Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 12Ever since the Army carried out surgical strikes across the Line of Control (LoC) to target terror camps in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK), the possibility of Pakistan retaliating has been “war-gamed” — a military art of predicting a future outcome or postures — in New Delhi.A war with Pakistan has been ruled out, for now —unless it’s thrust upon India by its neighbour. A top official said various scenarios had been studied and the closest assessment was that the Pakistan army would continue to use terrorists to cause damage in Jammu and Kashmir and India would retaliate accordingly.Leave out a nuclear war, even a conventional war might not be an option in immediate future, the official said.After the cross-LoC strikes on September 29, New Delhi told Islamabad in no uncertain terms that it didn’t want to escalate situation, but would respond to any attack or threat appropriately. “This cycle of terrorism cannot hold India to ransom,” he added. The present scenario in which the Pakistan army has been left answering some uncomfortable questions is being seen as a “booster” for the Nawaz Sharif government.On October 3, national security adviser of Pakistan General Nasser Khan Janjua (retd) spoke to his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval.New Delhi’s message is that dialogue is the way forward on Jammu and Kashmir, but only after the Pakistan army stops abetting terrorism. “It’s for Pakistan, its army and its people to take a stand on avoiding escalation,” the functionary said.According to the Pakistan media, General Janjua has said “we are two nuclear states and we cannot be enemies forever” — a clear indication that the message is being read correctly.India’ target is to not let Pakistan continue to use its “low-cost” option of waging a proxy war by sending terrorists to India. A response to such a terror strike will depend on the nature of the attack. It can be on several fronts — diplomatic, military, economic or information warfare.The fact that Pakistan’s own citizens have questioned its wisdom of engaging with India or nurturing terrorists like Hafiz Saeed is being seen as positive step in India.
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