Why calling IAF air-strike on terror infrastructure in Pakistan an act of 'war' is fundamentally wrong
Nobody in their right frame of mind likes a war.
The human and economic costs of any war are too high for it to be a likeable proposition or chosen course of action. New Delhi has rightly refrained from waging a war against Pakistan, despite the neighbouring country reportedly sponsoring highly deadly attacks on both India’s civilian and military population over decades.
Even after 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawans were killed in Pulwama on February 14, India chose to show restraint by not declaring war against Pakistan.
This restraint was shown even in the face of the severe provocation of terror organisation Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) claiming responsibility for the attack.
The Jaish attack in Pulwama, the Pathankot attack, the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, all fall within the United Nation’s definition of 'war' as described under Article 3 (read with Article 2) of Resolution 3314 adopted by the General Assembly on December 14, 1974. According to Article 2 of the General Assembly resolution, “The First use of armed force by a State in contravention of the Charter shall constitute prima facie evidence of an act of aggression...”
Forget 'first use', despite losing thousands of our soldiers to Pak-based terror groups' armed actions, aided by the military establishment, using terrorists as proxies, India did not retaliate.
It did what responsible nations do — India used diplomatic channels to unmask Pakistan and also presented every thread of evidence that Islamabad sought to act against the habitual offenders that nation provides a safe haven to.
In return, India got more attacks and more provocations, leading to the loss of more lives.
New Delhi used every single opportunity to raise the issue of Pakistan-sponsored terrorism at United Nations summits. The agreements signed at the end of both World War I and World War II affirmed the global community’s commitment to the establishment of peace — and yet, the truth is, each country is on its own in the face of aggression from another country.
The global community has seldom gone beyond issuing condemnations and nations have continued to hold bilateral relations with rogue countries, if it suited their diplomatic needs.
Ensuring that Pakistan does something about the terror emanating from its soil that aims to make India bleed repeatedly is thus a task that India has to achieve on its own.
Just a couple of hours after 12 Mirage 2000 jets flew into Pakistan, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) issued a statement clarifying what the air-strikes aimed to achieve. Foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale read out the official statement of the MEA, saying: “In an intelligence-led operation in the early hours of today, India struck the biggest training camp of JeM in Balakot. In this operation, a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis who were being trained for fidayeen action were eliminated.”
Vijay Gokhale: In an intelligence lead operation in the early hours today, India struck the biggest training camp of Jaish-e-Mohammed in Balakot. In this operation, a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commander & Jihadis were eliminated pic.twitter.com/bdHGdZLhdU
— ANI (@ANI) February 26, 2019
“In the face of imminent danger, a pre-emptive strike became absolutely necessary,” the statement added.
A pre-emptive strike is clearly an act of self-defence — something even the United Nations charter makes a provision for.
Article 51 says that no other provision of the Charter shall “impair the inherent right of individual or collective self-defence if an armed attack occurs against a Member of the United Nations.”
India did not strike any military establishment in Pakistan when its aircraft flew into the neighbouring country. It only destroyed terror infrastructure, something Pakistan claims to be a victim of.
All these years, we have known that right across the border, terrorists are being trained to use deadly weapons against India and being indoctrinated to blow their own selves up to disturb peace and normalcy in India.
Yet, India has waged no war. India ensured the ongoing limited-war that Islamabad has kept alive against New Delhi is de-escalated.
We see Pakistan is rattled because the terrorists it harbours have been attacked. We also see that India has never wanted war. It is Pakistan that wants it — and wages it.