Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Pakistan must act against terror groups' that was published in Newsband

Pakistan must act against terror groups

In recognition of India’s justification to act against an imminent terror threat from the Jaish-e-Mohammad, the U.S., the U.K. and France also moved in at record speed to bring another listing request against the group’s founder, Masood Azhar, at the UN Security Council’s committee for terror designations. There is a reasonable assumption that China will not block it this time as it did during the last three attempts.

Indications that the international community was involved in effecting a breakthrough are clear. U.S. President Donald Trump hinted at a breakthrough in talks hours before Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan announced the release of Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman.

The capabilities of the JeM have been degraded to the point where it can no longer carry out attacks in India. New Delhi must also track the JeM’s assets and abilities within Jammu and Kashmir, as well as any intelligence and security protocol failures that may have preceded the Pulwama attack.

If Kashmir is flash point, we should have been able to find a solution long back; but as we all know it is not at all an easy task. There is no denying the fact that situation in the Kashmir valley is serious. It is of course easy to blame the Indian Army but no one knows how to control violence in Kashmir without use of force. It is said that ‘azadi’ for Kashmir is ordinary Kashmiri’s wish. It is fine. If such azadi is within our Constitutional framework, it can certainly be considered. If there is no presence of our Army in Kashmir valley, what can happen? Ordinary Kashmiris will be targeted and thrown out of their homes and they will have no place to go except other safer regions of rest of Kashmir, including Jammu and neighbouring states, Haryana & Punjab. Hence, the earlier the political leaders, former chief ministers, etc of J & K recognise this possibility, better it will be for return of peace to Kashmir.

By the way, US F16 (used by Pakistan) versus Israeli SPICE bombs (used by India) - so who won? JeM, like many other groups manufactured to spread cowardly acts of terror-on-demand anytime, anywhere, to spread conflicts searching for armed solutions.

Pakistan will only move against India's enemies if India fulfills its end of bargain by starting to de-militarize Kashmir and moving towards a resolution of the Kashmir issue. Gen Musharraf moved against all these groups, and what he got in return was no movement on Kashmir and India's use of Afghan-based proxies.

All is well that ends well. Both India and Pakistan have, tit for tat, “saved their faces”. Can we, now, have some clarity on what exactly happened during our air strikes? What were the “assets” that existed at Balakot mountainside before and after our air attacks? Are there some satellite photographs of the site before and after our attack to validate our claims (200 killed, many buildings destroyed etc)? What precisely are the damages inflicted on the terrorist outfit by our attack? In the absence of any pictorial evidence, our claims will lack credibility.

There are other points too that this and future governments must strictly follow. The 'new normal', must never be diluted in future such situations. That is, retaliation must become the norm rather than an exception. Secondly, there cannot be a 'dialogue' unless and until Pakistan had taken an irreversible and verifiable, to Indian satisfaction, steps against terror tanzeems and Pakistan unequivocally gives up terror as an instrument of foreign policy against India. Thirdly, Pakistan must be treated as any other country, not with any nostalgic pre-partition magnanimity such as a 'lost brother', a 'wayward son' etc. Fourthly, all those who spout separatism in J&K must be incarcerated and all privileges withdrawn whether they are political or religious leaders. Fifthly, time is indeed well past for removing Article 370 and as a first step Article 35A should be withdrawn soon. Finally, we have to realize that Pakistan can be 'disciplined' only by us, not US or China. We must do our duty.