Dear Aman Ki Asha Bridage & Pseudo-Liberals / Intellectuals and others in general,
Thank you for forcing me to wake up
from my self-induced writers’ block to respond to the “Aman ki Asha” (AKA
henceforth) brigade amongst my friends and acquaintances, who have blamed me
for being an arm-chair activist (true) demanding war with Pakistan when it
achieves no purpose except loss of lives on both sides. The human cost is too
high it seems (which I agree and is true). Their argument can be effectively summed
up as below:
The context (we all know):
14th February 2019 was
a red-letter day for the Indian defense forces for all the wrong reasons; a
fidayeen attack carried out on the CRPF convoy in Pulwama led to the death of
44 jawans. Instead of red-roses, we had our streets bloodied red with the blood
of our soldiers. JeM, head-quartered in the terrorist haven of the world – none
other than Pakistan; unabashedly claimed the responsibility for the attack. Whether
ISI or Pakistan Army had any direct involvement, it is not yet in public domain;
but the irrefutable fact remains that the terror emanated from Pakistan. It is
the largest peace time loss of jawans for India in Kashmir since independence.
What many of our anti-Modi Indian
citizens claim due to anti-Hindutva rhetoric – it is a tactic by the government
to garner votes ahead of the general elections three months from now; also
stooped as low as classifying the martyrs according to their castes; all of
these intellectuals are alteast college graduates mind you; part of the ‘tukde gang’; ignoring
the basic fact that 44 unarmed jawans martyred wasn’t good enough for any Indian to demand for retaliation. In part I do hold Indian media accountable for
creating forced hysteria which has given further impetus to the claims of these
section of the society.
When surgical strike took place
post Uri attacks, it wasn’t a vote garnering tactic then, at a national level; thankfully
state elections in 5 states took place before September 2016. The surgical strikes have
been vehemently denied till date by Pakistan against all proofs shared. It is a
different topic altogether whether the operational details of the strike should
have been made public by the Modi government or not for two reasons:
- Such strikes become difficult to carry out in future.
- Pseudo-liberals and anti-nationals will always question the motive of the government for making it public in lieu of garnering points by ratcheting up levels of jingoism amongst the general populace.
The knee-jerk reaction (as per pseudo-intellectuals):
Irrespective of the above, it
became imperative that Modi government responded by force to the dastardly
attack in Pulwama to ensure that Pakistan understands that such attacks will
have a consequence and will not go unpunished. My personal assessment amongst
these same set of friends and acquaintances was that India will retaliate
within 2 weeks; indeed, Indian fighter jets took punitive measures in Balakot
and two other locations demolishing Jaish training infrastructure after 12 days;
not causing any civilian or military losses on Pakistan’s side (Indian MEA
carefully crafted the narrative; kudos to them).
Key Point to note: It was deep inside Pakistan crossing the de-facto
LoC in Kashmir; first time since 1971 Indian fighter jets crossed Pakistani airspace.
Pakistan had to respond to save
its face. So, it did by intruding inside Indian airspace the next day resulting
in the loss of one Pakistani and one Indian aircraft respectively. The fall out
of this was the unfortunate capture of the Indian Airforce pilot as paraded by
Pakistan in violation of Geneva convention.
For the last 48 hours, there has
been constant barrage on social media and news channels, high on adrenalin
about how India avenged Pulwama followed by the anguish over capture of the
Indian Pilot. Thanks to Pakistani disinformation campaign through social media,
it has been able to effectively arm both the arm-chair activists like me as
well as the opposing camp of pseudo-liberals calling for opposing set of
actions – peace! The pseudo liberal camp wants “Aman, Shanti & dialogue”
with Pakistan forgetting the basic facts that:
- India has been having dialogues with Pakistan for the last 70 years
- After every major dialogue, Pakistan’s parting gift was Kargil war, Pathankot and Uri attacks.
- Pakistani Civilian government has no control over India specific policy and hence not the right stakeholder for the Indian government to engage for any dialogues. Still Modi tried to twice.
- Pakistan Army and ISI doesn’t want Kashmir issue to be resolved as it’s a cash-cow for them. They run the country, manufacturing cereals to cement. Their claim to fame will get demolished if Kashmir issue is resolved.
- OBL was captured right under the nose of Pakistan Officers’ Training Academy in Abbottabad.
