TO KILL A TERROR STATE

Why India Must Embrace Covert Elimination of Terror Leaders

Post Operation Sindoor, there is far too much of jingoistic posturing going on between the Indian and Pakistani media. Maybe, it’s the age of electronic media and they need all the masala to compete for the TRP, a trend that began surfacing with the Kargil War. At least during that war, they had some visuals available, of real soldiers and guns and even some shell bursts on enemy-held mountain peaks. In case of Op Sindoor however, except for some images of the terrorist hubs targeted or satellite imagery of Pak airfields struck, media coverage is bereft of any exciting visuals.

That might be the reason for a lot of focus on the diplomatic campaign by multiparty delegations touring the world. Shashi Tharoor’s has suddenly become a familiar face for electronic media viewers. And he is certainly doing a fine job selling India to the world. Pakistani counter campaign, on the other hand, is more or less falling flat. For one thing, their failure to contest Trump’s mediation claim even once, gives the lie to their claims of even partial success in countering India, leave alone a spectacular victory that warrants the promotion of the army chief to field marshal’s rank. It makes it far too apparent, that they had begged for US help to bail them out, much as it happened during the Kargil War. That said, one wonders whether we aren’t wasting our time, expecting Pakistan to mend its ways because of international pressure, especially given the kind institutionalized support they are still enjoying from UN bodies?

The point here is, everyone knows that we are the good guys and Pakis the bad ones, but no one wants to do anything about it, because everyone has their own axe to grind. Then why waste our time trying to convince anyone at all? Let’s get to the point. Pakistan is not going to change; it’s a rogue nation with no reputation to lose. They know we can only hurt them, not finish them off, as long as they can flaunt the nuclear card. And getting beaten up every few years has become a way of life for them. There will be more Pahalgams, unless we decide to end it, because no one else is going to do it for us.

End how? Start killing, for a change. Let’s make assassination our state policy, assassination of our enemies wherever they are. After all, if we can erect statues of Chanakya to symbolize his ideals, we can follow some of his strategies; assassination was one of them. Statecraft is ruthless. The earlier we accept it the better. Hit where it hurts. Hunt these terrorists down. It has become far too apparent that military solutions are not the most effective and economic way to tackle terrorism. We need to build up our capability and infrastructure for covert operations to a far more superior level. Being proactive should be the counterterror mantra, keeping the momentum with no letup. Make it so hot for the terror gurus that they find themselves too busy saving their own lives to have time to plan a strike.

Villains like Hafiz Saeed and Masood Azhar have forfeited their right to live. Unless we can take out key figures like them, we are not likely to cause any lasting damage to the terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan. Who knows, after all, Pakistan government itself may not have any control over them? The nexus of ISI and terrorists may be even beyond the reach of the Pakistan Army! Pakistan is a strange country of bizarre narratives. It’s a country where an army chief like Pervez Musharraf could plan and execute an entire operation like Kargil on his own, right under the nose of the country’s prime minister, and even keeping air and naval chiefs in the dark; and then kick the prime minister out and take over power!

A parallel strategy to boost the Baluch Liberation Army with arms and funding should do famously well to wreck Pakistan. So should a concerted effort to foment a revolt within Pakistan. The ongoing agitation by Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf could be an ideal recipe to fish in troubled waters. They say, your enemy’s enemy is your friend. Therefore, in the current scenario, we must have no qualms in joining hands with the Afghan regime of Taliban as well, brutally medieval and reprehensible as they are, to undermine Pakistan, exploiting the differences between the two to the hilt. The breakup of Pakistan may very well be on the cards of its own undoing. Essentially, we would only be hastening the process. Why not? The state of Pakistan has become a pain in the neck for us. The earlier we reduce it to a nonentity the better. As Winston Churchill is believed to have said: ‘Why should we alone be handicapped for playing the gentlemen?’

I am no strategic expert and I’m sure there are enough people among our powers that be who would have already thought of all these. Yet, having been a witness to the depravity of our western neighbour for more than six decades, from the time I was a teenager, I cannot help wonder whether any Indian government would ever have the gumption to do what is right? Or we can talk, posture and trumpet, until the cows come home! And meekly reconcile to being a cowardly state, while the twenty-six innocent lives lost at a pristine meadow near Pahalgam eventually dissolve in the sea of statistics with the scores that have preceded those.