India’s surgical strikes on militant camps in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) have heightened Pakistan’s isolation on the global stage. Because New Delhi has conveyed to the world beyond doubt for the first time that Pakistan was complicit in militant strikes on India. Significantly, in the operation, India did not aim at Pakistani military personnel or camps.
The first signal about Pakistan’s isolation comes from the United States of America. If Pakistan expected Washington to tick off India for the Sept 28-29 night strikes, the wish did not materialise. Instead, disappointment awaited it. The White House, the US National Security Advisor, and the State Department have publicly termed the Uri attack of Sept 18 as a terrorist hit, and admonished Pakistan for permitting militants to use its territory to carry out the strike against India. And echoed the Indian assertion: the Uri attack was a terrorist act and it was a cross-LoC attack inside Indian Kashmir.
To its dismay, Pakistan has found no solace from its all-weather friend, China either. China is fully aware of rising tensions between India and Pakistan, said the spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry hours after the wire services flashed the ‘news’ from Delhi, but did not go beyond the routine homily that both India and Pakistan curb rising tensions by resolving issues through mutual consultations.
Well, this is no consolation to Islamabad, which wants to see Beijing display a robust reaction against Indian act of crossing the LoC for the first time since 1971 war that resulted in its East Pakistan becoming the independent nation of Bangladesh.
India has announced that its Special Forces struck at eight “terrorist training camps” or “launch pads” in Pakistan killing several militants. On its part Pakistan has officially denied any such strikes took place but that denial is difficult to believe.
A Pak media report terming the strikes as exchanges said these took place in Iftikharabad (Cham Jorian), Bhimber, Hotspring, Kel (Dhundial) and Leppa sectors, adding that the fiercest clashes occurred in Hotspring sector.
Pakistan’s denial is not credible given that Pakistani defence minister stated words to the effect that “If India should carry out similar strikes, Pakistan would retaliate.” Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said that two Pakistani border guards had been killed in the strikes.
There was no reaction from the one person who matters most in Pakistan – namely the Army chief. A front page despatch in Dawn, said: “Army Chief Gen Raheel Sharif avoided giving a statement on the crisis that kept the country on a knife-edge for the whole day although he had at least two interactions in the day on which ISPR issued statements — a meeting with members of the national assembly’s standing committee on defence production and the finals of Fourth COAS Young Soldiers Inter-Central PACES (Physical Agility and Combat Efficiency System) Championship at Frontier Force Centre, Abbottabad, which he witnessed”.
Now cut back to the US snub. Clearly the United States agrees with the perception that there are limits to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s policy of strategic restraint.
“Narendra Modi offered another olive branch to Pakistan Saturday, despite Islamabad’s continuing sponsorship of terrorist groups that carry out attacks in India. But it’s not clear how much longer the Indian Prime Minister can turn the other cheek if large-scale strikes continue”, the influential American business daily said editorially on Sept 28, while noting that the India’s leader offers entente but lays down markers on terrorism.
The replies of the State Department spokesman John Kirby to the questions of Dawn’s Washington correspondent leaves no doubt whatsoever that Pakistan must bear the blame for the India’s surgical strikes. There is no denying that Pakistan’s denial of the Indian strikes made it easy for the American spokespersons to deliver a fresh homily to their Pakistan friends. Also because of the Washington’s formal acknowledgement that Pakistan is mollycoddling LeT, JeM, Haqqani Network, TTP and other outfits which find a place on the UN list of terrorist groups
Consider the Kirby-speak: “Nuclear-capable states have the responsibility to exercise restraint regarding nuclear weapons and missile capabilities. Let’s be clear – the attack against the Uri army brigade headquarters was a terrorist attack, and we have strongly condemned it”.
In a manner of speaking, Pakistan pushed itself into isolation by the loud mouths in its stable.
“Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif Threatens to Nuke India”, screamed a headline in The Huffington Post, on Sept 28.
“We will destroy India if it dares to impose war on us. Pakistan army is fully prepared to answer any misadventure of India. We have not made atomic device to display in a showcase. If such a situation arises we will use it and eliminate India,” Asif told private TV channel SAMAA, the daily reported.
The Asif outburst has made Pakistan stomach another American rebuke. This time from the defence secretary Ashton Carter. “India a responsible N-state, Pak an unstable one,” he told a conference on `Sustaining Nuclear Deterrence’ at the Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota on Sept 28. He went on to say: “The landscape of nuclear weapons has changed in the last 25 years. Pakistan’s nuclear weapons are entangled in a history of tension, and while they are not a threat to the United States directly, we work with Pakistan to ensure stability.”
The message is clear. Any doubt?