Some people in India are calling upon the new coalition government to make a series of bold moves towards Pakistan that will compel the neighbour to put its money where the mouth is.
If Pakistan keeps saying that it cannot fully and single-mindedly go after militants on its northwest frontier and indeed increasingly within the heartland because of the threat it faces from India, then New Delhi must call its bluff, argued authors Nitin Pai and Sushant K. Singh in a recent piece for India’s Mint newspaper.
How about Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, back for a second term, giving a categorical public declaration that Pakistan need not fear an Indian military attack so long as the Pakistan army is engaged in fighting with Taliban militants? While a verbal commitment may not convince the military brass in Rawalpindi, it will likely play well in Washington as it rathchets up pressure on the Pakistan army to take the battle to the militants.
Second and to back up its assurance, India could move some of the army strike formations from the international border with Pakistan in Punjab and Rajasthan. “Such a bold, strategic move will not only make India’s verbal assurances credible, but it will also immediately result in irresistible pressure on the Pakistani army to commit more of its troops to the western border,” the authors wrote in the Mint piece.
Clearly, the aim of such a peace gamble is to expose the contradiction within the Pakistani position, force them to either go full throttle after militant groups, some of whom are suspected to be tied to its intelligence agencies, or face America’s wrath.
Moving Indian troops back will compel the Pakistan army to act against the Taliban, and because it is incapable of doing so, will cause the United States to realise that there is no alternative to dismantling the military-jihadi complex, Pai and Singh argue.
Taking out Pakistan’s military-jihadi establishment is really what the battle in Pakistan is all about - that is the refrain you hear incessantly in the strategic establishment in New Delhi as I did during a visit over the past few weeks, and one you can be sure it will be telling U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expected to visit sometime in July.
But in the immediate future, is such a bold gamble as troop pullback really going to work?
Two issues. One, what about Kashmir ? No pullback is proposed on Kashmir where tens of thousands of troops are massed on both sides of the Line of Control, and according to some Pakistani experts this really is where is there should be a re-deployment of forces.
Ejaz Haider in a piece for Pakistan’s Daily Times, says the bulk of India’s military deployment iscentred on Pakistan, with 7 of the army’s 13 corps “specific to Pakistan.” In any case, given that the Pakistan army’s numerical strength is half that of India, the deployment of the Pakistan army along the eastern frontier is much thinner than India’s.
And if Pakistan does not face the threat of a hot war from India as everyone keeps telling it, Haider says, then India too does not face that prospect.
“If Pakistan is asked by the US and other western capitals on the basis of this argument to pull out troops from the eastern border and deploy them to the west, then perhaps India should also be called upon to thin its much-heavier Pakistan-specific deployment along the international border, the Line of Control, the working boundary and the actual ground position line,” he says.
But can the Indian army really thin out of Kashmir? At this point when the threat of infiltration of militants from Pakistan is again being talked about?
And finally does Singh, even with a stronger parliamentary support after a general election, really have the people’s endorsement of cutting back troops from the Pakistan frontier. The wounds from the 26/11 attack on Mumbai for which the Pakistan-based group Lashkar-e-Taiba has been held responsible, remain fresh for a large number of Indians. They are not in a mood to forgive or forget.
[Photos of Indian and Pakistani troops at a border checkpoint and the site of a car bombing in Lahore on May 27)
Trackback
89 comments so far
Previous | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | Next
Umair,
You would not have asked for moral courage from Sanjiv if you knew the turn of events that went from 1947 through 1971 in East Pakistan, aka Banladesh. It’s a pity that your knowledge is limited to what is written on the blogs and what is printed in irresponsible Pakistan media.
Besides, how is Bangladesh related to solving the border dispute in Kashmir?
- Posted by Nikhil@“Secondly, all this accusation of Pakistan sponsoring terrorism and harboring terrorist infrastructure is just YOUR BS propaganda Sanjeev.”
-posted by Umair
So Umair, you like “Myra” so much who pretends play siding with Pakistanis and any neutral view point by “Sanjeev” is unpalatable to you. Hypocrisy!
Also in all these posts now you are commenting like a Kayani or Pasha, while on “is LeT a terrorist group?” you said you are not a defense minister of Pakistan.
Sanjeev: If you notice, the discussion was going on the track untill Umair posted a train of messages.
- Posted by rajeevUmair writes: “I am still waiting if you have the moral courage to admit India did mess up a little in 1971 by intervening in East Pakistan political crisis.”
Umair,
Even without India’s interference, Bangladesh would have happened. Just like now, Pakistani military ran out of options. Bengalis completely turned against their West Pakistani brothers. Your military, in order to deflect an internal strife, would have attacked India anyway and India would have retaliated.
