ZeEa5KPul
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Let's begin our accounting with the Pulwama attack where an alleged Jaish-e-Mohammed suicide bomber attacked a convoy of Indian paramilitary forces travelling through Indian occupied Kashmir. First, labelling this a terrorist attack is a misnomer; this was a strike against an occupation force - a perfectly legitimate military target. Second, there is no evidence that the Pakistani state had any involvement in this attack, removing any justification for an attack on Pakistani territory (not even disputed territory, but territory India agrees is part of Pakistan). Third, and most important, there is zero introspection in India about its long and well-documented history of crimes and abuses in Kashmir that drove this young Kashmiri to such desperate action.
There's also the rancid hypocrisy of India accusing Pakistan of supporting terrorism even as it supports terrorists in Pakistan like the TTP, Baloch separatists, etc.
Now let's consider India's supposed retaliation, keeping in mind that its right to retaliate here is questionable at best. Setting aside the very deep and serious moral difficulties here and focusing solely on the practical effects of the airstrike, the picture still looks very bad for India. Multiple credible sources, including on-the-ground reporting in the vicinity of the strikes, shows that while there was some sort of facility there associated with JeM, that facility was left unscathed by the attack. All that seems to have been struck was some surrounding foliage. This raises grave doubts about India's capability to conduct such strikes if even this simplest of examples was an absolute failure.
India had everything in its favour: initiative (the strike was conducted, as Indians like to say, "At a time and place of [our] choosing"), an undefended target, supposedly modern equipment, and readily, publicly available intelligence regarding the camp and its location. Something - or, more likely, several things - failed. That strikes out capability. Intent is equally problematic since this does not signal resolve, but a failing government worried about being thrown out in upcoming elections and desperate to change the narrative from rampant corruption, youth unemployment, widespread poverty, inadequate economic growth, and the myriad other social and economic crises confronting India.
To compound this failure, Pakistan's much more effective to response to the aggression launched on it has been both unexpected and embarrassing for India. Although fake reports about this conflict have proliferated widely, what is indisputable is that Pakistan had brought down an Indian MiG-21 and captured its pilot. Further bolstering its status, Pakistan's Prime Minister has unilaterally released the captured pilot back to Indian custody as a gesture of goodwill, lending him the credibility of a magnanimous peacemaker.
India's government is undoubtedly seething at this chain of failures, but it would be well-advised to stop digging itself deeper into this hole it finds itself in. Perhaps, once it has had some time to cool off and introspect (or, more likely, a more rational government is voted in), it would find that it and the nation were better served by the earlier "kadi ninda" policy it now maligns.
There's also the rancid hypocrisy of India accusing Pakistan of supporting terrorism even as it supports terrorists in Pakistan like the TTP, Baloch separatists, etc.
Now let's consider India's supposed retaliation, keeping in mind that its right to retaliate here is questionable at best. Setting aside the very deep and serious moral difficulties here and focusing solely on the practical effects of the airstrike, the picture still looks very bad for India. Multiple credible sources, including on-the-ground reporting in the vicinity of the strikes, shows that while there was some sort of facility there associated with JeM, that facility was left unscathed by the attack. All that seems to have been struck was some surrounding foliage. This raises grave doubts about India's capability to conduct such strikes if even this simplest of examples was an absolute failure.
India had everything in its favour: initiative (the strike was conducted, as Indians like to say, "At a time and place of [our] choosing"), an undefended target, supposedly modern equipment, and readily, publicly available intelligence regarding the camp and its location. Something - or, more likely, several things - failed. That strikes out capability. Intent is equally problematic since this does not signal resolve, but a failing government worried about being thrown out in upcoming elections and desperate to change the narrative from rampant corruption, youth unemployment, widespread poverty, inadequate economic growth, and the myriad other social and economic crises confronting India.
To compound this failure, Pakistan's much more effective to response to the aggression launched on it has been both unexpected and embarrassing for India. Although fake reports about this conflict have proliferated widely, what is indisputable is that Pakistan had brought down an Indian MiG-21 and captured its pilot. Further bolstering its status, Pakistan's Prime Minister has unilaterally released the captured pilot back to Indian custody as a gesture of goodwill, lending him the credibility of a magnanimous peacemaker.
India's government is undoubtedly seething at this chain of failures, but it would be well-advised to stop digging itself deeper into this hole it finds itself in. Perhaps, once it has had some time to cool off and introspect (or, more likely, a more rational government is voted in), it would find that it and the nation were better served by the earlier "kadi ninda" policy it now maligns.
