Surgical tremors

The foiled terror attack in Baramulla is a sort of tremors expected after a surgical strike. Sulking Pakistan cannot behave any better. In these columns, we have stated that the surgical strikes would not make Islamabad rethink.

The Indian Army struck deep inside the territory claimed by Pakistan with high degree of precision. The Pak army could not repulse it. This humiliation is hard to digest for Pakistani army and political establishment. Obviously, Pakistan based elements are desperate to ensure their jihadi forces do not get demoralised.

The global isolation as admitted by former president Gen Musharraf, is inflicting a diplomatic asphyxia on Pakistan. The unprecedented political unity that stood like a rock behind the Prime Minister Narendra Modi is too indigestable for our bellicose neighbour habituated to fishing in Indian troubled waters.

The surgical strikes by India were intended at hitting a strategic and diplomatic blow. India knows well that such attacks are neither intended nor capable of destroying the terror apparatus thriving across the border.

It requires a hot pursuit which is fraught with consequences of a full-blown war. The terrorists operating from Pakistani soil have sleeper cells active within Kashmir and across India. These sleeper cells provide logistic support for acts of terror. The Baramulla military command is coterminous with civilian areas that make the army camp porous.

The crucible of hate that remains a jihadi factory got further ignited after the surgical strikes. Even the American circles interpret a possible military coup in Pakistan as Nawaz Sharif regime is increasingly coming under pressure to respond to Indian strikes.

The Pakistani leadership calling the strikes a bluff seems to have not convinced even its own people. The SAARC fiasco indicates an unprecedented friendlessness of Islamabad in its immediate neighbourhood too.
Many more such quivers are predictable. India is and should be prepared for any such eventuality.

The process of collecting actionable intelligence and its effective sharing and analysis needs to be further augmented. The security forces have to be in a constant state of high alert as such acts of cowardice can happen during nights that provide an escaping cover. The sleeper cells have to be neutralised.

Any communal backlash is highly unwarranted as such a hate mongering can further foment these sleeper cells. A credible political process has to be immediately ensured to find a political solution to the Kashmir question.

A Constitutional and political guarantee to restore the primacy of Article 370 that grants autonomy for Jammu & Kashmir will only regain the confidence of Kashmir people . Such autonomy can be within the contours of Indian sovereignty and integrity.

Such a political initiative will eliminate the breeding ground for terrorism in the valley. The forces operating from across the border would always be ready to capitalise any discontent in the valley. Winning the hearts of Kashmiris is the only effective rebuttal of Pakistani farcical assertion that Kashmir is not an integral part of India.

Aggressive diplomatic effort should continue to further isolate Pakistan globally. A combination of such measures would mitigate the cross border terror threat. A truly federal, democratic and secular India is antidote to the ominous designs of Pakistan.