After the strikes

India’s careful buildup and Pakistan’s unusual bumbling have helped contain any international fallout from the Indian Army’s surgical strikes on terrorist camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). In retrospect, the scaffolding for containing adverse international reaction was built brick by brick. Prime Minister Narendra Modi went against the grain of a world summit of 20 economically most powerful countries to point the finger at “one country in South Asia” that was sheltering terrorist organisations. The diatribe was followed by a series of gestures that no government had contemplated earlier such as revoking a river water sharing agreement, pulling out of a regional summit and a no-holds-barred attack at the UN. The government then came out with a calibrated response but withheld video recordings and satellite imagery of the operation to refresh the celebratory domestic mood later.

The reality is that the world doesn’t get shaken by one incident of cross-border violence mainly because there is so much of gore on a daily basis. Such cross-border spats take place in one part of the world or other such as Turkish strikes against PKK in Iraq or Colombia’s cross-border operation in Ecuador. What the world doesn’t want is the N-word to enter the realm of military calculations by both countries. The US in any case cannot openly complain after its strike against Osama bin Laden. Now what after the Indian Army’s operation robbed Islamabad of its sangfroid and the Pakistan army’s headquarters in Rawalpindi of its cockiness?  

Pakistan has been on a diplomatic overdrive ever since Burhan Wani was killed in early July and the Kashmiris took to the streets. Its political managers have been buttonholing any politician who would listen to their side of the story on the violence in Kashmir. With a weak economy and a medium-sized army, Pakistan has survived for three decades and survived the wrath of more resourceful Western armies by persevering with the craft of sub-conventional warfare. The evacuation of border villages foretells an ominous Indian response if Pakistan tries to get even. But if Kashmir remains unpacified, the world may not keep its counsel.