Recently, Lt Gen H S Panag in his piece for The Print and Ajai Shukla in his column for South China Morning Post picked a 30 seconds of conversation between Rajat Sharma and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in popular TV show Aap Ki Adalat, claiming that the minister admitted that Indian Army mutilates bodies of dead Pak soldiers, something which Pakistan has never admitted to doing with corpses of Indian soldiers, despite substantial proof. They argue that this “admission”, puts India in the spot over violating the 1949 Geneva convention which prohibits the despoiling of dead bodies of Pak soldiers.
This, as usual, is a classic case of spin doctoring and putting things out of context. One doesn’t really need to be defense expert- whether self-proclaimed or actual- to understand that the exchange between the anchor and the minister is purely in metaphorical terms. The entire discussion in the segment is over the mock allegation of India being unable to restrain Pakistan’s terrorist activities, and the minister is throughout seen as asserting how the Indian army has been constantly retaliating to the sinister activities by Pakistan along the border and in Kashmir. Pak soldiers
Hence, the so called admission is basically an admission of paying Pakistan back in their own coin. Nowhere in the entire 15-20 minute segment, it is mentioned either by the anchor or the minister that India Descartes bodies of Pak soldiers. The term ‘kat rahe hain ‘is used purely metaphorically, much like Dharmendra’s khoon pee jaunga warning to Gabbar Singh in Sholay. In fact, it is quite funny how these people skipped the part just five minutes before the ‘beheading’ statement, where the minister is seen ruing how Pakistan never accepts the bodies of the dead which is handed over to them after following the due procedure. If anything else, this statement by Sitharaman only emphasizes how the Indian army, known for its exemplary discipline and respect for protocol, follows the Geneva convention very strictly.
This omission on the part of senior columnists, who also happen to be ex-servicemen looks less like an honest error and more motivated. What’s more suspicious is the timing of this allegation which came more than two weeks after the episode was aired. At a time when the entire nation was reveling in a sense of pride over the surgical strike against Pakistan in 2016. This raises pertinent questions such as is this controversy being created over the frustration that the current Modi-led government has guts to give it back to Pakistan in the language it understands? Or is it aimed at putting down the morale of the armed forces at a time when the entire nation is celebrating their valor?
Funnily enough, one of the two articles even mentions how under Imran Khan, the Pakistani army has found a leadership it can trust. This, coming from a defense expert, is not just naive, but also laughable, because the entire world knows that the new Pakistani PM is merely a puppet in the hands of the army, much like the country’s some other Prime Minister. Doesn’t this also make you wonder who is sponsoring such articles that not just try to create unnecessary controversies, but also end up looking like love letters for the hostile neighbor?
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