After retribution

IAF's professionalism matched by govt's measured response

The air strikes by the Indian Air Force (IAF) on a terrorist-training camp in the Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa should not have come as a surprise to Pakistan, given that the Indian leadership had virtually promised retribution for the killing of at least 40 central policemen in Kashmir earlier this month in a Jaish-e-Mohammad suicide attack. That it did take the Pakistanis by surprise is due largely to careful planning and the professional skill of the IAF’s Mirage 2000 pilots, who executed a deep incursion into heavily defended airspace and returned after successfully completing their mission. This military professionalism was complemented by the restraint with which the government announced the strike. Eschewing triumphalism and chest thumping, the foreign secretary emphasised that the targets were terrorists and not the Pakistani military or innocent civilians. The careful use of the phrase “non-military” operation is designed to make the point that India has not hit military targets. So if Pakistan responds against military targets, it will be guilty of escalation. The Pakistani military must surely be in soul-searching mode about being caught napping yet again, as it was in 2011, when US commandos flew deep into Pakistan and killed Osama bin Laden near Abbottabad. It cannot have been missed that the target chosen was in mainland Pakistan, not in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir.

The government is also to be complimented for taking the Opposition into confidence after the Pulwama attack, and this allowed planning to be carried out without worrying about political considerations. The Opposition, in turn, has, for the most part, thrown its weight behind the government — a rare, but welcome, bipartisan consensus. The government also deserves kudos for skilful diplomacy, which included briefing foreign envoys about Indian compulsions after the Jaish-e-Mohammad proclaimed ownership of the Pulwama attack and yet Pakistan refused to act against the group. The outcome of this diplomacy is evident from the international community’s broad acceptance of the air strikes. Even China has advocated restraint and an improvement in relations.

The ball is now in Pakistan’s court and the generals will decide whether they want to escalate, whether through air strikes, ground raids or stepping up activity by its terrorist proxies. Predictably, belligerent statements have been made, but Islamabad (and Rawalpindi) must weigh the fact that India’s military would be fully geared to handle revenge attacks and would, if necessary, escalate matters further. All three services have already been placed on high alert. Additional police forces have already been moved into Kashmir. The government says they are for election duty, but it goes without saying that they would boost the state response to any uptick in terrorism.

Beyond these recent incidents, the core concern about Kashmir and terrorism continues. India remains with the problem of finding a solution to Kashmiri anger and resentment, so that the disaffected youth are not pushed into becoming cannon fodder for groups like the Jaish. The crackdown on separatists is unlikely to curb the ideology of separatism in any way, with dialogue and engagement providing a more effective route. At the same time, it is in both Pakistan’s and India’s interests to de-escalate the situation purposefully so that the Line of Control does not flare up in tit-for-tat actions that serve no purpose but to claim lives on both sides.