By Sushil Kutty
Some countries are having it fine. No talk of ‘War and Peace’. The UAE, for instance. Indians and Pakistanis, big numbers of them, live disciplined lives in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, Sharjah; Ras Al Khaimah and Fujairah, eking out better lives than the ones in India and Pakistan. The latter two neighbouring nations are engaged these days in warmongering, preparing for war to break out if it hasn’t already. But as the Burj al Khalifa, the world’s tallest skyscraper, will bear witness to, the only issue the UAE residents worry about would be an impending hot and dusty weekend, which is what the weatherman has predicted!
No war clouds, no boasts and brags, no talk of nukes, no mention of destroyers and fast-chasing corvettes. Nothing to set Indian and Pakistani in the UAE at each other’s throats. Steady jobs and secure residency does this to people. The grim warning of losing relatively higher paying jobs does this. An undeclared but understood ‘Hindu-Paki Bhai-Bhai’ keeps the peace in the glittering cityscapes of UAE’s top cities. The world’s tallest skyscraper makes sure both the Indian Tricolour and the Pakistani Crescent fly equally high!
UAE cities make for nice weekend getaways with escapes to the sand dunes. Wear sunglasses! Sounds like a Dubai Tourism brochure? So what, anything for peace, right? All the while, war-drums are bouncing off the slate-green Arabian Sea. And, not quite far from the Karachi Port, lurks an armada! Pakistan says there is no way Karachi Port will be set afire, gutted once again, not if the Pakistan Navy can help it.
For those who haven’t a memory, the two nations have had four wars and each time Pakistan had to bite ‘soil’. For clarity, listen to ‘Teri Mitti Mei Mil Janwa’. If Pakistanis have a “mitti” equivalent, Indians haven’t heard of it. India’s got Bollywood and Lahore’s got ‘Lollywood’, it galls the Pakistani but Bolly beats Lolly by a mile and a half on any minor or major scale.
Point is, the tunes are stacked against Pakistan though Najam Sethi and PPP’s Bilawal Bhutto Zardari may not agree. Of the two, Sethi is the one to take seriously. This veteran journalist says Pakistan will not have to nuke India, after all. Not when China has Pakistan’s back. Sethi says India doesn’t stack up to China’s power.
Sethi’s hypothesis of China leapfrogging into an Indo-Pak war doesn’t gel with any war-game. Sethi says Pakistan Air Force out-sorties the Indian Air Force and India’s Rafales are no match for the Chinese ‘J-series’ of jets. Pakistani TV channels, including Geo, Dunya, Samma and ARY, are full of programming that make for dandy viewing for the Pakistani crew-cut in dusty-brown military fatigues.
Olive-green is the Indian Army colour. And Prime Minister Narendra Modi is keeping half of the Indians guessing. The other half are marching to war-tunes in the head. There’s much that is happening in the digital world even though there’s nothing but hush-hush in Modi Raj! What’s Modi upto? The question has no answer to write home about. Modi’s three armed forces chiefs have been given a ‘free hand’, but where’s the hand?
Modi is giving the impression he has many chestnuts in the fire and can’t just think of war breaking. But there is talk of Modi spending time with Sun Tzu’s ‘Art of War’. The ones who are familiar with what’s happening, say the big-impact war will be won without a single bullet fired. Is Prime Minister Modi re-assessing his China game, going all the way back to his ‘jhula-ride’ with President Xi Jinping on the banks of the Sabarmati?
There will be war. The war has already started. Pakistan has been encircled. There is no escape from the python-esque steel grip. When the time comes to write about this war, some very startling revelations will be aired! PM Modi’s constriction of Pakistan is underway.
Didn’t India break the Indus Water Treaty? Didn’t Pakistan say it was tantamount to declaration of war? The signs of war are already on display: India escalated by stationing INS Vikrant and INS Surat just 85 nautical miles from the Karachi Port. Pakistan cut off its sky for Indian aircraft. India flew Rafales to the very edge of Pakistan’s cut-off skies, roaring their defiance!
All the while the talk of “nuclear-armed neighbours”. Even United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio was talking of nukes! Najam Sethi said China will jump in the hot waters to save Pakistan. The tension is gripping. And Khalistani gadfly Gurupatwant Singh Pannu says Punjabis in India will serve ‘langar’ to the victorious Pakistani Army. Pannu has asked Sikh soldiers in the Indian Army to desert and run, like he ran to the USA, the land of the ‘Brave’. Modi’s war is already on and everybody is talking and nodding. (IPA Service)
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