The ghastly fidayeen attack on the army base in Uri in north Kashmir follows the template of the Pathankot airbase attack earlier this year. Four terrorists suspected of being from the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Muhammed outfit stormed the Uri camp over the weekend, killing 18 jawans and injuring at least another 30. Although all four terrorists were eliminated by the army, it’s clear that lessons from Pathankot haven’t been learnt. The Uri base is close to the Line of Control (LoC) and it should have shored up its defences to thwart a Pathankot-like strike, especially in the wake of intelligence alerts that such a strike was imminent.
Instead, two breaches – one at the LoC and the other at the army camp itself – enabled the terrorists to carry out their mission. This is a serious security lapse, especially in light of terrorists increasingly targeting security personnel in Kashmir. Clearly, anti-infiltration and base defence measures either have big holes or are not being implemented properly. Defence minister Manohar Parrikar is known for his bluster, he must now focus on his job better.
As far as formulating an appropriate strategic response to Pakistan is concerned, government needs to think things through. While a section of the political and security establishment has been baying for blood in the wake of Uri, any military response needs to be carefully calibrated. “Raising the cost” to Pakistan will not suffice, as Pakistan’s self-inflicted cost for supporting terror is higher than anything India can inflict. Neither will talks or dialogue suffice, as Pakistan is perfectly willing to combine talks with terror. Instead, India must work to diplomatically isolate Pakistan for being a terror sponsoring state. With the UN General Assembly deliberations getting underway this week, India should make a strong case for sanctioning Pakistan at the international forum. Plus, New Delhi should also take decisive steps to isolate Islamabad within the neighbourhood.
It’s unlikely now that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will travel to Pakistan for the Saarc Summit in November. Instead, India should push full steam ahead with sub-regional initiatives such as BBIN (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal) and BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation), to marginalise Pakistan further. India should also work on China and leverage the latter’s access to the Indian market to get Beijing to pressure Islamabad to crack down on terror. There are no good short term options, but there are good long term options if India works to a strategic plan.
The Article First Appeared In The Times Of India
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