years later and made the region one of the most dangerous places in the world. For a culture which supposedly prides itself on its peaceful-ness, India has been quite contradictory.
Its people have often been easily manipulated and drummed up into a frenzy over religious, cultural and ethnic differences. For it was an Indian hindu that assassinated the late Mohatma Gandhi. It forcefully occupied several princely states(Kashmir, Haiderabad) and colonies (eg. Portuguese colony of Goa, Sikkhim) and at several instances broken international law to fulfill its malicious intention(falsifying Kashmir’s ascension to India) and crimes against humanity(eg. laying bricks/blocking the major water channels leading into Pakistan in 1948)
During the 1980’s, it sent its troops into the Sikh’s holiest shrine and caused unimaginable destruction both in property and loss of life, something the Sikhs will never forgive and plan on revenging. The fact that the Sikhs are a large Diaspora around the world, flooding out of India at every given opportunity is testament to this. While they organize themselves abroad and seek creation of their own independent state often requesting the assistance of Pakistan, rather unsuccessfully, to meet this aim.
Its involvement in the internal affairs of Afghanistan and support to warlords till just a few years ago remained unchecked. India’s treatment of its Muslim and Christian minorities is also abysmal, with force-full conversions back to hinduism, social/class/job restrictions quite similar to the apartheid formerly practiced in South Africa and the abuse and rapes perpetuated on Christians and other minorities are occurring in disturbing numbers. Include to this, the multitude of Separatist movements within the country (eg. Kashmir, Tamil Nadu, Nagaland, Goa etc..) and add to this deadly tail of a large, undisclosed and poorly managed nuclear weapons program along with a large arsenal of weapons of mass destruction and you have a very deadly mix.
On greater analysis, it is India which is the country to watch for, for its a volatile area waiting to explode. If history is any marker, it shows that we should see some major upheaval in this country in the near future. India’s current hegemonic and arrogant nature even right now is not a good indicator of how a nation should behave. Its treatment of its own citizens in particular its minorities and even hindu lower classes are abhorrent and archaic in the 21st century.
An upheaval which is going to be disastrous and dangerous if not checked and restrained now is bound to occur in the uncontrollable balloon called India, which is near bursting. The world needs to focus on the true ‘Source’ of instability and terror in the region in the form of India with its large stock of weapons of mass destruction, racial discrimination/caste system, hegemonic nature and interference in surround nations. We could be dealing with a big problem on our hands!!
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