- Sheltering of JeM chief Masood Azhar and Dawood Ibrahim.
- Pakistan’s core philosophy is to destroy India through thousand cuts and is ingrained within Pakistani military establishment.
- Hence, use of Jihadis is Pakistan’s deep state policy; thereby stoking and supporting Khalistani, North-East and Maoist terrorists acting against India’s interests.
- India did not retaliate after Kandahar hijack or even after death of 166 Indians on 26/11. Did that stop further terrorist attacks in India?
Generic over-arching arguments by
AKA Brigade to avoid any conflict with Pakistan:
- Loss of human life is too high on both sides - TRUE
- Army is not impersonal; Army families are impacted when they lose someone dear - TRUE
- Easy to comment on social media being an arm chair activist - TRUE
- It will lead to Nuclear War - HaHaHa
- Shanti and peace will suddenly appear out of thin air and resolve everything, once calmer heads prevail it will sort out the issue that couldn’t be sorted out civilly in last 70 years - LOLZ
For point 1 and 2 - In this
regard, each defense personnel is very much aware of the risk and pitfalls of the
job they voluntarily joined. For them nation comes first. And it is the very
same nation that is under attack; for which you maintain a defense force –
whose main duty to protect and defend the very nation when called upon to do
so. Not sure how many of you know of Field Marshal Cariappa’s son as POW in
1965 war. When General Ayub Khan offered to release him immediately, Cariappa
replied, "He is my son no longer. He is the child of this country, a
soldier fighting for his motherland like a true patriot. My many thanks for
your kind gesture, but I request you to release all or release none. Give him
no special treatment." This demonstrates the psyche on which Indian Armed
Forces operate.
Let’s not politicize it.
In face of the above facts, let’s
be honest and practical; dialogue is a failed process in this situation. If we
accept this fact, the logical choice becomes very clear and unidirectional that
Modi government has taken – both after Uri and Pulwama. For the first time
since Indira Gandhi we have a decisive strong PM who have the guts to take the necessary
action, even if its stern.
Can AKA brigade guarantee that, taking
no retaliatory measure would have resulted in
- No further terrorist misadventures in India?
- Resolving Kashmir issue?
- Avenging the death of 44 martyred unarmed Jawans?
The answer to each one of the
above is NO. If it is indeed
no, then according to AKA brigade as last straw is to push for Aman ki Asha because
- Pakistan may use nuclear weapons
- We may enter into a long-drawn war like Vietnam and Afghanistan.
Both of the above arguments are naïve
and laughable; because:
- We already had a sub-conventional conflict in 1999 Kargil war without escalating it to a nuclear conflict. As per Musharraf’s latest interview, he acknowledges that Pakistan using nuclear weapon against India isn’t an option as it will destroy entire Pakistan. About time we call it a bluff. Even if tactical nukes are used by Pakistan, it will also lead to Pakistan’s destruction which neither India or Pakistan would want. Pakistan doesn’t have enough range to nuke entire India whereas India does and can nuke whole of Pakistan – that’s the core premise why nuclear war is a bluff; especially because of India’s massive retaliatory policy. Nuclear deterrence has effectively failed – also because of India’s No First Use policy to some extent.
- Indo-Pak war has been and will always be a short intense war
- Due to international pressure; especially now due to nuclear armed nations rhetoric.
- Pakistan cannot sustain a long-drawn war given just USD 7 billion in reserves against India’s USD 417 billion.
So, what next?
Well, Israel and it’s
dealing with such situations is classic case-study for India. When ISIS ran
amok in middle-east, they were very careful not to touch Israel – Such was the
Khauf! Can India ever reach that stage? That should be the gold standard so
that we don’t lose countless lives like Pulwama. Sitting idle and having dialogues
is of no use. It’s better to have a decisive war than to lose countless lives
under the thousand cuts policy of Pakistan also resulting in the war of
attrition that the AKA brigade tends to forget. The decisive victory will
result in a longer lasting peace – obviously achieved at a certain cost when everything
else fails. It is the last resort for India as all other avenues have been
explored. The end outcome of what will happen to Pakistan – there are quite a
few narratives, which I leave it to your fertile imagination.
The following tweet sums up my
argument;
So stop with your misplaced notion of war-mongering!
Long Live India. Jai Hind!
