Baloch separatism in Pakistan is dead: Indian intelligence is either terrible or is lying
The rather hawkish Ajit Doval threatened to sever Balochistan from Pakistan if the latter tried any 26/11 stunts. There have been since been any number of provocations from Pakistan of high and low intensity which they as usual in a cowardly and dishonorable manner deflect blame by stating that non state actors within their borders did so. This is not about the country of Pakistan lacking honor or any sense of fair play whatsoever. But the highly misinformed Indian population actually thinks Baloch separatist tendencies are still in full swing. They are stuck in a time warp of say 2004. SInce then China has rapidly stabilized i.e taken over Pakistan through its One Belt One Road initiative. It is responsible for virtually of Pakistans infrastructure in the last 10 years and has a controlling interest in the port city of Gwadar. Pakistan stock market's board members dont feature names such as Khans or Butt but quite a few Jiangs and Lis.
Gwadar BTW is located in Balochistan. The very fact that is port is thriving shows that separatist tendencies were taken care of a long time. On an anecdotal I have met many Baloch in Canada and Dubai and they had nothing but kind words to say about Pakistan even as they do abuse their leaders and ethnic cohorts such as Pashtuns. Immature and silly series such as Sacred Games also promote the narrative that RAW directs the Baloch insurgency. If they still are, it would be another example of Pakistan scamming an intelligence agency (Zia Ul Haq and Musharaff with the CIA in the 1980s and 2000s respectively) and misleading them while pocketing the monies.
While the ISI is feeding them the false narrative of Baloch separatism meanwhile Kashmir is still in lockdown .
Foreign policy and security awareness of India since PVNR has always been a clusterfuck.
I suspected it when I saw that China was already placing its warships in the Gwadar port.
ReplyDeleteAs an aside: Is it better to replace the current Republic of India with the South Asian Republic (aka ZAR, basically the same India but in a new name)?
I propose a decentralized federal republic where states will have more power without New Delhi's overarching hold. Literally to the extent where states will be responsible for army, navy and air force training while New Delhi will focus on chemical, biological and nuclear weapons?
My proposal:
The federal government of ZAR will impose:
->15% federal tax.
->10% corporate tax.
States can impose taxes on top of these taxes.
Furthermore:
->Federal government bureaucratic jobs will be slashed to a bare minimum.
->All SOEs/public banks and universities run by New Delhi will be privatized or handed over to states.
->GST will be abolished and replaced with a simplified sales tax.
->Property rights will be strengthened.
->The Panchami land issue of Dalits and returning forests back to Tribals will be solved immediately.
->Reservations will be removed. The federal government will not impose it, instead, state or private universities can do so if they wish.
->Federal government workers and private workers will be required to save 10-15% of their earnings in a personal savings account (I intend to abolish pensions, at least from the side of the federal government).
->For the sake of growth, on the issue of intrastate migration, the federal government of ZAR will impose a ceiling on the number of people who can enter or leave a state. Like, 10,000 to 20,000 people can enter or leave any given state per year.
->Also, a First Come, First Serve policy will be followed while allocating national resources like coal and spectrum. States can choose to court foreign investors.
->20-30% of all national resources will be allocated for new Indian entrepreneurs/startups. If there is still some of it left, they will be given to bigger investors/players.
->They can take it all for free while starting, and pay them back in the form of 10% of their annual revenue.
As for ZAR's trade, investment and immigration policies:
Delete->Unilateral dissolution of all import barriers.
->One sheet of paperwork with the federal government is enough. Further formalities depend on the investor's destination state.
->Joining and/or creating mutually beneficial free trade blocs with the US, East Asia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America.
->Citizens of the US, Canada, Israel, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Russia, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia will be eligible for visa-free entry into ZAR for 180 days provided they are not dual citizens (with exceptions like Elon Musk, of course). Investors from all countries will be eligible for visa-free entry. Depending on how long their destination state takes to give them permanent residence, within a year of PR, they will be eligible to become citizens of ZAR.
As for the foreign and defense policies of ZAR:
->Resolving border issues with Pakistan and China take top priority.
