Modi’s message from Amritsar: No talks with Pakistan till action on terror - Hindustan Times
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Modi’s message from Amritsar: No talks with Pakistan till action on terror

Hindustan Times | By
Dec 05, 2016 02:55 PM IST

After the Amritsar rebuff, Islamabad should realise that Modi will not deal with Sharif while the ISI is egging jihadists to attack Indian security forces.

For those who know Prime Minister Narendra Modi are aware that he does not give up easily. He puts all his energies into a project to make it viable but he is also known to move on if the desired result is not to his satisfaction or in the larger national interest. Modi took huge political and personal security risk when he landed up in Lahore on December 25, 2015, to meet his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif with a vision to genuinely improve bilateral ties.

The Indian overture was rebuffed by assault rifles and grenade launchers of terrorists belonging to Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) group at Pathankot airbase in January. Based on excellent inputs by the Research and Analysis Wing, national security adviser Ajit Doval even informed his Pakistani counterpart about the imminent attack on the airbase so that pressure could be put on JeM’s so-called emir Masood Azhar to ask his footsoldiers to call off the operation. After eight Indians lost their lives in the attack, Modi waited for Sharif to bring the handlers of the jihadists to book and even allowed Pakistani joint investigating team access to the airbase. The involvement of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and jihadists in stoking multiple fires in Kashmir Valley after the July 8 encounter of Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani and the September 18 Uri attack has forced India to draw a red line on dialogue with Pakistan till the cessation of cross-border terrorism.

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Read: Heart of Asia summit: No need to differentiate between good and bad terrorists, says Jaitley

Despite of near war-like conditions existing between the two neighbours, Pakistan’s de facto foreign minister Sartaj Aziz landed up at the just concluded Heart of Asia Conference in Amritsar to offer a dialogue to India, tactically to convey Islamabad’s reasonability to the world.

Aziz, the 87-year-old hardliner who has seen all the wars, U-turns and about turns made by both countries since their Independence, along with his able high commissioner Abdul Basit, who is prone to giving well-timed interviews to Indian media, wanted to revive 2009 Sharm-el-Sheikh statement so that dialogue and terrorism could be delinked.

With Aziz advancing his visit to attend Modi’s banquet on the pretext of fog, the ever-optimistic media thought that one more U-turn in the bilateral relationship was in the offing.

Read: Dialogue with India only if Kashmir on agenda: Sartaj Aziz

But the fact is that Modi just shook hands with Aziz along with four other dignitaries and NSA Doval just escorted the Pakistani adviser to the banquet without even uttering a bilateral word.

Even the Pakistani move for Aziz to visit Golden Temple and address the media was turned down by New Delhi last-minute. With majority of terrorist groups listed in the Heart of Asia statement based in Pakistan, the Indian message from the holy city of Amritsar is clear: No bilateral dialogue till the cessation of cross-border terrorism and visible Pakistani action on groups targeting India.

After the Amritsar rebuff, Islamabad should realise that Modi will not deal with Sharif while the ISI is egging jihadists to attack Indian security forces.

This year alone, India has lost 81 security forces personnel to Pakistani terrorists as compared to 39 in 2015, 49 in 2014 and 52 in 2013. The only saving grace is that even the number of terrorists killed in 2016 is at a high of 148 as compared to 112 in 2015, 110 in 2014 and 69 in 2013.

Read: Pakistan welcome to attend Heart of Asia conference: External affairs ministry

The complicity of Pakistan-based groups in targeting India this year is blatant as evident from attacks at Pathankot to November 29 strike at Nagrota with both JeM and Lashkar-e-Tayebba (LeT) taking on the Indian forces after the September 29 Indian surgical strikes on terror camps across the 744-kilometre long Line of Control (LoC).

Investigations conducted by National Investigation Agency (NIA) into majority of 2016 terror attacks throws up surprising revelation.

First, there is a terror factory in Pakistan with all equipment like shoes, honey bottles and medicines recovered from dead jihadists procured from one source and supplied regularly, something akin to government/army procurement.

Second, there is clear involvement of Pakistani military experts in jihad against India as evident from engineering modifications done in Japanese-made ICOM radio telephone sets so that it covers all VHF frequencies.

Third, terrorists were sent into India with instructions from fixed communication centre at Muzaffarabad in Occupied Kashmir with full knowledge and support of Pakistani forces.

Last, the ISI was controlling both Lashkar and Jaish cadres despite both groups following different and competing Islamic ideologies.

With the appointment of Qamar Javed Bajwa as new Pakistan army chief on November 29, Aziz may have wanted to signal a change at Amritsar, but the Modi government is not convinced.

The national security establishment believes that Pakistan-based jihadists will continue to dramatically target India in the hinterland and the LoC in hope of global intervention, forcing India to discuss Kashmir at international forums.

While the Indian security forces must answer for infiltration despite full deployment and lax security at army camps, the Modi government is in no mood to talk and will inflict commiserate pain on Pakistan by shaming Islamabad on its terror links on a global stage along with sudden retaliation across the border.

At the HT Leadership summit last weekend, defence minister Manohar Parrikar talked about surgical strikes introducing an element of uncertainty in the bilateral relationship.

But Modi is certain on no dialogue till Pakistan stops terror attacks. And after his decisive actions seen in surgical strikes and demonetisation, the international community believes in him.

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  • ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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    Author of Indian Mujahideen: The Enemy Within (2011, Hachette) and Himalayan Face-off: Chinese Assertion and Indian Riposte (2014, Hachette). Awarded K Subrahmanyam Prize for Strategic Studies in 2015 by Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA) and the 2011 Ben Gurion Prize by Israel.

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