Every time terrorists strike a blow we hear the same chorus condemning the ‘dastardly crime committed by cowards’ and promises to give them ‘a befitting reply.’ The breast-beating by the bereaved families and chest-thumping by those elected to protect us sound discordant notes. Balakot and Pulwama are still fresh in memory. Nor have attacks on Mumbai, Akshardham and Indian Parliament been forgotten. These are dramatic incidents of bloodshed that have been countered by surgical strikes or appropriate calibrated response, military and diplomatic. Sadly, nothing has worked.
Pakistan continues to wage its ‘war of thousand cuts’ backed by powerful patrons like China and the US. Both have exercised vetoes in the UN security council to save Pakistan from being declared a terrorist state or to designate individuals whom it harbours as international terrorists. Pakistan has long been identified as a failed state, a bankrupt state, a nation under the boot of a self-serving army that has brought the state on the verge of implosion. This is no time for blame games. The nation must remain united in face of an existential threat. Make no mistake, India’s failure to exterminate the root of evil threatens the unity, integrity and the composite inclusive culture that is our priceless heritage.
The turbulence unleashed by Trump has changed the international environment adversely for the pursuit of Indian national interest. The mindless tariffs imposed on friends and foes alike is bound to affect the rise of resurgent India. His plans to carve out the world into spheres of influence between three major powers has little space for India—the most populous nation on the planet and the fifth largest economy. MAGA doesn’t fit well with India First. The problem is even more complex where China is concerned. The border dispute and eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation with China can’t be wished away.
A lot of what comprises a large part of our exports to the US and Europe depends on what we import from China. The old saying ‘you can run with the hounds and hunt with hares’ has assumed particular relevance. India has for much too long been performing a precarious dance on the tight rope. Balancing its ties with Russia and the US. Now the game has changed to a trapeze without a safety net. One is expected to take a leap of faith into dark empty space and hope that someone whose face we can’t see will expertly catch us in his embrace, swinging back to safety.
The torment countless Indians are going through after Pahalgam slaughter of innocent tourists constraints them to ask in a shrill wail: How long will this go on? The real tragedy of Pahalgam is the exposure of India’s utter helplessness in stopping Pakistan from proving a sanctuary to secessionists and terrorists of all shades. The government in Pakistan, as always, has asked India to provide ‘credible proof ’ of Pakistan’s complicity in this gruesome terror strike. Earlier, whenever evidence has been shared it has been met with stubborn refusals. Cloaks-and-daggers operations are planned and executed with plausible deniability.
It’s futile to thunder about punishing the perpetrators of crime against humanity when we, for reasons unfathomable, continue to delude ourselves that a breakthrough can be achieved through civil society initiatives. Public opinion can’t influence policy in a military dictatorship. The charade of playing one-day cricket in neutral grounds should be given up at once. It needs to be communicated to this unfriendly, nay inimical, neighbour unmistakably that it will have to pay for each of its misadventures dearly and immediately. Diplomatic tit for tat and talk of carefully nuanced calibrated response to each cut delivered to make India bleed have failed miserably. We must realise that our multiple strategic partnerships are not of much use as a protective shield against Pakistan. Its own multiple alliances and strategic partnerships have saved it from being excommunicated from international community. Pakistan has never been able to reconcile with its breakup post liberation of Bangladesh, assisted by India in 1971. More than half a century has passed and no purpose is served today by referring to past milestones like Simla, Tashkent and the Peace Safari undertaken by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Raking up stereotyped images of bloodthirsty idol-braking Arab, Turko-Afghan and Mongol invaders from past distracts us from deadly attacks and aggression like Pahalgam. Let’s learn living in the present with our eyes sharply focused on near future.
However, determination to fight back Pakistan’s nefarious designs should not make all Indian Muslims—hundreds of millions of patriotic citizens—suspects as ‘Pakistani agents’. This will only play into the hands of the enemy trying to make India a house divided against itself that can’t stand.