FALSE FLAG OPERATIONS BY INDIA

THE term false flag has been used symbolically and it denotes the purposeful misrepresentation of an actor’s objectives or associations.

The lineage of this term is drawn from maritime affairs where ships raise a false flag to disguise themselves and hide their original identity and intent.

A classic example from military history was the Nazi operation (Gleiwitz ‘false flag’ operation) carried out during Second World War when on the night of 31st of August 1939, several covert Nazi operatives dressed as Polish soldiers stormed the Gleiwitz radio tower on the Germany-Poland border.

They broadcasted a short anti-German message in Polish before leaving. The Soldiers left behind the bodies of a pro-Polish German farmer and several unidentified Dachau concentration camp prisoners.

The farmer and the prisoners had been murdered and dressed up in German uniforms. Currently, false flag operation is an argument which serves a range of purposes such as acting as a tool of covert operations, war tactics and espionages.

It also embraces elements of psychological warfare and for fabricating the historical incidents and staging a conspiracy.

Indian being loyal and true disciples of neo-Nazi ideology follow the Nazi concept of deceit to generate a negative perception to initiate international actions against Pakistan.

Similarly, India uses false flag operations as a tool of coercion which is often utilized to provoke or justify a war against adversaries.

India perpetually resort of immoral activities like deceit, fraud, propaganda and state sponsored terrorist attacks killing their own people to fulfill national interests.

Here is a flash back of false flag operations conducted by India. The Indian intelligence agency Research and Analysis (RAW) plotted a false flag operation on 30th January 1971, when an Indian airplane (Fokker) known as Ganga was hijacked and flown to Lahore airport, Pakistan.

The names of two alleged hijackers Hashim Qureshi and Ashraf Butt were highlighted. Both of them were labelled as Kashmiri freedom fighters by Indian government.

Pakistan was immediately blamed and was prohibited to use Indian airspace; consequently, Pakistan could no longer fly to East Pakistan which is known as Bangladesh.

The mass killing of around thirty-five Sikhs took place in Anantnag, district in Jammu and Kashmir on 20th March 2000.

Initially, Lashkar-e-Taiba and Pakistan were accused of carrying out this operation. The entire false flag operation was conducted for exploiting and defaming the image of Pakistan in the international stage.

The Indian Parliament was attacked in New Delhi on 31st December 2001.The Indian authorities accused Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Muhammad without any investigation.

They referred to this terrorist attack as Pakistani agenda against India.The Indian media had mentioned this attack as a breach of national security due to the negligence of concerned authorities.

A former home Ministry officer Mr.RVS Mani stated that members of investigating committee claimed that the Indian Parliament attack was orchestrated by the Indian government.

Another false flag operation of India was exposed by their own media persons and officers holding senior positions in public offices.

The Hindu extremists had conducted an attack on Samjhauta Express in 2007 and blamed the Muslim groups for this attack but later on, the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) arrested a worker under the name Kamal Chauhan of Hindu extremist organization Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) in New Dehli.

The Mecca Masjid, Hyderabad bombing occurred on 18 May 2007 in which 14 people had lost their lives.

The Indian National Investigation Agency, Central Bureau of Investigation and Anti-Terrorist Squad questioned the former members of RSS including Swani Aseemanand, a saffron-robed monk who had been linked to three terror attacks.

The Indian Tehelka magazine had obtained a copy of 42-pages confession.According to his confession, many of those involved in the bombings were members of RSS the right wing of parent organization of BJP.

On the night of 26 November 2008, ten terrorists attacked Mumbai.They stuck simultaneously at five locations, shooting dead 140 Indians and 25 foreign tourists.

American and British passport-holders were killed in two luxury hotel complexes.The Indian drama involved 1000 LEA personnel’s more than 60 hours to pacify only 10 gunmen.

Immediately after this attack, Indian government and media blamed Pakistan.It is evident that historic anti-Pakistan posture of India in general and Hindutva approach of BJP government in particular that India had used 26/11 as a propaganda tool against Pakistan.

The Ahmedabad bombing 2008 was a sequence of 21 explosive blasts that hit the same city in which more than 200 people were wounded.

The free Indian media had claimed that these were false flag operations executed by India whereas the pro-government media claimed that Indian Mujahideen were involved and accepted the responsibility of these attacks.

The Indian police from Gujarat was able to arrest the mastermind Mufti Abu Bashir along with his companions.

The investigation team could not find any evidence against Pakistan.Another incident was the Pathankot Air Base attack (2016) in Indian Punjab.

The Indian government immediately blamed Pakistan and Jaish-e-Muhammad without concluding investigation.

The attack on Indian army base Uri was executed in September 2016.The purpose was to instigate tensions at Pakistan-India border and to build a narrative for a pre-emptive surgical strike in Pakistan.

Indian authorities’ code named the ‘Balakot Operation’ as ‘Operation Bandar’ to minimize the chances of a leak-out.

On 26th February 2019, Indian Air force launched aerial strike near Balakot targeting a religious seminary that India described as a militant camp and claimed killing more than 300 terrorists but without sharing any supporting evidence that could otherwise corroborate the claims.

An investigation by EU Dis-info lab to expose India’s 15 year Propaganda operation targeting the UN and EU to malign Pakistan.

In the end, I must say that India had always tried to bluff the international stake holders and community to project Pakistan as a state sponsoring terrorism.

The above dispassionate analysis of the available facts points towards Indian involvement in sponsoring terrorist activities in Indian mainland and IIoJK.

—The writer is contributing columnist, based in Islamabad.