Pathankot terror attack proves Modi must end birthday diplomacy
It was just over a week ago, on Christmas Day, that PM Modi put not only his political capital (or whatever is left of it post Bihar and Delhi) but even his 56-inch hardline image on the line and landed in Lahore to greet his counterpart Nawaz Sharif on his birthday and to extend his blessings for the marriage taking place in Sharif's family. Some called it historic , some others questioned the logic behind it, given that nothing had moved forward on tricky issues like 26/11 trials. A surprise visit, it was the first time that an Indian PM was setting foot on Pakistani soil, after PM Vajpayee's failed adventure to be an ambassador for peace which ultimately resulted in the Kargil war and Parliament attack, both of which were planned , plotted and sponsored from the territory of Pakistan.
But even as we just ushered in the new year it seems that the strong anti-India constituency in Pakistan decided to give PM Modi a rude return gift for his "Birthday Diplomacy" with Nawaz. Reports started trickling in about infiltration of alleged Lashkar and Jaish E Mohammad (JeM) terrorists striking at the Indian Airforce Base at Pathankot, claiming several valuable lives of our brave security personnel. This is the same group whose chief Maulana Masood Azhar was specially flown with with other terrorists in exchange for the IC 814 hijacking hostages by the then NDA government led by Vajpayee.
Even as the operations go on in Pathankot and our brave anti-terror forces, risk their lives and resist the attack, reports suggest that the government seemed to have some prior intel about this attack but for some reason chose not to or failed, either out of laxity, over confidence or incompetence, to take all the steps to thwart it. A final objective post mortem about this command failure right from the PMO and NSA onwards up to the MEA, Home Ministry, IB and RAW must be held dispassionately. If we knew that ISI was coordinating meetings with the terror groups in PoK wasn't it incumbent that this be discussed with PM Sharif and the Pakistani establishment when NSA Ajit Doval secretly met his Pakistani counterpart in Bangkok or when EAM Sushma Swaraj visited Pakistan?
Why is it that the pre-election macho rhetoric of "not writing love letters to Pakistan" and "giving them a befitting reply" transformed into a post-election "bending backwards exercise" ? First we were told there would be "no talks with terror" and then in Bangkok or in Ufa the Modi government agrees to talk about everything under the sun, probably even marriages in the family! What exactly has prompted this change of heart and more importantly the dilution of our legitimate stand on terror? Are we being forced to compromise our security interests and being forced to engage with Pakistan due to US pressure given their exit plans from Afghanistan? Is it a personal business interest as senior Congress leader Anand Sharma has hinted or is it an attempt to put hyperbolic domestic posturing before everything else?
Why hasn't India done its "Mann Ki Baat" on terror with Pakistan yet and if it has then where is the follow up by Sharif? If he can't do what we expect are we investing our "selfie diplomacy" in the wrong guy? We saw the maximum number of LoC firings in the last one year. For the first time we saw terror return to Punjab after decades with Gurdaspur attack. While we were drawing artificial "red lines" at home to get some applause from partisan talking heads on TV and sold that to unsuspecting Indians as a "ground breaking foreign policy achievement" the reality is that we ourselves went back on those arbitrarily drawn red lines, making us look rather silly and confused and in the end resulted in our establishment taking its eye of the "terror ball".
To add to this, the kind of rhetorical mood swings the Modi government has taken the Indian people through will end up exacerbating the misunderstandings between our peoples . After a rather unjustifiable criticism of the Manmohan Singh government for adopting a cautious approach on dialogue with Pakistan while in opposition and in power, you not only adopt the same policy but take it to another extreme of sorts! All of this is bound to create high expectations and low deliveries and thanks to an over-enthusiastic bunch of supporters who from time to time seed all kinds of unrealistic ideas, right from "Akhand Bharat that includes Pakistan" to "capturing Dawood from some cave" we are now a country on a diplomatic orgasmic high with TV anchors mistaking every selfie with Sharif as some kind of a diplomatic breakthrough. This is a recipe for disaster. The Modi government must accept its responsibility for not being able to put sanity before showmanship, logic before emotions on the diplomatic front.
Coming back to Pathankot. The solution of course lies in talking to Pakistan. Pre-2014, BJP and its supporters were wrong in suggesting that we could bomb camps in Muridke or POK or wherever else. They were crackpot ideas partly legitimised by officials spokespersons of BJP. Post 2014, Modi is on the right track. But for the sake of the two countries Modiji, please let experts take the dialogue process further in a credible, constructive manner. Events like Pathankot will force you to trace back your steps because you are a politician who plays to the galleries. But peace cannot and should not become a casualty to politics. It would be a good occasion to allow a calmer, more saner MEA run the Pakistan policy instead of a diplomatically inexperienced former IB official in Ajit Doval.
Let the bureaucrats, traders and people forge economic and other interests that make it impossible for the anti-India lobby in Pakistan to sponsor terror attacks on us.
You can always take credit for it later. For now just put the "Birthday diplomacy" on hold lest Kargil and Pathankot are the only return gifts you wish to get in return.