India's surgical strikes will boost US efforts to rein Pak terror

By G Parthasarathy
For over a quarter of a century, Pakistan has waged an undeclared war against India in Jammu and Kashmir, using radical Islamic groups like the Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed, to disrupt life across the LoC and attack Indian security forces.

There have been occasional, small-scale actions to respond to such attacks. But India has abided by the letter and spirit of the Simla Agreement to respect the “sanctity“ of the LoC. While the international community lauded India's “restraint,“ the US and others did little to “restrain“ Pakistan. For India, the Uri attack was the proverbial last straw on the Indian camel's back.

After having blocked 17 recent terrorist infiltration bids and facing growing terrorist strikes across Kashmir Valley , India finally struck back across the LoC, at seven locations, with a meticulously executed attack by its Special Forces. The attack destroyed staging areas for terrorists preparing to cross the LoC and eliminated some of their Pakistan army backers. This military action came after a high-voltage diplomatic offensive led personally by PM Modi in forums like G 20 and Asean, focusing on growing anger in India at unrelenting Pakistani support for terrorist violence.

External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj reinforced the PM's efforts speaking out at the UN General Assembly . All this led to open expressions of support for India from major world powers like Russia, US, UK, France, Germany . Even China was cautious in its response, urging “restraint“. But, what has shaken Pakistan is the support for India from Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar and Bahrain -countries Islamabad regarded as “natural allies“.

The attack across the LoC came after India succeeded in isolating Pakistan in South Asia. New Delhi had been working for weeks to bring diplomatic pressure to bear on Islamabad. Nawaz Sharif and his advisers were shocked when they learnt that Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Bhutan had joined hands to ensure an effective boycott of the November 20 Saarc Summit in Islamabad. Worse still for Pakistan, these countries informed Pakistan and the world that they were boycotting the summit because of Pakistan's policies of supporting terrorism, using radical Islamic groups.

Before Indian troops crossed the LoC to attack terrorist staging areas; Pakistan faced tensions and shootouts on its borders with both Afghanistan and Iran. Tensions on its border with Afghanistan have remained high for the past few months.

It was heartening to see the opposition welcoming the Army action.There are queries on how what has transpired will affect Pakistan's policies. How does one handle nuclear escalation threats by Pakistan? Will Pakistan escalate its terrorist activities? How will the world react to the raid? It would be naïve to believe that Pakistan will end support for terrorism anytime soon. We are dealing with a country which has not hesitated to continue support for the Taliban despite US warnings. While infiltration across the LoC will continue, albeit in a calibrated manner, one should never forget that Pakistan has endeavoured to set up terrorist “sleeper cells“ within India and could well use them.

While countries like the US continue to urge “restraint“ and dialogue“, they will now have to spare no effort to caution Pakistan to rein in terrorism.

An important signal has gone to Pakistan following India's cross-LoC attack, barely a day after its bombastic, but powerless defence minister held out threats to use tactical nuclear weapons, if India escalated matters. India has let it be known that it regards the defence minister's statements as nothing but bluster. New Delhi is aware of Pakistan's nuclear threshold, enunciated by the former head of its nuclear command authority, Lt General Khalid Kidwai. General Kidwai acknowledged that Pakistan would use nuclear weapons only if its populated centres are threatened, or its army is facing defeat. India has no intention of capturing disintegrating Pakistani cities when it is trying to build its own “smart cities“.

India knows that while Pakistan's army may be adventurist, it is not suicidal. It is important for Indians to understand this. Facing a determined but dysfunctional adversary , India has to continue diplomatic efforts to isolate Pakistan in its immediate neighbourhood, while getting world powers and influential Islamic countries to persuade it to mend its ways. No effort should be spared to get the US Congress to declare Pakistan a state sponsor of terrorism. In his speech in Kozhikode, PM Modi reached out to the Pakistani people, asking them to persuade their leaders to work with India in a common quest for progress and prosperity .This message needs to be reiterated.

(G Parthasarathy is a former high commissioner to Pakistan)