T R Ramachandran
The Pakistan aided terror attack by the JeM in Uri on Sunday has sent the mercury shooting in the establishment in New Delhi. Expectedly there are demands for strong action and taking revenge against Pakistan which has become the centre for transborder terrorism in South Asia. Inexplicably it has taken 26 years for the Centre to reach this inflexion point after being repeatedly accused of being a soft state.
The restraint has been for much too long. At the same time the wife and close relatives of the martyrs demanding severe action against those responsible for this mayhem is only to be expected. They were angry that this has been going on for too long. Enough is enough and their sentiments cannot be wished away as being emotional. Amid the demands for military action, the DGMO Lt Gen Ranbir Singh affirmed action will be taken “at a place and time of our choosing.”
The timing of the Uri attack has set Islamabad watchers thinking. The fidayeen killing 18 army personnel using incendiary bombs is the largest in an army establishment in the last two decades. Further it coincided with the birthday of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. There was a similar attempt made simultaneously in Poonch which was nullified with another four fidayeen being killed there.
Despite the intelligence of a daring terrorist attack, there were serious lapses in Uri which was not the case in Poonch. The army is investigating the matter to fix accountability and plug the loopholes. Nevertheless, the powerful military establishment in Islamabad trying to bleed this country for a hundred years has overplayed its hands. Their Army chief Raheel Sharif due to retire shortly held a meeting at the GHQ in Rawalpindi and spoke of their preparedness to meet any eventuality. India's discomfiture arises from the fact that the terrorists and their masters across the border have been able to choose any target in this country and attack it at will.
Having succeeded in raising India's hackles, New Delhi's action has to be thought out carefully both militarily and diplomatically even as efforts to isolate Pakistan as a sponsor of state terror have gained momentum. The Army has consistently emphasised that it will decide its spot and timing, warning that the consequences will be telling. However, no such action has been undertaken so far.
There is also no room for rage even though leaders of the BJP have expressed their views in no uncertain terms of blowing the “jaw for every tooth.” Amid all this rhetoric it must be realised that both India and Pakistan are nuclear powers. On his part the Prime Minister has been circumspect and measured observing that the perpetrators of the attack will not go unpunished.
The discriminating realise that providing foolproof security in a large and diverse country like India is an extremely difficult proposition. The security establishment including the Army has been overstretched and faces an extremely difficult time on the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir where the internal situation is at its worst in the Valley in the last two decades. The Army is engaged in assisting the civilian administration and the police in restoring calm in the Valley.
As usual Islamabad is ever ready to fish in troubled waters by whipping up tension, violence and instability along the LOC to scuttle the renewed political dialogue in Kashmir where the disturbances have already lasted 70 days and the death toll has exceeded the 75 mark. J&K chief minister Mehbooba Mufti has reasons to believe that the Uri attack is aimed at triggering fresh violence and creating a war like situation in the region. The heightened tension in the wake of the terrorist attack will further vitiate the atmosphere increasing Indo-Pak hostility. “People of J&K already mired in an agonising situation shall have to bear the maximum brunt of the fresh attempts being made to step up violence and fresh bloodshed in the state,” she cautioned.
The BJP-led NDA government can opt for hard options short of a full scale war. It is only the Modi government which has an appreciation of those choices. It is not anybody's case that the Centre should spell out these options. While the Prime Minister has the backing of the entire nation, Pakistan must know terror tactics is not going to unnerve India as underlined by President Pranab Mukherjee.
At the session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will once again try drumming up support for his country. He has urged the US leaders including Secretary of State John Kerry to use their good offices in starting the stalled Indo-Pak composite dialogue. He is scheduled to meet lame duck American President Barack Obama and address the UN General Assembly today.
External Affairs minister Sushma Swaraj is also in New York and scheduled to address the UNGA on September 26, strongly rebutting the charges of Sharif seeking to internationalise the Kashmir issue yet again. Swaraj made available the proof of Pakistan's direct involvement in the Uri attack to the international community in a renewed bid to isolate Islamabad for sponsoring terrorism in South Asia. Modi has also forcefully raised this matter about Pakistan becoming the epicentre of terrorism at various international fora.
It is no secret that Pakistan wants to keep the Valley on the boil to counter Modi raising the Balochistan issue. Several major powers including France have condemned the terrorist attack. The Russian Federation has cancelled its military exercises with Pakistan in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (POK).
Indian security forces have been dealing with militancy and cross border infiltration in Jammu and Kashmir since 1990 if not earlier. The decline in violence was achieved in 1914 and since then there has been a steady increase in infiltration attempts and to create an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty.
New Delhi needs to send a clear signal to those inimical to it that it is capable of protecting its national interests. It should also make a strong pitch for imposing sanctions against Pakistan. India-Pakistan relations are unlikely to be the same again.
