At the ‘Heart of Asia’ conference in Amritsar, Prime Minister Narendra Damodardass Modi went round and round about the terror scenario in the region and yet didn’t get into the heart of the matter. That job was performed by Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani, who called a spade a spade by naming Pakistan.
Ghani’s statement turned out to be center-piece of all statements made at the conference on Sunday. Ghani said that if and when Pakistan stops supporting Taliban and similar groups, terror in the region would grind to a halt. At a broader level, this sense of hesitation shown by PM Modi is turning out to be the main problem for India in handling the mischievous designs of Pakistan.
It, by now, is clear that the Modi government’s Pakistan policy is not taking India to any better level. Rather, the weak diplomatic push and lack of effective actions have virtually turned the scenario from bad to worse in the past over two and a half years of the NDA rule. As is seen in Amritsar, where too much reference was made on terror in the region, India is not even showing the courage to name Pakistan.
One day India talks harsh against Pakistan and the next day an olive branch is extended to it. This kind of a policy flip-flop is going on for quite some time — a period that saw repeated attacks on Indian military establishments in the western sector, terrorists reaching right up to the army and air force bases and they throwing tantrums only.
There have been a series of terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir in recent months, a period that also saw border firings by the Pakistani security forces which killed scores of Indian soldiers. The so-called surgical strikes had only accentuated the problem, rather than sending a chill down the spines of the enemy nation. It now looks as if India is ill prepared to take on Pakistan.
Rather, what the government is doing is to engage in verbal duels with the neighbouring country, or keep whining and complaining, as was seen also at the Heart of Asia meet, so also at the recent BRICS meet in Goa.
Indian leadership is holding forth before a global audience about its effective inability to put the enemy nation in a spot. Action should speak more than words. Those who make a lot of noise are also those who are found wanting in action.
Such speeches only prove again and again India’s failure to defend itself against enemy schemes. Three daring attacks on military bases in a space of a few months were no small affront, but India is busy only with diplomatic efforts to “isolate” Pakistan at the global level — which is like a mirage.
The talk between US President-elect Donald Trump and Pakistan’s PM Nawaz Sharif the other day, as was reported, showed yet again that there is little hope for India to change Americans’ helpful attitude to Pakistan.
Another big power China is already in cahoots with Pakistan to thwart Indian designs at the UN forum and elsewhere. Clearly, India does not have such strong friends as Pakistan has as of now. The Indian government is failing to change big nations’ attitude to Pakistan vis-a-vis regional relations.
Talks from rooftops are not helping. It is understandable if an Arvind Kejriwal makes a business out of shooting his mouth and yet people are getting tired of him even he is a minor chieftain. How long can the top Indian leadership keep yapping against a nation that is not even one-fifth of its population size and modest economic means, and sit back doing nothing, is a serious concern.
While Modi has failed to control terror even by resort to “surgical strikes” that was touted as some kind of a Brahmastra, he is busy with a demonetisation drive that has spread chaos across the nation, and is putting people’s life at serious stake and national economy in deathly crisis.
One of his justifications for the ham-handed demonetisation step was that it would control terror funding, and his defence minister said November 8 was a turning point in Kashmir’s difficult phase. It took only a few more days to see another mayhem in Nagrota, Jammu.
It is high time the government focused on what to do on its own to effect a change for the better, rather than keep complaining against Pakistan’s lack of cooperation or its confrontationist mindset.
