Pakistan’s use of deadly force on civilians is reprehensible. Not that condemnation will stop it
The military in Pakistan has always thought of civilians elsewhere as second-class citizens as was evidenced by the brutal genocides against Bengalis in 1970-71 or Indians. Proxy attacks by Pakistan-sponsored terrorists have cost thousands of Indian civilians their lives over the past three decades — be it during the height of the Punjab crisis or to this day, with Kashmiri terrorism being influenced by the likes of Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT) chief Hafiz Saeed. However, Pakistan’s Army, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), and the establishment have always had an answer. They were not directly responsible for the deaths. After all, anonymity is the advantage of proxy forces. However, the unprovoked firing of artillery and mortar shells over the Line of Control (LoC) in the Jammu region over the past few days has hit civilians hard, maiming and killing Indian villagers. This is unacceptable and serves little purpose unless the aim is to give covering fire to terrorists trying to cross the LoC.
Pakistan has been nursing the black eye that India gave it with the Balakot air strikes. Then the failure of its own counter-attacks and the subsequent revocation of Article 370 by the Indian Government, which caught the Pakistani military and its Government headed by Imran Khan off-guard, have dented its “bleeding cuts” strategy vis-a-vis India. The attempts by Pakistan-backed terrorists to sabotage the local economy, particularly targetting apple growers and truckers, have also fallen flat. While the Indian paramilitary forces and intelligence forces have managed to keep a lid on active acts of terrorism in the Valley, the area still remains in a virtual lockdown even after two months of the abrogation of Article 370, although things appear to be easing ahead of winter. Pakistan is getting desperate to hurt India despite its economic situation, which is still far worse than India’s, becoming almost a virtual pariah state. Even the Chinese money, supposed to flow in through investments, is drying up. China, which has for long propped up Pakistan as a counterfoil to India, has realised that investing money in Pakistan is worse than burning it. Besides, Pakistan’s own hypocrisy in condemning Indian actions on Kashmir while ignoring the Chinese treatment of the Uighur Muslims has become more apparent. The Army has made a few raids into Pakistan but if these unprovoked attacks on Indian villages continue, it seems we cannot get the new Rafale jets soon enough.
