Punish Pakistan

Progenitor of deadliest attack on Indian soil is yet to pay the price of perfidy

If, as a nation, we can collectively resolve never to forget the atrocity that was 26/11 and back up that resolve with a multi-pronged strategy to ensure the arch state-sponsor of terrorism in South Asia, Pakistan, ceases to exist as a viable entity that can claim parity with ‘normal' countries of the world, we would have paid true homage to the innocents who died and the bravehearts who lost their lives trying to protect them in Mumbai nine years ago.

The reality is that the 26/11 anniversary has come and gone but Pakistan still remains to be de-fanged and India is yet to acquire the national cohesion that makes unprecedented retribution a fait accompli for those who would dare attack our country or harm our citizens. Pakistan's populace too must be made to understand even if they have to pay a price for it that while the power elite in their country may think using terror as an instrument of state policy is still a viable option to achieve strategic and/or ideological goals, the new normal as far as India is concerned is that there will be an implacable and persistent policy to punish Pakistan in all ways possible till such time our national interest is secured.

New Delhi, especially post-2014, it must be said, has been working on such an incremental, calibrated Pakistan policy without obviously letting the situation escalating into a full blown conventional war with our deeply perverse neighbour whose key state assets have long been under the control of fanatics in military and/or civilian clothing.But more needs to be done.

Of course, unlike Pakistan, democracy has deep roots and an Indic civilizational context in which to flourish here so there are, as they should be, differing opinions on how best to tackle the progenitor of 26/11 in a manner that its capacity to repeat that sort of attack is neutered for the foreseeable future. Unanimity on this score will continue to prove elusive but that should not stop the Government of the day from ratcheting up the pressure on Islamabad by all means possible; the surgical strikes, for example, have given out the right signal of intent but if reduced to a one-off the point that was made will get diluted. Covert action, hard-nosed diplomacy, an economic squeeze, the inhuman treatment of religious minorities in the Islamic Republic, massive resentment in Baluchistan and PoK-Northern Areas are all leverage points for India that needs further developing.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was right in stating, while paying tribute to the martyrs of 26/11, that terrorism has become a global threat and humanitarian forces will have to unite to defeat it. In the interim, however, India needs to act alone and decisively against the rogue state that is Pakistan.