Pakistan has washed its hands of the deadly terrorist attack on the Indian Army camp in Uri. India’s rogue neighbour could not be expected to do anything else. Sartaj Aziz, foreign affairs adviser to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, blamed India when he said the attack was an attempt to detract attention from the on-going crisis in Kashmir.
But what Aziz says should be of little interest to us. We are being bled systematically by the jihadi machine run by Rawalpindi GHQ. We lose our men at regular intervals to these unholy jihadis profaning the name of Islam by killing innocents in the name of Allah.
And the onus to come up with an effective response to not only avenge the deaths of the 18, who died in Uri, but many more who were killed in several such attacks earlier, lies with us Indians. Unless the people are united and determined to blunt the challenge the terrorist neighbour poses to our peace and prosperity, no Government will feel fortified enough to take a tough stand.
From Pathankot in January to Uri in September, Pakistan has demonstrated that it persists with its policy of bleeding India through a thousand cuts. Such atrocities help contain the rising unrest and anger among ordinary Pakistanis against the ruling establishment which has enriched itself enormously while the people suffer from poverty, hunger and other indignities.
Yet, mounting a credible response against the dispensers of evil across the border is not going to be easy. Unlike Pakistan, which relies on a huge fifth column in India to torment us, we have to devise a response which is effective and also commensurate with the provocation. A surgical strike within Pakistan-occupied Kashmir to decimate the terrorist training camps remains an option.
However, it is not the only option. A suggestion is to penalise Pakistan by stopping the flow of waters under the unequal river waters treaty. Isolating Pakistan in multilateral bodies is unlikely to have much effect since Pakistan is beyond global shame.
Frankly, if our national polity could muster a greater degree of unity we should try and break free from the chains of a special status that have prevented India from treating Jammu & Kashmir on an equal footing with the rest of the Union. For nearly 70 years the Kashmir boil on the body politic has caused immense pain and imposed huge costs on India without showing any sign of healing. The Government needs to lance this boil once for all.
This should not be seen as an attempt to renege on solemn agreements, since the same Constitution which granted Kashmiris special status also committed them to swear complete allegiance to the Indian Union. Nor will it be an attempt at establishing equivalence with Pakistan which after illegally occupying a part of Kashmir parceled out some of it to China and in the other it settled non-Kashmiris to make the locals aliens in their own home.
The world at large would understand if after 70 years India in sheer desperation were to try and stop the constant interference of Pakistan by removing artificial barriers between Kashmir and the rest of the country. Breach of the agreement by the secessionists/separatists is a valid reason for India to take all measures aimed at defending its sovereignty and integrity.
If Pakistan has merrily messed with India without caring a fig for international opinion, India cannot sit idle, trotting out the lame excuse that it is not Pakistan and therefore cannot renege on the J and K accession agreement to justify its lack of will and courage.
Strong nations do not suffer daily ignominy, or a thousand cuts as Pakistan’s policy-makers would put it, and offer excuses for passivity. Fear of escalation between two nuclear-armed states cannot be allowed to become the albatross around India’s neck. Someday Pakistan’s bluff has to be called.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was given an unprecedented mandate just so he could provide a strong and stable Government. If he fails to come up with an effective response, people will lose faith in his leadership and our armed forces would feel demoralised.
People are angry. Using strong words and threatening a strong response without an iota of evidence of action will prove counter-productive. Ruling party members should exercise restraint in the use of their vocal chords. And let real action do the talking.
The timing and type of action is for the strategists to decide. But it should be such that the Rawalpindi GHQ and its surrogates like Hafiz Sayeed lose their sleep. They cannot go on perpetrating evil indefinitely.
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