Back in 2016 Uri attack happened, post which India conducted surgical strikes in POK to get rid of some terrorist launchpads etc. What did we gain after that? Terrorism survived, terrorist attack still happened. Last month, Pulwama suicide attack happened, post which India conducted air strikes in Pakistan. Is anything going to change after this? Especially after Pakistan retaliating the way they did, proving that Imran Khan’s Naya Pakistan is not any different from the business as usual Pakistan, the Pakistan we all know, the Pakistan that the world knows, the Pakistan that is still not ready to change its attitude towards terror outfits. Was the air strike worth it? We should be asking ourselves “What did we actually gain after all this? Did we gain anything at all?”
More importantly, How do we fix this problem?
Can peace be the way towards fixing this issue? Or is a full fledged war a solution to this problem?
If war was an answer, we should have already fixed the problem. India and Pakistan had already engaged in four full fledged wars, although, Pakistan claims they were not a part of Kargil war. The problem is still there, that means war is not an answer at all. (Read: The Unsolicited FEAR)
If peace was an answer, we should have already fixed the problem. India and Pakistan had engaged only in four full fledged wars in last seven decades; rest of the times peace methods like “Aman Ki Aasha” or “Samjhauta Express” or “Most Favored Nation” were utilized. The problem is still there, that means you can keep making a fool out of yourself for hundred more years, peace is not going to fix anything.
You might not like Modi, but his government’s methods are the only way of getting rid of the terror problem.
Did you observe that as soon as the Pulwama attack happened, the Pakistani authorities started threatening India of retaliation? Why? It was not them who suffered the losses. It was India who suffered the losses. They knew that unlike Imran Khan’s New Pakistan, Modi’s New India is truly different (for good or bad, you decide) from the India of the past, including the India at the time of Mr. Vajpayee. They very well had an idea that India is definitely going to strike. This is why the terrorists temporarily relocated from the POK to Pakistan. But what they failed to measure was the pace at which India changed. They had absolutely no clue to what extent India had already changed in just five years of Modi government and it would not only cross the border but also drop bombs on the terror camps. Terrorists from now on will have to think about the safe havens for themselves, because Pakistan is not safe for them any more. This fear is good. Fear is an excellent deterrent.
This air strike followed by a dogfight exposed Pak’s Nuclear bluff. For the first time they would have realized that they will not be using them as it is not in their best interest. Until that day, no matter what the situation was, they always brought Nuclear Bombs in the discussion. As if they were noodles and not nukes. Apart from the obvious reasons of not using nukes, there is something more important which is why they can’t use them. It is not that they are into peace or love of mankind, it is something else. India is one of the only six countries (the US, Russia, China, France and Israel) that have a functional Ballistic Missile Defense System. To be able to hit one target, they will have to use not one but way way more missiles to breach that Iron Dome.
It may very well be possible that without a functional BMD system, if they initiate a nuclear war, before they would succeed in hitting even one target after being able to breach BMD system, India would be able to cover that piece of land with a mushroom cloud; all of it. And why can’t Pakistan build a BMD system for themselves? You could ask Mikhail Gorbachev, the former president of the Soviet Union who got so spooked by the US Stars Wars project that he threw in the towel and disbanded the world’s second most powerful nation as he found it too expensive to build. I don’t think Pakistan is a cash rich country at this point in time.
India is truly a peace loving country, has a strict no-first-attack policy. If India was not a peace loving country, the day India was able to achieve that Ballistic Missile Defense System, there would have been a country and 200 million people less in this world. You could look at India’s history the country never invaded any part of the world, even when invading was in fashion. Pakistani’s think that India would have attacked them if they did not have nukes, that’s completely incorrect. Bangladesh does not have nukes, did India even show any kind of aggression towards them? Never! In fact the same Modi government, who some say hostile towards a community gave away 10,000 extra acres to them(who happen to be that community) in enclave swapping, just to keep peace and cordial relations.
Forget a nuclear war, in the current circumstances Pakistan cannot even afford a war. Their so-called friends would not even allow them to even think on these lines. Both Chinese and the Saudi did not back them this time. Why? First, India is a six to eight times a market bigger than that of Pakistan for these two countries (both for Oil from Saudi and other goods from China); money matters! whoever says it doesn’t is probably planning a scam. Second, both of them are invested heavily in terms of finances in Pakistan, if a war happens their investments get flushed. Even the OIC did not back them this time. In fact they invited India as guest of honor for the very first time. Apart from them, in the current dogfight and not even a war, Pakistan suffered heavy losses. Their stock market fell by around 1300 points, they closed the airspace completely i.e. grounded all the civilian flights, blackouts and so on. May be this was the “peace gesture” of sending Abhinandan back home. Each extra day would have taken them towards the edge.
Moreover, Abhinandan’s historic and the only F-16 kill, that too by a ’60s jet MiG-21 is not only going to give sleepless nights to a number of pilots across the world but also shows Pakistan’s war preparedness. In addition to this, how do you think IAF jets went inside bombed the target and came back? Simply because they did not expect India of any such activities and were not spending much on their border defense. They will now have to increase their defense budget which is already 3.6% of their GDP as of now by several folds so as to even think of an armed conflict. Why? They are not even prepared to defend their borders let alone wage a war. They need to develop their war skills. This would lead to an even bigger economic crisis. In short they will have to let go of something. Either they could keep on supporting/funding whoever they support/fund/protect and at the same time also increase spending on their defense; as a result forcing civilians to live in poverty. Or they could part ways with the anti-social elements, terrorist and spare the country with the extra financial burden. Its their choice.
Imran Khan himself says, his country has been a victim of terrorism. Yes, do I believe that. They are the victim of something they themselves created, of course for others, the concept of good Taliban and bad Taliban. Now, since the US backed out of the Afghan war, what do the good Taliban do? Do the same but in Pakistan instead of Afghanistan. He himself claimed that there was no civilian damage at all after the strikes. The strikes were not on Pakistan, but on terror. Imran Khan should use his political tactics and diplomacy and let India help him in the clean up process. Or may be he already is doing it. Is it possible that he knew about this before hand and turned a blind eye? This is not the conventional way of cleaning up but remember, even though Pakistan and India got independence in the same year, however, we are staring at the 15th national elections and his was the second time when the power changed hands democratically although with allegations of large scale rigging.
In short, he made it abundantly clear that terrorists are on their own. India can and will hit them whenever it wants and with whatever it thinks best. And there will be no consequences. Sending three of their jets is not a consequence, it is saving their face in front of their local audience. Border shelling and ceasefire violation is also not a consequence, there were more than a couple thousand such violations from their end in last few years, it is only that we civilians did not know about it or rather did not care about these violations. All the major powers in the world are quite on this, for this very reason. They know exactly what is happening.
The monster they created, thinking they would always be able to control it, is now out of control and voraciously feeding on them too. If it is of any consolation to them, Indian National Congress also created some different kinds of monster who are eating India from the inside: the vote bank politics, freebie politics, using reservation for votes etc etc, Congress created them. May be that is why Congress’ views and Pakistan’s views are similar, they both know what they did in past. They both are somehow always on the same page.
Also read: The Mother of all Miseries and the Father of all Frauds.
Thanks for your time!
