Even the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) fails before Pakistan’s obsession with inflicting terror against India. The Handwara encounter, in which five Indian soldiers and a policeman were killed fighting a militant cell, is a reminder that through the pandemic, it has been business-as-usual along the Line of Control and in Kashmir. The past few months have seen a steady exchange of fire between Indian and Pakistani forces along the border, a parallel infiltration of militants, and concomitant terrorist activity in Kashmir. Rawalpindi’s recent rebranding of the existing militant groups in Kashmir as “The Resistance Front” does nothing to disguise the fact what is happening continues to be State-sponsored terrorism with Rawalpindi’s favourite Lashkar-e-Taiba at the forefront of the violence.
Pakistan has been ratcheting up violence in and along Kashmir since the abrogation of Article 370. This is despite failing to persuade the international community to force India to reverse its decision, and the sanctions threat of the United Nations Financial Action Task Force. It is evident to everyone that India is not going to change what was passed in Parliament without opposition, and is now engraved in the Constitution. Pakistan knows this too, but what it is seeking to do is make India pay a price for effectively cutting Islamabad out of the future of the Valley. Pakistan should know that incidents like Handwara, however tragic, will do nothing to bend India’s will.
Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi laid out a new path for Indo-Pakistani relations, one that focused on trade and investment, tackling common development challenges and building personal bridges. It required, however, Pakistan to accept that the use of coercion to force territorial changes is no longer viable. The Covid-19 pandemic provided a perfect opportunity for Islamabad to at least explore this new path, using the excuse of a common viral enemy to put aside a legacy of animosity. Instead, PM Imran Khan chose to treat the pandemic as a non-event and the military, which still determines Kashmir policy, rejected the opportunity through violence on the ground. Pakistan must accept the new reality. But a nation born in bloodshed and sustained by violence will not surrender its delusions easily and peacefully. Which is why India should take into account these designs, anticipate challenges, and respond accordingly. Security forces will have to be at the forefront of this battle. The prize at the end will make it all worthwhile: The conclusion of the Kashmir conflict, a more united India and forcing Pakistan to, hopefully, give up terror as an instrument of State policy.