Well done IAF, now is the turn of diplomats to pile up pressure on Pakistan

It was a spectacular retributive move by the Indian Air Force very early in the morning. Full details of the operation have naturally been withheld but there is no doubt that Indian Mirage planes penetrated deep inside Pakistan and claimed to have destroyed the largest terror camp of Pakistan based in Balakot, close to the Line of Control in occupied Kashmir. There are reports of Indian tanks, too, moving towards the international border. The operation was successful. It was in response to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s reaction to the Pulwama terror attack by a Jaish operative last week. The Prime Minister had authorised the Indian security establishment to take any action of its choice and at a time and place of its choice. Now that the action has been taken, Pakistan has been told in no uncertain terms that it can no longer get away by inflicting a thousand cuts on India.

Significantly, in response to the second round of Indian strategic strike against Pakistan the entire political spectrum in the country has rallied round the government. Right from the Congress President to Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav, almost all opposition leaders have hailed the IAF for its swift operation against Pakistan. It clearly indicates there is a widespread political consensus within the country in support of a war against terrorism. The mood of the nation was already in favour of conveying to Pakistan that India would no longer be a mute spectator to its terrorist designs against us.

Well, India has now proved not once but twice that any terror design against India will not go unpunished. Yet there is no uncertainty that Pakistan will give up its policy of using terror against India. Therefore, there is a need for us to take the Balakot action to its logical conclusion of somehow pushing Pakistan to giveup its designs against India. Of course, hawks will egg the Government on to retaliate with a full scale war and settle the issue once and for all. It’s quite a tempting option at this point of time as well. But India has the track record of never being an aggressor in its post-independent history. Secondly, wars do not solve problems in modern times. Even the mighty Americans have realised decades after initiating a war against the Taliban that they have to sit and talk to resolve the Afghan crisis. So, sooner or later we may have to deal with Pakistan across the table.

It does not mean that Pakistan be allowed to return to its path of terror yet again. There is a widespread feeling within the global community to put an end to the politics of terror. All major powers except China are on board to push Pakistan to dismantle its terror infrastructure that came up there after the Soviet invasion inside Pakistan in the early 1980s. There was a time when Western powers, including America, looked the other way while Pak army went ahead with its terror games across its borders. But the situation has changed since then. Now even Chins has been forced to fall in line to condemn Pakistan in the UN Security Council for the terror strike in Pulwama. Pakistan, in fact, stands diplomatically isolated now on its policy of using terror as strategy. Indian diplomacy has played a key role in pushing Pakistan to the corner.

But India needs to adopt the diplomatic route once again to mount international pressure on Pakistan to take its war against terrorism to the logical conclusion. Our forces have already conveyed to Pakistan that it will not go unpunished if it acts against India. It’s now time for our diplomats to step in and finish the job that our security forces started. Of course, India would not and should not sit quietly if Pakistan decides to attack us. But for now, the best course is to diplomatically move head on against Pakistan to pressurise it to give up its policy of terror against its neighbours, lest it turns out to be a pyrrhic victory.