[ad_1]
The Center’s decision to ask television channels to include weather reports and forecasts for Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and the Northern Areas indicates a significant change in India’s strategy on Pakistan for Imran Khan, they told Hindustan on Friday. Times people familiar with development.
The move was conceived by national security adviser Ajit Doval “some time ago,” said a senior government official.
The formal proposal, drawn up just over three months ago, left the office of Deputy National Security (Strategic Affairs) Adviser Rajinder Khanna on February 3 to secretaries of the ministries of foreign and home affairs, apart from the heads of India’s two main intelligence agencies: the Office of Intelligence and the Investigation and Analysis wing.
His formal approvals came last week.
In one of the first discussions that were held to refine the proposal, the official recalled how Doval had spoken of the multiple messages that this movement would send.
The central point, said the official, is that “this is my area and I am affirming my sovereignty by taking all steps.”
This week, the government told public broadcaster Doordarshan to include weather forecasts for Mirpur and Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and Gilgit in the northern areas that Pakistan describes as “Gilgit Baltistan”. Some private news channels have already told the government that they will also make changes to their weather bulletins.
Doordarshan was also told to use weather maps that included the entire territory of Jammu and Kashmir that would serve as a newspaper, and public reiteration of India’s position.
A second high-ranking government official said the move marked a shift in focus from India that he considered reluctant to do everything possible to send the message to Pakistan, its allies and the world that Islamabad was in illegal occupation of more than 86,000 square kilometers of Jammu and Kashmir
This changes
On the one hand, the assertion of sovereignty becomes particularly important due to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor that passes through the Northern Areas or the extensive Gilgit-Baltistan region that is almost twice the size of Kerala.
When China launched the Belt and Road Initiative a few years ago, it hoped that India would be part of the project, though it passes through the northern areas under Pakistan’s control. When India protested, Beijing told New Delhi to still join because this would not affect the state of Kashmir as a dispute between the two countries.
“The daily weather map reinforces India’s message throughout J&K territory, every day,” said the official.
The daily weather forecast and map of India on television screens also underscore India’s strong views on the occupied territory, but also the fact that Pakistan was making material changes in topography and exploiting the population of this region. .
In many ways, the official said, the map of India on television screens also highlights the plight of people living in these areas whose rights are violated by Islamabad on a daily basis.
There is another constituency that India hopes to send: the political establishment in the United Kingdom to ask them not to take sides.
A large proportion of the Pakistani expatriate population in the UK is from Mirpur, which has close ties to Labor Party leaders, such as Jeremy Corbyn, who went so far as to pass a resolution to seek international intervention after India eliminated the Jammu and Kashmir special status.
.
[ad_2]
