N.P. Upadhyaya, Kathmandu: Terrorist attacks and countless deaths world over in no way can be justified. It demands condemnation from the civilized world in the strongest possible words.

Nepalese understand pain of such horrific attacks because for over a decade we have braved this horror sponsored by our so-called closest neighbor, India.

The “sponsored” terrorism that shook Nepal for almost a decade not only took thousands of innocent lives but infrastructures worth billions were also destroyed.

It should be in this backdrop, the February 14, 2019 Avantipura/Pulwama attack in Kashmir has to be taken.

The killings deserve strong condemnation. Our heart goes to the members of the bereaved families. We can feel their pains.

However, Nepal has to watch and carefully analyze whether such sad events were a routine affair of the two warring rivals India and Pakistan or not? The two South Asian nations have been fighting over Kashmir issue since their 1947 partition.

Let us not forget the fact that Kashmir was a sovereign nation prior to the division. The Indian Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru exerted tremendous pressure on King Hari Singh of Kashmir to accept his proposal to join the Indian union or threatened of grave consequences.

The frightened monarch had no other options than to sign the tool of agreement as demanded by PM Nehru.

The rest is history which perhaps Dr. Karan Singh- the heir apparent of Kingdom of Kashmir, could tell if he so desires. Dr. Singh is now an Indian Congress functionary and has been working under Smt. Sonia Gandhi as International relations expert.

Dr. Karan Singh has his relatives in Nepal including the now ousted Nepali monarch.

India and its media have always made it a point to blame Pakistan without wasting even a single second whenever similar incidents of the sort of Pulwama rocks their country.

The hatred against Pakistan continues since 1947. The war of words and some three war(s) of a greater scale over Kashmir have already been fought in between the two inimical nations.

Pakistan denies Indian accusations and claims that plebiscite that had been promised by the first Prime Minister of India, JN Nehru, and later agreed upon by the United Nations also, for the people of Kashmir to determine their own fate, is yet to be materialized.

The UN body too has apparently some soft corner for the Indian denial to the agreed upon plebiscite in Kashmir. This much is clear even to the headless heads.

In 1971, India tore the Eastern portion of Pakistan and helped the Bengali freedom fighters to announce the birth of a new country in South Asia which is what is today’s Bangladesh-Nepal’s next door neighbor.

Now both India and Pakistan have gone nuclear. And this possession of nuclear weapon has definitely enhanced not only the Military Capability but also boosted political strength of Pakistan in the region.

Under this situation, even if India tries to teach a lesson to Pakistan it has to think twice because it could trigger a nuclear war between the two countries.

Nuclear option to resolve any disputes with the country across the border or initiate dialogue with Islamabad to the prevalence of a permanent peace in between the two nations? It all depends on India now.

If and when the two nuclear states prefer a war or are forced to, then the victim is the Greater South Asia, Nepal included.

The destruction then would be beyond any body’s imagination.

Nepal’s matter of concern is only that Nepalis continue to die in this Indian War Game, as some five CRPF men of Nepali origin died in the Pulwama attack.

The question is why India sends soldiers of Nepali origin in its war with countries with which Nepal shares friendly ties with such as Pakistan or China

Nepali Army men serving in the Gorkha regiment were sent to face the Chinese in 1962 and to Siachin and Kargil to face Pakistan.

Rumors have it that the Chinese PLA upon recognizing the Nepali men in the war front during the 1962 war with India treated differently which was pleasing to Nepal.

Mercenary Gorkha soldiers that they are but yet their Nepal connect is what has some sentimental meaning for Nepal.

Nepal’s Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli, whose India tilt is not a secret now, was very quick in condemning the Pulwama attack, but he failed to appeal both India and Pakistan to negotiate the very root cause of the Kashmir conflict?

But he exposed himself by siding with the Indian regime.

War in between the two rivals at this stage may change the very geography of South Asia as both are nuclear states. South Asian political stability much depends on the amicable resolution of the Kashmir issue.

Thus Nepal PM Oli sided with India in haste and has thus assisted New Delhi to kill SAARC- the regional body.

Nepal currently is the Chair of SAARC regional body.

As the current Chair of the SAARC, PM Oli must have told both India and Pakistan to settle their differences amicably. But he ignored this fact.  The reality is that the regional body is no more.

Having said this, a modest suggestion to Pakistan would not be out of place here. This is perhaps the right time for Pakistan to declare that it goes out of SAARC.

This scribe vividly recalls that a former Pakistan Ambassador to Nepal almost a decade ago, Zameer Akram, had openly told some media men in Kathmandu that “For Pakistan, the regional body SAARC is not of that much importance if India impedes its regular activities…We have easy access to the vast expanse of Central Asia to expand our ties”.

“We are in the SAARC only looking into the intimate ties that we have developed with the SAARC countries other than India”, so said Ambassador Akram.

Now that Pakistan is fully engaged with CPEC, it may not even have much attachment with the India controlled SAARC. This is obvious.

Having recorded this, observers are reminded of the now dethroned King Gyanendra who while in power a decade and a half back had time and again appealed the Indian Government then headed by Dr. Man Mohan Singh to understand the real definition of the word terrorism.

“Terrorism is terrorism…it doesn’t differ from country to country…whether it is Nepal or for that matter India,” this the former King had clearly stated, which eventually proved fatal to his throne.

Gyanendra now lives in the country as a commoner.

Take it for granted, India cannot repeatedly harass and humiliate Pakistan as it does quite often to its smaller neighbor, Nepal because Pakistan has a strong Army and has gone nuclear.

The reality is Pakistan’s nuclear capability- a political deterrent, has so far kept stability in the South Asian region.

Having sponsored terrorism in Nepal, India considers Pakistan an “exporter of terrorism.” What a joke?