Following the heinous terror attack on tourists in Pahalgam, New Delhi has announced stern measures against Pakistan. Steps such as suspending the Indus Water Treaty of 1960, declaring Pakistani military attachés in the embassy as persona-non-grata, and three other actions are seen as just the beginning of a more serious punitive response. In a bid to conceal its panic following India’s strong retaliation, Islamabad has also announced reciprocal measures. Pakistan has convened an emergency National Security Committee meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, amid escalating tensions with India. There are also unconfirmed reports suggesting that Pakistan’s army is getting war-ready, expecting the situation to escalate.
The terror attack on tourists in Pahalgam on 22 April confirms two important aspects of internal security. First, the findings and recommendations of the Kargil Review Committee report, along with the lessons it offered to the government and its various security-related departments, appear to have suffered from a lack of follow-up, upgrades, and implementation. Several steps, such as the establishment of the National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO) in 2004—a tech-intelligence gathering body—and counter-terrorism mechanisms like plugging gaps in intelligence, and improving border and defence management to prevent another Kargil-like intrusion, were initiated after the report. Yet, terror attacks from Pakistan have not stopped.
Uri, Pathankot, Pulwama, and now Pahalgam—not to mention several other sporadic attacks on army personnel and establishments—exemplify the sad reality that we have not done enough to strengthen internal security, streamline intelligence gathering, and improve coordination among agencies. We have not fortified our border security to create sufficient layers in the counter-terrorism mechanisms, considering the long-term objectives of the Pakistan Army: to bleed India through a thousand cuts.
Also read: Pahalgam attack: Pakistan wants a never-ending war, let’s give it one
Pakistani Army’s grip
India must understand the psychology driving Pakistan’s policy apparatus. There is little doubt that the Pakistani Army maintains a vice-like grip over the country’s political system. Once considered indispensable by the US during its occupation of Afghanistan, the Pakistani Army lost its strategic relevance on the Western front after the Biden administration made a hasty retreat from Kabul. The Taliban regime in Kabul has more or less become an adversary of the Pakistani military, belaying all expectations of camaraderie, as evidenced by increasing attacks on Pakistani personnel and civilians in the Sistan-Baluchestan border area.
Meanwhile, the Baloch freedom struggle is gaining momentum and appears poised to secede. The Pakistani Army has abysmally failed to protect Chinese workers and engineers involved in China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects. Beijing’s strategic Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) seems to have run out of steam in the region. A rebellion in the Pashto-dominated northwest would seriously jeopardise Chinese assets in Gilgit-Baltistan. Gulf countries are also in no mood to entertain a bankrupt Pakistan. While Saudi Arabia has been a major foreign donor—probably the third-largest after the US and China—Pakistan’s refusal to join the Arab coalition against the Houthis has further strained ties.
With Iran, Afghanistan, China, and the United States all totally frustrated with the toothless government in Islamabad and its military string-pullers, Pakistan’s last hope was its eastern neighbour, India. But as the Sanskrit adage goes, “vinasha kale vipareeta buddhi” (when doom approaches, the mind falters). In an anti-India rant, Pakistan Army Chief General Asim Munir has revived the importance of the two-nation theory—long buried since 1971—as essential to Pakistan’s existence.
There could be two reasons behind this “back to basics” speech. One is the perceived success of Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) in its subversive role in overthrowing a democratic government in Dhaka. ISI sleeper cells have long operated discreetly, infiltrating the ranks of Jamaat-e-Islami and radicalising a large section of the political class. The second reason is the recent pat on the back from Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who never stops dreaming of a new Caliphate and sees a natural ally in “Mughal” Pakistan. PM Shehbaz Sharif expressed his “sincere gratitude” to his “dear brother Erdogan” in a joint news conference on Tuesday for “Turkey’s unwavering support on the Kashmir issue,” while reiterating Pakistan’s support for Turkey’s occupation of Northern Cyprus.
On the same day as the Pahalgam attack, Pakistan and Turkey signed several agreements, including a defence cooperation pact. The Pakistani Army could rely heavily on Turkish military support in the event of an armed conflict with India.
