Pakistan Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa raises Kashmir rhetoric again, issues hollow threat of change in status

On Sunday (May 25), on the occasion of Eid, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, Chief of Army Staff (COAS) visited the Line of Control in Puna Sector and as is his wont raked up Kashmir once again. This visit comes against the backdrop of Indian security forces killing Pakistan sponsored proxies by the dozens and keeping the security grid fortified.

Displaying an aggressive mien, he claimed that Kashmir was a disputed territory which as always flies in the face of the Indian position that the state of J&K now union territory with the revocation of the controversial Article 370 is morally, constitutionally and legally unarguably India`s.

That did not deter the duplicitous COAS Bajwa who once again emphasised that the Pakistan Army was observing Eid solemnly in solidarity with Kashmiris under Indian occupation particularly since 5th August 2019 illegal, inhumane lockdown and ensuing atrocities.

Realising that Pakistan has lost the global narrative on Kashmir, he argued vehemently that India was trying to shift the global attention away from worsening humanitarian crisis and violence in IOJ&K to LOC by targeting innocent civilians across the Line.

Obviously he chose to remain silent on how Pakistan continues to push proxies in to Kashmir Valley to create chaos and disruption, interfering in the affairs of a democratically elected country by using the death by a thousand cuts stratagem.

Adding fuel to the fire was Federal Information Minister Shibli Faraz who reminded Pakistanis to not forget the suffering and oppression of their brethren in Kashmir.

"The brazen commission of war crimes in occupied Kashmir by Hindutva supremacist Modi regime is a direct challenge to world`s conscience," he tweeted.

This was in synchronicity with Bajwa who continued with his bellicosity and threat tantrums by saying that Kashmir was a disputed territory and any attempt to challenge the disputed status including any political cum military thought related to aggression will be responded with full national resolve and military might. Disturbing the strategic stability matrix in South Asia can lead to dire consequences, he pointed out.

Pakistan Army was fully alive to the threat spectrum and will remain ever ready to perform its part in line with national aspirations, COAS reiterated.

Furthermore in typical double speak he appealed to the international community which would "weigh in to ensure freedom of movement" for the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) inside what he described as the occupied valley so that the atrocities committed there could be reported to the UN Security Council and the world.