GIVE PAK BASED TERROR A BLOODY NOSE

Enough is enough! The dastardly suicide terror attack on a CRPF convoy by a Pakistani terror outfit Jaishe-Mohammed which has claimed responsibility for it, ramming an explosives-laden SUV into a convoy of heavily-guarded vehicles, deserves the strongest Indian deterrent action. The Pakistan government, propped up by military support, must know that India is fully capable of giving it a bloody nose. The surrender of over 93,000 Pakistani troops to the Indian army to free the then nascent state of Bangladesh from Pakistan control in 1971 can hardly be forgotten. It is puerile for Pakistan to hold out the threat of nuclear attack. If Islamabad indulges in any nuclear misadventure it would be obliterated. The Narendra Modi government’s credentials as being different from its predecessor Congress government which was in all manner of means weak-kneed is indeed on severe test. It would be foolhardy for India to buckle under pressure of being confronted by a nuclear-armed Pakistan.

If it is established beyond doubt that the Pulwama terror attack was Pakistan’s handiwork as have been several earlier terror strikes, India must act decisively to target the recalcitrant neighbour’s terror machine and destroy terror training camps including those of Jaish. There are, indeed, no two ways about it. The Pakistanis have stretched India’s patience to the limit and must be prepared for the strongest offensive. This must be accompanied by a diplomatic offensive the like of which has not been seen before. That India has withdrawn the most-favoured-nation status to Pakistan in trade can only be a first step. Much more needs to be done to teach the Pakistanis a lesson that they would never forget.

That the initial count of casualties on the CRPF side is a whopping 44 and this could go up, and that this is the highest in any terror attack since Pakistan-sponsored terror first began in Kashmir nearly three decades ago, is testimony to the way Jaish and similar outfits have been emboldened by the complicity of successive Pakistani regimes. Equally outrageous has been the Chinese stand at the United Nations where that country has blocked all efforts to declare JeM’s chief, Masood Azhar, as an international terrorist. The Chinese indeed reiterated soon after the Pulwama attack that Masood was not a terrorist. This cannot go on. It is in the interests of the world at large to support India whole hog in tracking down Pakistan’s terror factories and bringing some sanity into Pakistan’s civilian and military establishments. The Chinese have been exposed for their duplicity and must be over-ruled. The US has for long been warning Pakistan to dismantle its terror outfits and infrastructure but the Pakistanis have ignored them. It is high time that Pakistan acts or else it must be labelled a ‘terror state.’ The Russians too must wake up to Pakistan’s threat to international peace and order. It has indeed been proved time and again that Pakistan is the fountainhead of international terror. Just minutes after he carried out the attack, the suicide bomber, Adil Ahmed Dar, was shown in a JeM video that was shot before Dar set out on the savagery where he was seen brandishing rifles, grenades, and magazines and speaking about the ‘atrocities’ faced by the Muslims of Kashmir. It is difficult to believe that the Pakistan establishment did not know of the then impending suicide attack by the bomber. The Opposition in India led by the Congress has made it a habit to flay everything that the Modi government does. It is important that the country stands as one with the government on terrorism and on telltale complicity of the Pakistani establishment. This is not the time for a soft approach towards perpetrators of terror. When it comes to an external enemy, all political parties must close ranks.

The Pulwama terror attack was doubtlessly a failure of intelligence. It fails one how the loading of the SUV with 250 kilograms of explosives went undetected. Those guilty of hiding the truth must be duly punished. Only a multipronged approach can prevent such incidents in future not the least of which must be strong, deterrent action against the perpetrators of terror based in Pakistan. The message must go out loud and clear that India cannot be messed around with.