In response to the brutal terrorist attack carried out in #Pahalgam, the BJP government led by Prime Minister Modi is punishing innocent Pakistani civilians by blocking the Indus River. This act is completely unjust.
We must not forget that just as the terrorists who attacked innocent civilians in Pahalgam belonged to the Islamic faith, the local Kashmiris who risked their lives to protect the tourists from those terrorists were also Muslims. It was the terrorists who murdered the Indian tourists, not the poor and innocent people of Pakistan. Blaming a particular religion or targeting a specific community in response to the cowardly and cruel attack of the terrorists can never be considered righteous!
The terrorist attack in Pahalgam is a tragic event that resulted from the failure of India’s security and intelligence systems. By blocking the Indus River, the BJP government is merely trying to divert public attention and cover up its own failure. If the BJP government truly wants to respond to the terrorist attack, it must punish the terrorists and their supporters directly. It must strike and destroy terrorist camps. If the Pakistani government or military is behind the attack, then the Indian government should confront them directly.
How can it be justified to block the drinking water and agricultural irrigation that serve as the livelihood of 300 million people? Economic or trade sanctions imposed on Pakistan would primarily affect its government and large capitalists, not its poor people directly. But cutting off a life source like river water directly harms innocent, unrelated poor people in the harshest way.
The people who benefit the most from the Indus River are the Sikhs living in Pakistan’s Punjab province. We must remember that they were once citizens of this country before the partition. Moreover, river water is not just a basic human need—it is essential for the survival of all living beings: trees, birds, livestock, and more.
Without noble goals or higher ideals, how is the act of blocking the Indus River, thereby destroying the livelihoods of millions, any different from the cruelty of the terrorists who blindly kill innocent people? It is absolutely unacceptable for a democratic government elected by the people to engage in such a heartless act.
Why is the Indian Union government, which takes aggressive actions like cutting trade, sealing borders, expelling diplomats, promoting war hysteria, expelling Pakistani citizens, and blocking river water, completely inactive when over 800 Tamil fishermen have been killed so far? Is the reason the Indian government remains friendly with Sri Lanka despite so many mass killings because the killers are Sinhalese and the victims are Tamils—unlike Pakistan, a Muslim country, which is quickly declared an enemy?
India, a country that gives its rivers feminine names: Sindhu, Ganga, Yamuna, Godavari, Kaveri, and worships them as goddesses, that believes all human sins are washed away in the Ganges, must reflect on whether it is just to punish millions by blocking river water, the symbol of maternal love that sustains life.
Therefore, I urge the Indian Union Government to reconsider its decision to block the Indus River, which is the livelihood of 300 million people.
Seeman | Chief Coordinator | NTK
