Pakistan cannot go to war or retaliate now, says former RAW chief Vikram Sood

Vikram Sood, who served as the head of R&AW during the Vajpayee years from 2000 to 2003, says Pakistan may have miscalculated India because they would have thought we wouldn’t do anything. “It may be complacency or hubris or an exaggerated notion of self that led them to think so,” quips Sood. He took over as the chief of R&AW after AS Dulat.

“Pakistan has had it coming. They cannot go to a war or retaliate now because it will be seen to be defending an outlawed terrorist organisation. That is not good for them. Pakistan has always been doing something or the other as it is in their nature to do so,” explains former head of R&AW, Vikram Sood, while emphatically ruling out the possibility of a war.

On Tuesday morning, Indian Air Force (IAF) had carried out retaliatory strikes across terror camps in Pakistan in response to the Pulwama attack where 44 CRPF soldiers were killed. Confirming the strike, foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale said India had struck the biggest Jaish facility in Balakot and added that it was a non-military pre-emptive action.

The response of the foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi was measured. Later, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan asked the armed forces and the people of his country to be prepared for “all eventualities”. He added that Pakistan would respond at the time and place of its choosing.

“The Pakistan Prime Minister is not saying this on how own. He is saying this at instance of the Deep State. The Indian government would have factored in all the responses possible by Pakistan, especially what is the worst that would happen and what India could do to be prepared. But, that is how it usually works,” explains Sood.

“Pakistan also cannot say anything else as they have to be seen as taking a stand and attacks will happen again as it is in the nature of Pakistani state to do,” says Sood.