Unable to cross border, jihadis try to get under it
The discovery of yet another tunnel in Kashmir, that was ostensibly to be used for pushing in terrorists, only underlines how there has been no change in Pakistan's perfidious policies towards India. This is not surprising but only a bitter reality check. The discovery comes at a time when the two countries have been making progress, no matter how slowly, with regard to an institutional bilateral dialogue, and there has been a general sense of optimism about the relationship. Of course, there have been stonewalls on the way, but they have not been allowed to derail the overall peace process. After the Pathankot attack, Pakistan filed a First Information Report against Jaish-e-Mohammed and also took into custody, the group's chief who masterminded the attack, Masood Azhar. More recently, the Pakistani Prime Minister's Foreign Affairs Advisor Sartaj Aziz indicated in Washington, DC, that Masood Azhar may even be made available to Indian agencies, if Pakistani investigators are allowed access to the Pathankot crime scene for their own investigations. India is believed to have considered this request favourably, even while security agencies here have been digging up more proof of Pakistani involvement in the Pathankot attack. The result of a joint investigative operation may not be ground breaking but the optics of it will be powerful. However, even that little benefit is marred when ‘terror tunnels’ emerge on the scene.
There is only takeaway from all this: The India-Pakistan border has no place for complacency. Political and diplomatic processes for peace and stability may continue on the one hand but on the other, we have to continue strengthening our borders and remain alert at all times. In this context, it is heartening that the Union Ministry of Home Affairs has set up a panel to inspect the fencing all along the India-Pakistan border, particularly in Punjab. If recent developments are anything to go by — the attack in Pampore came only weeks after the attack in Pathankot, which was preceded by the attack in Gurdaspur, not to mention the innumerable ceasefire violations the situation along the border in general and in Kashmir in particular will possibly only get worse.
An important reason here is that Pakistan is re-directing its bad jihadis (those fighting against the Pakistani state) towards the good jihad (the fight against India). This is part of its larger ‘counter-terror' policy to contain militant attacks at home, and also explains the return of Jaish-e-Mohammed to the jihadi scene. Experts believe that Jaish-e-Mohammed operatives are already waiting to cross the line of Control (and if they can't make it above-ground, clearly, they are have provisions to move under-ground) and re-ignite another cycle of low-intensity of conflict. Notably, while the lashkar-e-Tayyeba, the other group raised for anti-India operations, engaged in high-profile attacks such as the Parliament attack and 26/11 at its peak, the Jaish-e-Mohammed preferred suicide bombings.