After Op Sindoor: Don't Do Another Simla
After Op Sindoor: Don't Do Another Simla
May 15, 2025, 20:39 IST IST
If Pakistan wants India to rethink the suspension of Indus Waters Treaty, it must crack down on terror networks and extradite Masood Azhar & Hafiz Saeed
In July 1972, India and Pakistan signed the Simla Agreement that paved the way for the return of 93,000 Pak POWs by India. As against pre-talk expectations that India would extract a suitable price from Pakistan for the return of the POWs, India backtracked from its original demand for the resolution of the Kashmir conflict once and for all.
In response to a plea made by Pak PM Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto to India's PM Indira Gandhi that he needed more time, with a 'Bharosa Rakhiye' (trust me), India came away from Simla with little that a victor ought to have come away from the negotiating table. Fifty-three years later, Kashmir still remains the raison d'etre of the Pak army's existence and the principal bone of contention between the two countries.
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Indian Express
2 hours ago
- Indian Express
Tavleen Singh writes: Political poster boys
An unforeseen consequence of Operation Sindoor has been that South Asia's two poster boys of dynastic democracy surfaced and made fools of themselves. I speak of Bilawal Bhutto and Rahul Gandhi. They would not be considered political leaders at all if it were not for their illustrious surnames. As someone who believes dynastic succession should have ended when feudalism did, I watched the performance of these two political princes with real interest. The first performance came from Bilawal Bhutto, who made a speech on the banks of the Indus a day after India decided to suspend the Indus Water Treaty. In this speech, he threatened that either water would flow down the Indus or the 'blood of our enemies'. His Urdu remains bad, so he used melodrama to compensate and, in the manner of a crazed messiah, shrieked 'the Indus has always been ours, is ours, and will be ours'. This one speech was proof that not only was the heir to the mighty Bhutto dynasty linguistically challenged, but that he was politically challenged as well. But Pakistan's military rulers were clearly impressed with his performance and sent him off to Washington to convince people that it was Pakistan that was the victim of terrorism and that India's allegations were lies. It took Shashi Tharoor, who was also in Washington, one minute to demolish the narrative that Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's heir was trying to weave. Tharoor said he sympathised with Bilawal because his mother had been killed by jihadi terrorists, but he seemed to have forgotten Hillary Clinton's warning to Pakistan. If you breed vipers in your backyard, you cannot expect that they will only attack your neighbour. Pakistan's terrorists are home-bred. Last week came a performance from the heir to our own storied dynasty. Rahul has, since Operation Sindoor, made statements that have been applauded in Pakistan even by Hafiz Saeed. But last week, he outdid himself. In the manner of a schoolboy discussing a cricket match, and with a sneery grin on his face, he imitated Donald Trump having a conversation with our prime minister on the phone and saying 'Narendra, Surrender'. And then he mimicked Narendra Modi saying 'ji huzoor'. The point the Leader of the Opposition was trying to make was that when his grandmother was prime minister, the Seventh Fleet was sent by Richard Nixon to warn her that breaking up Pakistan would have consequences. And she had courageously remained fixed on the course that she had set. A dangerous analogy to evoke, because Indira Gandhi also ended up snatching defeat from the jaws of victory (to use that useful cliché) by signing the Simla Agreement. All the cards were in India's hands. There were more than 90,000 prisoners of war in the custody of the Indian Army, so she could have told Bhutto that there would be no agreement without a signed guarantee that the Kashmir issue would end now. Instead, the agreement has a feeble reference to Kashmir being decided bilaterally. Years later, I happened to learn from a close associate of Bhutto that he boasted afterwards that he had outdone her. What exactly was the point that Indira's grandson was trying to make? Was he trying to prove the debunked falsehood that Modi agreed to a ceasefire because of pressure from Trump? Was he trying to say that the war should have continued indefinitely? Or was he trying to say what Congress spokespersons have said in TV debates, which is that the war should have continued until Pakistan is broken up once more? This was never the objective of Operation Sindoor. It had the limited objective of destroying Pakistan's terrorist infrastructure and from all accounts this objective was achieved. To return, though, to the poster boys of dynastic democracy. Bilawal has lost his relevance in Pakistani politics and is now merely a spokesman for the military men who control the political chessboard. Rahul remains relevant because he is fully in control of our oldest political party. And the only national party, we have other than the BJP. We have no choice but to take what he says seriously, which is why it is worrying that he continues to sound like a schoolboy with a special grudge against Modi for daring to usurp India, which he considers his birthright to rule since his family once did. It is this idea that India remains the private property of the Dynasty that is destroying the Congress Party. If you have been following recent events, you would have noticed that the Congress leaders in the parliamentary delegations have done an extremely good job. The only people who have let the party down are those who constitute the coterie around our own poster boy of dynastic democracy. It could be time for those who want Congress to survive and thrive to come together and urge the Dynasty's heirs to consider playing the role that the Chairman Emeritus plays in companies. If they agree, they can continue to have relevance in the family firm, but can move away from playing an active role. How long does the Congress Party want to pretend that Rahul is its prime minister-in-waiting when he has been unable to win a single Lok Sabha election for the party? One way or another dynastic democracy is a bad idea. And it is abundantly obvious that India's voters saw this before our political leaders have.
