Pakistan’s army has returned to its old rhetoric of Kashmir being the country’s “jugular vein”, the bluster contrasting sharply with Islamabad’s falling stocks in the Valley in the wake of its inertia following the 2019 scrapping of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status.
“It was our jugular vein. It is our jugular vein. We will not forget it and we will not leave our Kashmiri brethren in their heroic struggle that they are waging against Indian occupation,” Pakistan’s army chief, General Asim Munir, said on Wednesday.
His comments drew a sharp response from Delhi, which asked: “How can anything foreign be in a jugular vein?”
External affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal added: “This is a Union Territory of India. Its only relationship with Pakistan is the vacation of illegally occupied territories by that country.”
Munir’s comments came accompanied by a strong defence of the two-nation theory at an overseas Pakistanis’ convention in Islamabad, which was marked by the strongest show of support for Kashmiris in years.
Munir asked the gathering, which included Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif and other senior ministers, to narrate Pakistan’s story to their children lest they forget.
“Our forefathers thought we are different from the Hindus in every possible aspect of life,” he said.
“Our religions are different, our customs are different, our traditions are different, our thoughts are different, our ambitions are different. That was the foundation of the two-nation theory,” he added.
“It was said that we are two nations. We are not one nation. Because of that our forefathers struggled, mounted that incessant struggle to create this country.”
Sharif appeared to back Munir’s comments, calling him a “true Pakistani” and “an outstanding, thorough professional”. He said Pakistan would never stop supporting Kashmiris, whatever the circumstances.
“Whatever is on his tongue is in his heart. Thank God, Pakistan’s security is impregnable. Nobody can cast an evil eye on Pakistan. The eye that does so will be trampled on,” Sharif said.
He added that terrorism was again spreading in Pakistan and that “we all know from where it is controlled”. He seemed to be pointing a finger at India, although Pakistan has in recent times also accused Afghanistan of supporting terrorism on its soil.
“We all know who the promoters of these terrorists are, who is funding them,” the Prime Minister said.
Pakistan has been rattled by the surging insurgency in Balochistan where militants hijacked a passenger train in March. The army later claimed to have killed all the hijackers, but it lost dozens of its men in the operation too.
There appears a massive erosion in the support that Islamabad and its army enjoyed in Kashmir following its inaction in 2019 when the government scrapped Jammu and Kashmir’s special status and statehood.
The Pakistan army’s crackdown on former Prime Minister Imran Khan dealt a further blow to its reputation here.
According to the grapevine in Kashmir, the then army chief, General Qamar Bajwa, was on board with the 2019 constitutional changes in Jammu and Kashmir. This belief has been reinforced by reports in the Pakistani media that Bajwa knew about the changes in advance.
In a conversation between Pakistani journalists Hamid Mir and Naseem Zehra, widely circulated on social media, it was alleged that Bajwa was preparing to host Prime Minister Narendra Modi in April 2021 before Imran’s government scuttled the move.
The Pakistani army has for some time been sending conflicting signals on Kashmir. In February 2021, it surprised many in Kashmir by declaring a ceasefire with India but has since revived its promotion of militancy in Jammu, leading to scores of casualties.
A former IPS officer said Munir’s remarks were aimed at a domestic audience at a time when the Pakistani army’s popularity was dimming in that country.