Also read: Pakistan’s isolating itself in the Muslim world by backing terrorism
A solution exists
The Pakistani Army arguably qualifies as the world’s largest terror outfit. Its footprints are found in ISIS, the Houthis, Hamas, attacks on Christians in Colombo, the Xinjiang uprising, and Jamaat-e-Islami hooliganism in Bangladesh. Several terrorists and terror attacks all over the world have been traced back to training camps festering in Pakistan.
In such circumstances, idealistic calls from pontificating Indians for peaceful coexistence with a fanatical Pakistan only rub salt in the wound of Partition. The Pakistani army continues to use its state to produce terrorists and mercenaries, especially in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). But dismantling individual terror modules is futile unless the fountainhead—the army—is neutralised. The de-militarisation of Pakistan would not only be an effective step in global counter-terrorism efforts but also liberate its people from military tyranny, backwardness, and economic woes.
India must punish Pakistan’s army and dislodge it from the occupied territories in PoK. Nothing short of a 1971-like treatment—liberating Balochistan and Sindh and reclaiming PoK, including Gilgit-Baltistan—can end the terror menace. All other measures will yield limited results and fail to stop cross-border terrorism.
Seshadri Chari is the former editor of ‘Organiser’. He tweets @seshadrichari. Views are personal.
(Edited by Prashant)
“When you have to shoot, shoot. Don’t talk.” – Eli Wallach as ‘Tuco’
Mr. Chari acts as if the whole world along with Indralok is pleading, and holding back this Govt. from performing what is for it a trivial task.
I beg Mr. Chari to tarry no more. Recite the mantra for the Govt. to bare its mighty chest and powerful arms, and take back PoK, our Chinese occupied territories, and Tibet.
Like Hanuman who loomingly rises to bludgeon those who dare glance unchastely at Mother Sita, your party’s Govt. should rise to shield Bharat from any scratch, and bulldoze Pakistan and China into the dust.
While it is at it, it might as well also bulldoze Nepal, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. And Maldives and Turkey. And Canada. These countries too don’t deserve any mercy. They all have made it a habit of walking all over us, and making us feel small, dirty, and discarded.
Why the effete dithering?
Is it that those ill-begotten nations won’t be dealt with as easily as it is to organize the rape and killing of innocent, unarmed citizens? Or the cruel, senseless bullying of Kashmiri students?
When it is time, those who are strong, act . They don’t merely and endlessly yap.
That’s why I did not bother to glance at Mr. Shekhar Gupta’s piece which is on the “nuances” in the Hon. PM’s statement.
What curves and nuances could there really be? It does not take much for the bewitched to imagine complex shapes in empty space. And marvel at them.
Instead, I recalled myself marvelling recently at Mr. Alex Philip’s given revelation of his remarkable hindsight that also got cast ahead as an uncanny foresight, and which made out that if Balakot had happened now (i.e., when Mr. Alex Philip was having his epiphany), then the Airforce would have used their Rafale aircraft instead of Mirages.
That bright and intricate contrarian thought deservedly required the whole article for itself.
Nevertheless, my own reflections make me continue to wonder….notwithstanding…how that would still not be or have been too extreme. Especially, when we have our Gnats and Canberras standing idle in their hangars.
This is rooted in idealism rather then reality. Pakistan is a nuclear armed nation. There is no way India can carry out a 71 style partition of Pakistan and come away unscathed. Instead of 26 deaths, India will have 26 million.
India should focus on courting more allies, isolate Pakistan on the world stage and covert anti terror operations, cyber attacks etc. At the same time extend more support to Pashtuns and Balochis and the Taliban. To counter Turkey, learn from Russia who has effectively countered Turkish drones. And consider increasing ties with Kurdish groups and Iran.
And tone down the anti Muslim rhetoric in India. Indian Muslims are still Indians. All that manufactured hate just ends up playing into the hands of Pakistan and it’s allies.
We are incapable of reclaiming POK. We don’t have money, armaments, political will, and diplomatic backing to do it.