Pakistanis have no moral right to question India’s moral right in East Pakistan. Right from 1948, Pakistan has been intruding into Indian territory using proxy elements and trying to disrupt normalcy. So Pakistan was already doing to India, what India decided to do to Pakistan. And I support India’s tactical move in East Pakistan. If we had not done that in 1971, by now Pakistan would have staged operations from East Pakistan and with China’s help, dismembered North Eastern India. This is what we saw coming. So we had to act pre-emptively, when the opportunity presented itself.
And I believe now, based on your comments and the general comments and articles that I read in some of Pakistani magazines like Pak Tribune, from an Indian stand point, Pakistan is better off split into smaller nations. Your military has damaged your country and your minds tremendously. And there is only one possible course for this attitude that you and similar Pakistanis exhibit. But this is not an immediate thing to worry about. If Pakistan did things right from here on, there is a chance to recover and become a healthy nation. But the choice is yours. If you still believe in engaging India ad infinitum, your fragile economy will collapse. Without money, it would be hard to control the internal strife. Your country is being watched by every power in the world carefully now.
At least, as people, try to become responsible. Only then your military’s attitude and control can be changed for the good. Otherwise, no matter how much you list your military’s arsenal, they might have to nuke their own people if things get out of control. The enemy is within and not outside. And anyone can capitalize on your situation. And do not think the US will not.
Keith, may be you can tell now how India is supposed to trust the Pakistani establishment and reduce its troops in Kashmir. You can see how Pakistani pride has turned into intractable hate towards India. It should not be surprising to see our reaction. But it is not hatred for sure.
- Posted by MauryanSanjeev Miglani
“The wounds from the 26/11 attack on Mumbai for which the Pakistan-based group Lashkar-e-Taiba has been held responsible, remain fresh for a large number of Indians. They are not in a mood to forgive or forget.”
-The wounds from 1971 war on East Pakistan for which Indira Gandhi has been held responsible, remain fresh for a large number of Pakistanis. They, too, are not in a mood to forgive or forget.
- Posted by UmairGlobal watcher:
“It seems the truth hurts and you would rather avoid it and hurl insults at Sanjeev.”
I dont think i hurled insults at Sanjeev Miglani, all I am stating is Sanjeev Miglani should not show bias. Why does he seem to be so insensitive to Pakistanis. He mentioned Mumbai 26/11 attacks and that Indians are not in good mood. I am only telling Sanjeev Miglani to understand there is bad blood between the two countries. India also did things in the past that makes us hate India.
Let it be a challenge to Sanjeev, just state one line which should be something similar to :”yes, India also is responsible for behavior in the past that made Pakistanis distrustful of India”.
- Posted by Umairfor umair and other pakistani friends.
Read this on 1971 India-Pak war.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/l ibrary/report/1984/KRG.htm
- Posted by rajeevUmair,
Pakistan is unrepentant for the Bengali holocaust and so are you.
Please just go away. You have no righteous or moral claim of any kind.
Spend your energies taking advice from the west and india on how to fight militants.
- Posted by Global WatcherUmair,
It seems the truth hurts and you would rather avoid it and hurl insults at Sanjeev.
Please leave the blogs, you shame Pakistan by being here.
If you looked at the pictures of Pakistani genocide and have any shred of humanity, you would quit making India the antagonist all the time.
Look at the pictures and see what your precious Fauji’s did to unarmed innocent civilians.
Let those images burn into your occipital lobe. Pakistani’s don’t probably even know about it. The world does and we will never forget.
- Posted by Global WatcherUmair says:
“Sanjeev Miglani
I am still waiting if you have the moral courage to admit India did mess up a little in 1971 by intervening in East Pakistan political crisis.
- Posted by Umair ”
In 1971, India did the right thing by opening its borders up to Bengali refugees who were being genocided at the hands of West Pakistan, 3 MILLION, in fact. They were fleeing persecution and death from Pakistan, hindus and muslims alike.
India did the moral thing in 1971 by engaging Pakistan and saving millions of more hindus and muslims from further genocide by the Pakistani Army, who engaged in systematic elimination of Teachers, Doctors, Engineers, Lawyers and any educated people and in fact they were murdered at point blank and shot in the head, murdered in cold blood. See link:
http://www.gendercide.org/case_banglades h.html
Pakistan is unrepentant of its past and will continue to repeat its mistakes by starting wars on others.
Everybody should commemorate 1971 as the “Bengali Holocaust” and Bengali Liberation from the then West Pakistani Tyrants.
1971 - Three Million Humans Genocided by Pakistan
End of story. Let history be the true judge.
- Posted by Global Watcher