Pakistan unmasked-India must step up diplomatic offensive

[Sir john]

The unilateral action by the US to hunt down the world’s most-wanted terrorist Osama bin Laden deep inside Pakistan without taking Islamabad into confidence has rekindled the debate about whether India should undertake surgical strikes to eliminate the likes of Dawood Ibrahim for their involvement in several terrorist attacks in India over the years. There is also the question of hot pursuit of terrorists from across the border and destroying their training camps in Pak-occupied Kashmir which has been long discussed. Army Chief General V.K. Singh’s statement justifying the US operation but admitting that while we have the capability for an Abbottabad-like strike the ground realities dictate that we proceed with caution is candid and realistic. With Pakistan now a nuclear-armed state and reckless elements on the loose there, there is need to ensure that we do not give an opportunity to the hawks in that country to run amuck. The question really is not of India’s capability to undertake such precision strikes but of factoring in the possible response of a nuclear-armed Pakistan in the event of such a strike. The fact that the world’s most-wanted terrorist was living under the very nose of the Pakistani establishment for years while Islamabad persistently denied that he was in their territory has punctured whatever credibility Pakistan had in the international community. It is now for India to use all its diplomatic skills to build up pressure on the US Administration as also on other governments not to funnel deadly arms supplies to Pakistan until it brings to book all the perpetrators of terror attacks against India and closes camps that train young men to take to the gun against this country. Indeed, Pakistan has been paying lip service to punishing the conspirators in the 2008 terror strikes in Mumbai but has done virtually nothing in that direction and the US with its characteristic double standards has failed to force the Pakistanis into acting against the masterminds. It is all very well for India and Pakistan to sign accords signaling closer relations but the basic issue of Pak-sponsored terrorism needs to be addressed strongly and effectively. There is indeed no alternative to India stepping up its diplomatic offensive.