PM Modi’s response will be tough, but to ‘real’, not ‘perceived’, provocations
The American intelligence community has submitted a report to the lawmakers which says that under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India is more likely than in the past to respond with military force to “perceived or real” provocations from Pakistan.
This is not a very accurate assessment of the situation. It is true that India no longer responds to the attacks by Pakistan-sponsored terrorists merely by strongly condemning ‘dastardly deeds’; four years ago, Balakot followed Pulwama. Our diplomats have also worked hard to convince the world that Pakistan is the jihad factory, funding and training Mujahidin terrorists all over the world.
At the same time, the Government is leaving no stone unturned to neutralize sleeper cells and stop terror finance. The effects are also visible; in the last many years, there have been no major terror strikes against civilians, as was the case in the 2000s.
According to the South Asian Terrorism Portal, in 2001, there were 1,067 fatalities of civilians and 590 of security personnel. In 2005, the corresponding figures were 521 and 218, and in 2019 (the last year till which these figures are available) 40 and 78. It needs to be mentioned here that the efforts to boost national defence and internal security never made India a bellicose neighbour to either Pakistan or China.
PM Modi did his best to improve ties with Islamabad. He invited his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif to his first swearing-in ceremony in May 2014. In December 2015, he made an unscheduled trip to attend Sharif’s granddaughter's wedding.
Yet, he neither lowered his guard nor let the personal bonhomie to eclipse security concerns. So, 11 days after the Uri attack that killed 18 Indian soldiers, he ordered the Indian Army carry out surgical strikes on the night of September 28-29, 2016, resulting in the killing of a large number of terrorists.
Therefore, while it is correct that India’s response to the “real” provocations from Pakistan would be swift and severe, there would be no jingoistic action occasioned by any “imaginary” threat.
Either from Pakistan or from China. This becomes evident from the fact that before the Chinese perfidy in June 2020 in Galwan, PM Modi made all efforts to improve relations with Beijing. He met Chinese President Xi Jinping 18 times till Galwan. And even after June 2020, he took real measures like banning Chinese apps and bolstering security at the Line of Actual Control rather than firing verbal salvos at China.
More importantly, he gave an unprecedented impetus to the Quad, the security arrangement involving India, the US, Japan, and Australia. This is a real and efficacious measure to check the dragon which has been running amok under Xi. China’s unease with it is visible; it has blamed the Quad of ‘encirclement’, of being ‘an Asian Nato.’ In a nutshell, PM Modi has, to a large extent, transformed India’s approach to national defence and security. The approach of New India is firm without being chauvinistic.
