How To Deal With The Terrorist Attack In Kashmir – OpEd

One more terrorist attack has now taken place in Kashmir on February 14, 2019, when around 46 Indian soldiers lost their lives and several more have been injured. This is one of the biggest and serious attacks in recent times.

This terrorist attack has raised considerable anger and sadness amongst the Indian citizens living in India and abroad. Many Indians wonder how to deal with this situation due to the acts of some extremist groups who seem to be crude and ruthless.

While extremists and terrorists seem to have an easy access to several places in Kashmir and seem to be successfully mixing with the people, the fact is that they are not large in number. The elections conducted in Kashmir have shown participation by large segment of citizens whenever they were assured of safety and security to cast their votes.

All over the world, terrorist attacks have become too common these days and handful of terrorists are able to carry out sabotage and murderous attacks. With the influx of refugees in Europe and liberal entry of foreigners in USA, European countries and USA have also become vulnerable to terrorist attacks. With the liberal refugee policy of Canada government, terrorist attacks have become frequent in Canada too.

There is a difference with the terrorist attacks that take place in Kashmir and in Europe and Americas. The terrorists operating in Europe or Americas do not enjoy any support from any particular government but the terrorists are independent groups and outfits.

In the case of Kashmir, it is not secret anymore and it is well known that the terrorists operate from their bases in Pakistan. What is particularly shocking is that while Pakistan itself has suffered from several terrorist attacks by extremist Islamic groups, it has no hesitation in providing supporting base for the terrorists to operate from Pakistan soil to launch attacks in Kashmir. On several occasions, the Pakistan government and senior politicians in Pakistan have described the act of terrorism in Kashmir as an independent movement and Pakistan openly says that it supports such activities.

The problem faced by India in tackling the terrorists in Kashmir is that India has to necessarily attack them who are operating from Pakistani soil or Pakistani occupied Kashmir soil. It virtually means that it would be an attack on Pakistan.

It is very well known that large section of people in Pakistan are unhappy about the terrorists and think that terrorism should be suppressed at any cost. Attack by India on Pakistani soil will inevitably mean attack on Pakistani citizens and not terrorists alone and India would not like this situation.

The unfortunate fact is that western countries and USA who are themselves victims of terrorist attacks do not condemn terrorism in Kashmir , except expressing some lip sympathy. Pakistan government and terrorists seem to think that they can have their way in Kashmir and the world opinion would be impotent.

Pakistan economy is in distress and financial conditions are extremely alarming. It is suffering from several socio economic problems with no indication of being solved in the immediate future. It has now taken huge loan from International Monetary Fund to stay afloat. Certainly, Pakistan cannot afford a war with India.

If Pakistan thinks that it can continue to support the terrorists in Kashmir even risking a war with India , it would be a terrible mistake and the Pakistan government should have the wisdom to realize this. Paksitan should also know that in today’s international situation, China cannot afford to come to the aid of Pakistan in case of a war with India , as China has high trade interests in India and currently faces trade war with USA.

To handle the terrorists in Kashmir, India would wish that Pakistan would understand that supporting terrorists in Kashmir would not be in it’s interest. If it would not realise this , perhaps, a bloody confrontation between India and Pakistan would be inevitable. Matured and responsible citizens in both the countries want peace but it needs two hands to clap.