Modi savages Pakistan's leadership, swears soldiers' martyrdom won't be in vain

It was orator-communicator Narendra Modi at his best. We heard an astute politician, a sharp Prime Minister and a responsible leader looking for a global profile speak at Kozhikode in Kerala on Saturday evening. Given this was Modi's first public speech after last Sunday's terrorist attack, planned and executed by Pakistan, on an Indian Army camp at Uri, resulting in the death of 18 Indian soldiers, anticipations were understandably high. An enraged India wanted to hear reassuring words, calming words. Modi lived up to that expectation. No, he did not indulge in sabre-rattling and fist-waving threats, nor did he declare war on Pakistan, much to the chagrin of some who expected him to do so. Real wars, overt or covert, are not declared from public platforms at political rallies. But what Modi did was smart and clever. He sought to lift the gloom by praising the Army for its successes in foiling Pakistan's evil designs -- 17 incursion attempts by Pakistani terrorists thwarted at the LoC; 110 Pakistani intruders killed. Offset that against the losses at Uri and the Army is seen winning this battle. An aside: Was it an allegorical reference to Mahmud Ghazni's 17 attacks on India? He savaged the political leadership of Pakistan as patently feckless -- Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif reads out what is handed to him by "atankwadiyon ke aka", the bosses of terrorists also known as the Pindi Khakis, the Generals of Rawalpindi. The reference was to Sharif's speech at the UN General Assembly. Contemptuously putting down and looking through the political leadership and its masters in khaki, he addressed the awam, the people, of Pakistan. He ridiculed Pakistan for its threat of waging a 1000-year war on India, first voiced by Zulfi Bhutto who was frog-marched to the gallows by General Zia, who in turn was blown up mid-air by a case of exploding mangoes. Pakistan, he reminded audiences at home and abroad, should remember that it's his, Modi's, Government in Delhi. So bring it on. He poured scorn, without being explicit, on the juju of Pakistan using its nuclear arsenal against India. If Pakistan wants war, it shall have war. A country that constantly boasts of its nuclear stockpile has neither the inclination nor the ability to win the war against poverty, illiteracy, infant deaths. This bit was also a reminder to the world at large that while India is focussed on development, Pakistan is committed to destruction. He roped in other nations tormented by Pakistan and targeted by its state-sponsored terrorists. Afghanistan and Bangladesh were mentioned. Pakistan was cited as the spoiler, the obstructor and the bloodletter trying to halt Asia's march into the 21st century. Never mind dodgy friends on distant shores, India does not stand alone in the neighbourhood. More important, Pakistan is the malcontent, the thug, in Asia and beyond. He reminded the world that increasingly, more often than not, terrorists striking around the world either travel from Pakistan or flee to the country that sheltered Osama bin Laden. It was a blunt message to America that its major non-Nato ally is a producer and protector of global terrorists, a safe haven for jihadis. Wake up and smell the coffee; merely calling terror-sponsoring, terrorist-sheltering Pakistan an "international headache" is not enough. He brutally recalled history -- how the eastern half of Pakistan fell off the map of that moth-eaten country in 1971. Bangladesh was born with more than a little help from India. The liberation war was preceded by Mrs Indira Gandhi taking up the brutal suppression of human rights by the Pakistani Army. Pakistan should worry about Balochistan, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa which are in ferment. If Pakistan could be sliced once, it can be sliced again, and yet again. Only the deaf in Islamabad and the dumb in Rawalpindi would fail to get this message from Kozhikode. And, he chillingly informed the rulers of Pakistan who are under the thumbs of the Pindi Khakis that the day is not far off when Pakistanis will rise against them; that the blood they now shed of others shall be theirs one day; that day is not far off. Pakistan shall be isolated and that its isolation has begun. No, Modi did not rule out exercising hard options in dealing with Pakistan. On the contrary, he iterated, with all the force he could command, menacingly, that the martyrdom of 18 soldiers at Uri would be neither forgotten nor forgiven. The Uri attack calls for a reaction and a response from India. We heard the reaction on Saturday. The response will follow. WATCH PM MODI'S FULL SPEECH HERE