Pakistan must be made to pay for Uri attack
Amid the outrage by politicians over the Uri attack by Pakistan-based terrorists, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's statement that the perpetrators shall not go unpunished, is the most significant. Remarks by others — Pakistan has been exposed; Pakistan is a state sponsor of terror; Pakistan will get further isolated internationally; India salutes the martyred jawans for their bravery, etc — have been perfunctory. Over the years, every time Pakistan-based militants have launched attacks in India, grand statements have come forth but they were never followed by action. Prime Minister Modi is not known to issue hollow warnings, and the people of this country look forward to the realisation of his assurance. While it is for the Government to decide the mode, time and place of its choosing to strike back, the message will lose sting if the action takes longer than desired. All the same, it is naïve to believe that the Government will share details of the response being considered, with the media. Such counter-actions are best worked out behind closed doors, while the nation gets to know of the implementation. This makes both strategic and political sense. Why would the regime detail sensitive plans in advanceIJ Also, why would it want to trigger a petty political war by laying its cards on the table at an inappropriate timeIJ In any case, it is too early for any such plan to have been given final shape. While deliberations within the Government are on, Prime Minister Modi will do well to remember that one of the failings of the previous Manmohan Singh Government was its inability to hit hard. The incumbent regime cannot afford a similar perception to gain ground.
New Delhi has done enough in the last two-and-half years to normalise relations with Islamabad. Modi invited Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for his oath-taking ceremony; met him at various global platforms; and paid a surprise goodwill visit to lahore to greet the Pakistani leader on his birthday. More recently, India allowed a Pakistani probe team to visit India and investigate the Pathankot attack carried out by Pakistan-based militants, possibly Jaish-e-Mohammed's Afzal Guru Brigade which is the prime suspect in the recent strike on the Army camp in Uri, Jammu & Kashmir. The Modi Government's critics had flayed the decision to permit the Pakistani inquiry team here, saying, with some justification, that it was a case of allowing the perpetrator to investigate its own crime. Still, New Delhi had gained positive points from this gesture. It fortified its image of a nation willing to give a chance.
None of these gestures has worked. Pakistan perhaps believes that inaction on India's part is a sign of the latter's weak resolve. It must be disabused of this notion. The Government should respond, but not in a knee-jerk manner. Its actions have to be calibrated and followed through regardless of any criticism that may come from domestic or international quarters. Israel is a good example before us. It works on a straight motto: ‘No enemy of Israel, anywhere in the world, will be spared. Sooner than later, it will be tracked and eliminated. If such an operation entails working on foreign soil, so be it.' In this endeavour, Israel does not plead for global support; it gets it on merit.