India in denial over Kashmir uprising

The deadly attack comes amid heightened tension in occupied Kashmir, which has faced more than two months of protests following the July 8 killing of a popular freedom fighter Burhan Wani. At least 78 civilians have been killed and thousands injured in street clashes with the Indian security forces, who are accused of human using excessive force.

Sunday’s pre-dawn raid on an army camp in Uri, Baramulla district, is believed to have been carried out by four attackers, individuals that Indian authorities claim came from the Pakistan-controlled part of Kashmir. Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who had a fractious visit to Islamabad in early August, publicly called Pakistan a “terrorist state”. The military hotline between the two countries was activated and Pakistan asked India to share its so-called actionable intelligence. 

The Pakistani military rejected India’s accusations and insisted that “no infiltration is allowed from Pakistani soil”. 

That position would be bolstered if Pakistan undertook a crackdown on all non-state actors involved in cross-border terrorism. 

The Uri attack will catapult the Kashmir dispute to the forefront of global issues discussed at tomorrow’s UN General Assembly in New York, where Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will address world leaders. 

While Sharif is expected to strongly reiterate Pakistan’s position on Kashmir, the decision by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to skip the session means a potential high-level clash has been averted. Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj may well be hard-hitting in her own speech, but that will come towards the end of the gathering and several days after Sharif has spoken. 

But the war of words, at least from the Indian side, will not abate in the days ahead. India’s knee-jerk blaming of Pakistan for major violence is very much part of the problem.

Meanwhile, the death of 11-year-old Kashmiri protester Nasir Shafi, whose body was found riddled with the same pellets used by Indian security forces, has deepened the anger and instigated fresh protests in India-administrated Kashmir over the weekend. 

The vicious and unending clampdown by Indian security forces in the territory ought to have pricked the world’s conscience, but the outside world has prioritised good relations with India over compassion for the oppressed people of Kashmir. 

Perhaps conscientious voices in India can help point out a fundamental truth about the Kashmir conflict: irrespective of what the Indian government thinks Pakistan has done or is doing, the Kashmir dispute is rooted in a people’s genuine rejection of control by the state of India. Denying that is a hallmark of generations of Indian leaders, but it is a truth that has not changed.