India Gazette
7 hours ago
- India Gazette
"We are land of Mahatma, Buddha but also of Krishna...gave befitting reply to those who attacked our country": Priyanka Chaturvedi
Berlin [Germany], June 8 (ANI): Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Priyanka Chaturvedi has said that India's Armed Forces have given a befitting reply to those who have cast an evil eye on the country and that there will be a firm response to any terror attack. Priyanka Chaturvedi, who is a member of an all-party delegation visiting partner countries to highlight India's zero tolerance policy against terrorism, told members of the Indian diaspora in Germany that India gave a firm response to the Pahalgam terror attack through Operation Sindoor. 'Our armed forces gave a befitting reply to those who have time and again attacked our country . Our response has been mature, responsible,' she said. 'We are the land of Mahatma, we are the land of Buddha, but we are also the land of Krishna,' she added. She said the terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan Occupied Jammu and Kashmir was targeted in Operation Sindoor. She said India was, in a way, carrying out the work of the UN, by targeting terror camps. Priyanka Chaturvedi also took a jibe at Pakistan getting a position to serve as vice-chair of the Counter-Terrorism Committee of the United Nations. 'Do you know what responsibility they got? They have gotten the vice-chairmanship of the Counter-Terrorism Committee. This is like asking Masood Azhar and Hafeez Saeed to fight for global peace and justice. We have to call this out. Not only India but the entire world is suffering. From Masood Azhar to Osama Bin Laden - all have been found there (Pakistan). They have also gotten chairmanship of the Taliban Sanctions Committee,' she said. She said all faiths co-exist peacefully in India. 'The Jinnah inside Asim Munir was woken when he delivered the speech saying Hindus and Muslims cannot coexist. Today, India is a shining example of how 200 million Muslims live in harmony and is a befitting reply to Pakistan,' she said. Chaturvedi said she belongs to a party which is against talks with Pakistan till it supports cross-border terrorism. 'I am proud I come from that party', she said. She gave a call for the diaspora to show support for the Indian armed forces and the diaspora burst into chants praising them. At the start of the community event, the Indian diaspora observed a two-minute silence to pay tributes to people who lost their lives in the Pahalgam terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir. Priyanka Chaturvedi told ANI later that it is global responsibility to fight against terrorism. 'We have seen the strength of our diaspora in the six nations we met various officials and we kept forward our views in front of told them the problem of terrorism that we have been facing for decades can also reach your is the responsibility of the world to call out and the various nations that we visited have extended support to us in the fight against terrorism...' The delegation, led by Ravi Shankar Prasad, includes BJP MPs Daggubati Purandeswari, MJ Akbar, Gulam Ali Khatana, and Samik Bhattacharya; Congress MP Amar Singh, Priyanka Chaturvedi from Shiv Sena (UBT,) AIADMK MP M Thambidurai and former diplomat Pankaj Saran. The delegation arrived in Germany after concluding their visit to Belgium. Earlier, Ravi Shankar Prasad, said they raised strong concerns about terrorism during their visit to Brussels and generals of Pakistan 'run that country with the help of a military terrorist coalition', which is a 'threat' to democracy and humanity. The Indian Armed Forces carried out targeted strikes against terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, resulting in the deaths of over 100 terrorists. India repelled subsequent Pakistani aggression and pounded its airbases. (ANI)
India Gazette
7 hours ago
- India Gazette
White Knight Corps pays tribute to Havildar Sunil Kumar Singh for supreme sacrifice in line of duty during Op Sindoor
New Delhi [India], June 7 (ANI): Indian Army on Saturday paid tributes to Havildar Sunil Kumar Singh who made the supreme sacrifice in the line of duty during Operation Sindoor. After sustaining grievous injuries, he battled valiantly during treatment at Command Hospital and passed away on June 6. 'GOC and all ranks of WhiteKnightCorps pay heartfelt tribute to #Braveheart Havildar Sunil Kumar Singh who made the supreme sacrifice in the line of duty during OpSindoor. After sustaining grievous injuries, he battled valiantly during treatment at Command Hospital and passed away on 06 Jun 2025,' White Knight Corps said in a post on X. 'His unwavering courage, sense of duty, and sacrifice will forever remain etched in our hearts. We stand in solidarity with the bereaved family in this hour of profound grief,' the post added. The Indian Armed Forces' on May 7 launched precision strikes under Operation Sindoor and dismantled nine major terror camps associated with the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Hizbul Mujahideen in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoK). Five of the nine terror camps were located in PoJK, and the other four in Pakistan. The strikes came in response to the Pahalgam terror attack in which 26 people were killed. Among the destroyed camps in Pakistan, Muridke and Bhawalpur stand out as they not only serve as residences for major commanders but also serve as epicentres for radicalisation and various training courses on intelligence and arms handling for Laskar as well as Jaish-e-Mohammad. Among the key terror operatives eliminated in the operation was Rauf Azhar, the brother-in-law of Maulana Masood Azhar, the Jaish Chief. Rauf Azhar, a proscribed terrorist, is wanted for his part in the conspiracy to hijack IC-814. (ANI)
