‘India today feels enough is enough and we need to teach Pakistan a lesson.'
'Unless compelled, Mr Modi will think 10 times before taking the extreme step.'
In the wake of the horrific terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam that claimed 26 lives, India has launched a series of diplomatic and strategic countermeasures against Pakistan, which it holds responsible for the incident, including closure of checkpost at Attari, SAARC visa exemption cancellation for Pakistan, and suspending the Indus water treaty.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security after the attack, the army chief visited Srinagar on Friday to review the security situation, and security in sensitive areas and states has been increased manifold.
“War is the last thing anyone wants,” says Shesh Paul Vaid, a Jammu and Kashmir cadre Indian Police Service officer who served in different capacities in the most volatile areas of the Kashmir valley from 1988.
“But this attack is not plain and simple terrorism. It is a war, it is jihad that Pakistan has launched,” says Vaid, former director general of police of Jammu and Kashmir, a recipient of several gallantry awards and the man who was tasked with containing the violence in the Valley after Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Burhan Wani's killing in 2016.
Retired five years ago and now settled in Jammu, Vaid says as long as Pakistan holds on to Bhutto’s ideology of 1,000 cuts, India will have no choice but to fight back.
“Mr Modi’s speech (in Madhubani, that the ‘terrorists who carried out the attack and those who hatched the conspiracy, they will be punished beyond their imagination’) was the harshest I’ve ever heard and I definitely believe some big, punitive action is being planned,” he tells Swarupa Dutt/Rediff.com, in the first of a 2-part interview.
The terrorists who killed the tourists told the women -- ‘Give Modi a message’. What is the message that they wanted to be given?
The message they wanted to convey to honourable Prime Minister Mr Modi was that, ‘look, we are here in Jammu and Kashmir and we do not accept that after the abrogation of Article 370 the narrative has changed’. They wanted to say that the situation has not improved and you are not safe. It’s a counter narrative to what India has been claiming since 2019, that Kashmir is now a better place.
And what of the other message they sent by selectively killing Hindus? They seem to have successfully driven a wedge between communities.
These are the fault lines of India and they want to cash in on that. There are two main communities here, unlike Pakistan where there is only one main community since minorities are not counted at all there.
Pakistan knows that if it is able to create a division between the two communities here it serves their purpose of creating internal unrest and that is why they selectively target Hindus so that there is a backlash towards Muslims. They attack temples for this very purpose -- the famous Raghunath temple in Jammu was attacked more than twice, they attacked Akshardham temple, the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya.
What is the purpose? This is the purpose. They want to create division between the two communities of India. This is basically the Ghazwa-e-Hind ideology which Pakistan’s deep State pursues in India.
So, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s promise of 1000 cuts continues to remain the mainstay of Pakistan’s India policy?
That will never change -- this 1000 cuts policy continues as long as Ghazwa-e-Hind remains Pakistan’s mindset and is reflective of what the Pakistan Army chief said the other day that we are two nations, basically justifying the two-nation theory that Hindus and Muslims cannot live together in harmony. So this ideology will not change.
Bhutto 's famous speech, ‘hum ghas khalenge, par ek hazaar saal tak ladenge’, as long as this ideology remains, we will have to fight back. But this attack is not plain and simple terrorism. It is a war, it is jihad that Pakistan has launched.
A former Pentagon official has said that India should do to the ISI what Israel did to Hamas. But the comparison is a bit skewed because Pakistan is a nuclear nation. How should India tread?
Yes, it is different. Hamas is a terror outfit, Pakistan is a nation and a nuclear nation as you said and it is a different ground reality altogether. Still, the nuclear bluff was called when we did Balakot, when we did the surgical strike.
There are some certain safeguards, for instance if India continues parleys with America, which it must, I think Americans would have ensured that Pakistan’s nuclear arsenals are protected. I think we should not be blackmailed into thinking that Pakistan is a nuclear power and step back. We have nothing to be worried about.
So then this is a call to war? Modi at his rally in Madhubani said, ‘we will punish them in ways that they can't imagine’…
This is the harshest speech I've ever heard from Mr Modi and I think he has conveyed the anger of the people very clearly. I don't know if it will turn into war. War is the last thing anyone would want but definitely some big, punitive action is being planned given the kind of activity you are seeing.
I think India today feels enough is enough and we need to teach Pakistan a lesson.
But Mr Vaid, sometimes it can just be rhetoric. When Galwan happened, there was a lot of chest thumping, but beyond cutting down trade and banning TikTok what did we do?
I think there are people in Delhi who are discussing strategies and they will definitely take into consideration the kind of reaction there would be from Pakistan in case of war.
Mr Modi is a mature politician and an adored statesman and he was the first person to tell President Putin and also the President of China that this is not the time for war, but for diplomacy.
If you recall, when tensions erupted in Ladakh, Mr Modi he said this is not a time of expansionism and it was same thing he told Putin. Unless compelled, Mr Modi will think 10 times before taking the extreme step.
And by extreme step you mean war?
I think India will weigh all its options. I don't know what will happen and this is the call of the policymakers in Delhi. But war is always the last resort for anyone.
India is a rising power. Pakistan toh duba hua hai, Pakistan ka kya bigadoge. Bhikhari ka kya bigad sakte ho (Pakistan is a sunk nation. It is a beggar state and it cannot sink further). But India is on its way to become the third largest economy. So let's see what happens.