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Vow to fight terror, silence on China

Vow to fight terror, silence on China

TT, New Delhi, Aug. 15: India is prepared to defend itself against every security challenge, whether terrorism or at its borders, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said today in his Independence Day address amid heightened tensions with both China and Pakistan.
But Modi, who had alluded to human rights concerns in Balochistan and to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) in his 2016 address from the ramparts of the Red Fort, steered clear of controversial foreign policy references that had marked his speech last year.
He referred today to the "surgical strikes" - cross-border counter-terrorism raids - in PoK carried out by the military last September after the Uri terror attack, and asserted that there would be no compromise against terrorism. But Modi avoided, in his words and tone, any message that could further escalate tensions with either of India's two biggest neighbours.

The Prime Minister's avoidance of rhetoric against China is in keeping with the Indian government's approach to the nearly two-month-long border standoff in the Doklam plateau that Beijing and Thimphu claim, and that New Delhi views as key to its security too. Two senior officials had told The Telegraph on Monday that India's posture on China might constrain the Prime Minister on Pakistan too, to avoid highlighting comparisons between restraint with one neighbour and bellicose language with a smaller one.
Modi instead stuck to a broader assurance to the country. "Whether the seas or the borders, cyber or space, India is competent and strong to defeat the intentions of those with plans against our country," Modi said, his left fist clenched.
"After the surgical strikes, the world had to acknowledge our iron will, our strength (fist clenched). The country's security is our priority, its internal security is also our priority."
The Prime Minister's comments on security and the thrust of the foreign policy content in his address mirror the shifts in his government's approach to India's neighbourhood.
In 2014, soon after his election, Modi had referred to his "neighbourhood first" approach of banding the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) together in its common fight against poverty and disease. Then, India and Pakistan were days away from foreign secretary talks meant to outline a road map for resumption of a dialogue after Pakistan's then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had visited New Delhi for Modi's inaugural ceremony.
But India called off the foreign secretary talks after Pakistan's then high commissioner Abdul Basit met leaders of the Hurriyat two days before the diplomatic meeting.
Such meetings with separatist leaders had occurred earlier, but India said it was laying down a "red-line" - Pakistan must choose between talking to India or to separatists.
Modi's 2015 address came a month after a meeting with Sharif in Ufa, Russia, during which they once again attempted to kick-start peace talks. On August 15, 2015, Modi did not even use the word "terrorism" and was silent on Kashmir - referring to the armed forces only in the context of the one-rank-one-pension demand that he claimed his government had fulfilled.
By the time he spoke from the Red Fort a year later, India-Pakistan relations had traversed an entire cycle of sugary highs and abusive lows.
Modi had visited Lahore to greet Sharif on his birthday and foreign minister Sushma Swaraj had travelled to Islamabad to restart a structured bilateral comprehensive dialogue. But those trips were followed by the Pathankot terror attack on January 2, and the summer unrest in Kashmir after the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen leader Burhan Wani. India blamed Pakistan for the crisis in Kashmir, and days before the 2016 Independence Day, Modi told parliamentarians that New Delhi would take to the world Islamabad's alleged human rights violations in Balochistan and PoK.
On August 15, 2016, Modi referred again to Balochistan and Gilgit-Baltistan in PoK, and said he had received messages of gratitude from people in those regions after he had articulated their concerns over human rights abuses by Pakistan.
Over the past year, India did raise these human rights concerns at the UN. But it did little more to pressure Pakistan on its track record in Balochistan and PoK - in part because of belated recognition that doing more could attract the very charge of interference in internal matters that India levels against Pakistan.
Instead, today, Modi alluded to a growing global consensus against terrorism. "You will be happy to know, my countrymen, that today we are not alone in our fight against terrorism," Modi said.
"Whether against hawala or the activities of terrorism, other countries are sharing intelligence. We are fighting against terrorism shoulder to shoulder with the international community."
He then thanked "those countries that are cooperating" with India against terrorism. "There will be no compromise against terrorism," he said.

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