While we were busy enjoying the weekend and figuring out ways to fight the Monday Blues, an important development was taking place on the other side of the border. A blog post appeared in The Nation Today — a Pakistani newspaper that strategists consider close to both the government as well as the military establishment — claiming that threat of international isolation was looming over Pakistan — thanks to its conspicuous inaction against terrorism.
The blog post came on the heels of the Indian Prime Minister’s address to the leaders of Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa, wherein he remarked that — “Tragically, the mothership of terrorism is a country in India’s neighbourhood.” Of course, it did not take our neighbours long to realise that Modi’s particularly tasteful allusion “Mothership of terrorism” was actually alluding to Pakistan.
Thus, The Nation Today responded with a blog post that was quick to highlight: “Modi’s statement shows just how committed New Delhi is when it comes to isolating Pakistan globally. From cancelling the Saarc summit to boycotting Pakistani artistes, the Modi regime is hell-bent on weakening Pakistan at every international forum.” The blog post furthermore highlighted that according to its own internal reports, the civilian government claimed that it was the army that was interfering every time the former took any action against certain groups [read “terrorists”].
In fact, the blog post not only urged its political leaders to clearly define its policies vis-a-vis the non-state actors [aka terrorists] to its allies, but to also ACT on those policies instead of merely paying lip-service. The post also went on to acknowledge that even China — Pakistan’s strategic ally — had expressed its concern over Pakistan’s course of action, which further was a testament to the international pressure that was mounting on Pakistan. The global community’s demand to Pakistan, in fact, is fairly simple: “Either take indiscriminate action against nefarious elements or face isolation.”
Strategically speaking, India has much to be happy about…after all, it’s efforts seem to be paying off! And what Narendra Modi set out to achieve post his vow to isolate Pakistan on the international platform (post the Uri attack), is all set for realisation. This is especially relevant if one closely reads between the lines in the particular blog post. You see, the Pakistani public is getting restless! For it is now openly acknowledging that there is a clear divide between the civilian government and the military establishment (not that it was a state secret…yet the media openly acknowledging it is a positive validation). Moreover, Pakistan clearly seems ill-equipped to handle the trouble brewing at the international front — thanks to the Indian Prime Minister.
Thus, given the present state of affairs…the Indian Prime Minister needs to further tighten the noose around Pakistan’s neck and go on the offensive. This will ensure that Pakistan not only feels the heat from international quarters, but will hopefully act on the perpetrators of terrorism…if it hopes to avoid international isolation. For even Pakistan knows that the impact of such an isolation will be drastic…albeit, befitting
