It is doubtful if military action against Pakistan will serve the strategic purpose of curbing terrorism propped up by Islamabad, the CPI-M has said.

"But apart from the incentive of electoral gains for the ruling party, it is doubtful whether military action will serve the strategic purpose of curbing terrorism from across the border," it said.

The Communist Party of India-Marxist said it was necessary to bring the main focus back to Kashmir -- a political resolution of the problem.

"Unless there is a political process which addresses the problems and issues of the Kashmiri people, the resort to the hard option of using force and the armed forces to tackle the problem will only aggravate the situation with the vicious and unending cycle of militant violence and counter-measures by the security forces.

"The Modi government has singularly failed to adopt a political process to deal with the burning issues in Kashmir. It had the best opportunity to do so given the fact that the BJP was also in coalition government in the state with the PDP. It not only squandered the opportunity, but used it to further communalise the divide between Jammu and Kashmir and unleashed brutal repression on civilian protests.

"The long road to peace and normalcy can be undertaken only by a political dialogue and recognizing the special status of Jammu and Kashmir in the constitution," the editorial said.

"By not undertaking this democratic political process, the Modi government will end up being seen as merely resorting to jingoism and rousing passions."

The editorial condemned Pakistan its culpability in the Pulwama terror attack.

It said relying on the US to come down heavily on Pakistan would be future as Washington needs Islamabad to advance its negotiations with the Taliban so that it can withdraw troops from Afghanistan at the earliest.

The editorial pointed out that while people were united in their resolve to rebuff such terrorist violence, the BJP and Hindutva groups were out to disrupt this unity and use the occasion to target Kashmiris and look for latent anti-nationals.

"The demand for some sort of military intervention must be treated with due caution. Earlier such cross-border strikes, including the surgical strike of September, 2016, did not yield much results. Talk of a 'limited war' without escalation is downright irresponsible. Any such step will have unpredictable consequences."

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)