If tensions still persist after that:
->Afghani Shias and/or Taliban factions at odds with Pakistan will be empowered and armed with ballistic and cruise missiles which will fly into Pakistan every week.
->Islamic fundamentalists and Jihadists will be empowered in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, who will then be aided to capture power in their respective countries and begin launching rockets into China every week in support of the Uighurs. Same will be done with disgruntled nationalist groups in Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia and Vietnam, who will be guided to capture power in their respective countries and attack and wear down China from all sides.
-> While ZAR's constituent states will handle conventional armies, the federal government of ZAR will create mercenary groups/Private Military Companies like USA's Blackwater, the UK's G4S and Russia's Wagner Group to handle matters.
How is my proposal?
/Citizens of the US, Canada, Israel, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Russia, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia will be eligible for visa-free entry into ZAR for 180 days provided they are not dual citizens (with exceptions like Elon Musk, of course). Investors from all countries will be eligible for visa-free entry. Depending on how long their destination state takes to give them permanent residence, within a year of PR, they will be eligible to become citizens of ZAR./
DeleteHow did I forget Australia and New Zealand? I really need to work on my memory!
Forget Balochistan, the clowns who populate the communes of India's right wing intelligentsia (and even centrists and apoliticals) still think there is an active separatist movement on the ground in my state Tamil Nadu!
ReplyDeleteMany of them think the "Church" is funding separatism in my state (I have no idea which "Church" they refer to, or what kind of separatism/terrorism they aided) and they smeared, insulted and even dehumanized us when we mourned the deaths of innocent protesters in Thoothukudi due to police firing back in 2018. Right wing shitheads said we deserved to die in the police firing (because the region of Sterlite's toxic copper plant has a sizable number of Christians, never mind that most of the victims were actually Hindus) and later on they also justified the central govt's land grabbing in the name of the Salem-Chennai expressway (when there are already 2 major roads connecting Salem and Chennai). They called it development and insulted us when we objected to it.
They treated (and continue to treat) us worse than shit, and when we voted against the AIADMK/BJP alliance last year, Rajiv Malhotra, sitting in New Jersey, jumped up and down like an orangutan saying the central govt should implement AFSPA in my state because we are "separatists"! Apparently we should bend over to their arbitrary claims of "development" or be subjected to their boot.
I mean, how hard is it to understand that everybody has self-respect, and trampling upon it will only undermine a relationship?
Forget Balochistan, they are an epic clusterfuck even within India's own borders. I shudder to think where all this is going to land us.
I keep putting off a post about Indian right and left failure to understand Tamil culture and religiosity and how that informed or rather misinformed their decision on the Sri Lankan issue. i.e Hindu right saw it LTTE as a christian organization (Hahaha) and Sinhalas as Buddhist hence go with Sinhalas while the left saw it terms of national integrity(cant allow SL tamils to have a homeland since that would inspire Indian tamils).
DeleteRajiv Malhotra is ideologically esconsed in his position that TN is ground zero for Indias break up. After reading his book Breaking India I came to conclusion that Rajeev Malhotra based on much of his thesis on the works and opinions of Bishop caldwell and G.U. Pope. He simply dismisses their scholarship on Tamil language and religion in particular the latter distinct aspects from Hinduism and questions their motives.
Thats really it , thats the crux of his argument. These people are missionaries so even though they said A they in their hearts meant B. Sure speculation is always a part of scholarship but a genuine scholar would always qualify his speculations and state that these are opinions or interpolations and should be treated as such.
But no, he presents his opinions as fact and goes full steam ahead. His book became famous in Hindutva circles and he is tied to the idea of TN having separatist elements so views everything in TN through those lens warping his perspective. To be sure there is a separatist streak in Tamil peoples but thats because they are more suspicious than other states on the motives of the centre-for good reason. I would like to remind Rajiv Malhotra that his native Punjab saw a bit of separatism itself. glass house ,meet stone.
Regarding thootukudi firings, Rajinikanth didnt exactly cover himself in glory by siding with the police. When pushed came to shove contrary to his popular image, he sided with the corrupt authorities.