WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE!
Wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows – Major General Rajiv Edwards, VSM(Retd)
WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE!
Wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows – Major General Rajiv Edwards, VSM(Retd)
The road to Viksit Bharat was never envisaged to be easy…..the lily livered attack on holidaying tourists at Baisaran has just made it a notch more difficult or so it seems! By all accounts, it is an attack on the heterogeneity of Bharat; the deceased/injured hailing from 18 states and three religions of the country. No coincidence that during both the ‘Ps’…..Pulwama and Pahalgam, the same man, General Asif Munir is the common denominator, then as DG ISI, now as COAS of the Pakistan Army.
A country born out of the womb of India, today qualifies for the tag of ‘marta kya na karta’. Nothing no more surprises the level to which Pakistan can descend. The epigenetic differences in ‘thinking and attitude’ of the two countries so aptly acknowledged by Asif Munir in his recent speech, has a creepy resemblance to the rancorous disgorgement by Hitler and a veiled attempt to become the proverbial self styled pontiff of the Muslim community in Pakistan. In life one needs either inspiration or desperation…ironically Pakistan revels in the latter. The religious profiling at Baisaran, (notwithstanding that it included two Christians and one courageous Muslim pony driver), is yet another act of desperation!
The fact that the massacre was a consequence of the ‘dog whistle’ by Asif Munir, to exploit the internal differences arising out of ‘waqf’, and to bolster his own dipping image, is manifest.
The jury is out on the culpability, and the justice to be meted out to the terrorists and their backers….to be ‘punished beyond their imagination’. That is just as well, if one considers what Chanakya said, ‘war may be considered when all diplomatic and other peaceful means have been exhausted’. Most times all that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing. Is Pahalgam the tipping point!
The cold blooded ‘agenda driven’ massacre is reprehensible to the very idea of India. Enflamed passions are the natural by product of an assault on the beliefs of the populace, but when trained inwards towards fellow citizens can be counterproductive. The last thing which the leadership needs at this juncture is to expend energies on internal dissonance, when the entire convergence should be on the external foe. The power of national unity is a force multiplier especially during a national challenge. Hopefully, such will be the response of the Indian populace to an enemy, whose entire line of attack is predicated on dividing Bharat. It is imperative that the country does not bite the insidious communal bait and allow internal differences to give hope to the enemy!
The Prime Minister’s ‘Mann Ki Baat’ of ‘unimaginable punishment’ could not have been articulated with such clarity without being sure of its achievability! We take him on his word. However, one is quietly hopeful that in the six year interregnum between Pulwama and Pahalgam, professional stock taking would have been undertaken, unless in our exuberance for ‘make in India’, we have not woken up and smelt the coffee! In any case, it is too late to split hair over what, why and how….realism demands that we do what we have to, with what we have! The spotlight is on the armed forces and the country will not stomach anything short of victory. This is not to cast aspersions on the vigour, valour and competence of the Indian Armed Forces, both who lead as well as the led. The ‘meat and potatoes’ is in being in optimal ship shape and timing it to the beat advantage! Calculated delay will not make the fruit of victory any less sweet!
There are of course many options in the ‘grey zone’ as well, between the two extremes of war and peace, and with unpleasant consequences for the adversary. Pakistan’s history and geography is a testimony to the fact that the country has failed not because it united Muslims, but failed because it divided Muslims!
There lies a subliminal message in this for India!
Wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows. India is on an upward trajectory, one which merits unhindered peaceful growth and development to achieve the Viksit Bharat goal in 2047. Any response to Pakistan needs to factor that the potential benefits of winning the war, outweigh the potential costs of war! War is as much about emotions as rational decision making and importantly, it offers no instant gratification. The country needs to condition and brace itself to this truth. For Pak a war may fix multiple problems, not the least, the growing distaste for the armed forces. Therefore, if at all, then the ‘unimaginable’ must be decisive, the proverbial ‘mother of all cuts’….more potent than the ‘thousand cuts’, otherwise it will at best be a temporary snag in the spout. It is a litmus test for Bharat and its image around the globe! Act I, Scene I has already unfolded. The abrogation of IWT has certainly seized the collective imagination of a country scrounging for ‘daana’, and now ‘paani’! ‘Nandi’ the sacred mount of Lord Shiva has merely bucked at ‘Bailgaon’ (aka Pahalgam),……..we await the kick! As some would say, ‘mann bhi hain, mauka bhi hain, dastur bhi hain’!
(Major General Rajiv Edwards, VSM** (retd) is a historical researcher and commentator on societal issues. He is apolitical. Views expressed are personal. (77100-17067)
