After the Uri attack yesterday, 'some' people (Arnab?) have gone on overdrive advocating a fight to the finish with Pakistan
What I would say to them is 'Mitron, thodi thand rakho!'
A frenzied reaction is just what the perpetrators of this attack want.
As everyone is giving advice how we should react to this attack, here are my two pennies worth..
First of all, never forget. We as a nation make a big outrage about such events but forget them all too soon. We must make a detailed investigation of the attack and the persons behind it and ensure that these people face justice at the place and time of our choosing. But face justice they must, even if means an encounter or a missile attack which expedites their meeting with the 72 hoors in Jannat!
This timing of this attack shows that there is a bigger threat before important bilateral or multilateral events featuring India and Pakistan. So our security arrangements must always keep this in mind, esp. in bases, posts, etc. which are near the LoC.
Second, regarding the broad strategy with which to tackle Pakistan. What I would advocate here is for us to follow Deng Xiaoping, arguably the greatest leader in the last 50 years of any nation.
Our focus must be only on economic development and our diplomats must allow this to happen, by buying time on all issues including Kashmir.
If after 15-20 years, India grows as it is expected to grow; we will find it much easier to resolve issues with Pakistan and even China. A strong economy gives us more headroom to negotiate and capable of causing more damage to our adversaries.
Whatever provocations either country poses before us, and there will be many; should be diplomatically and tactically handled. Revenge is a dish best served cold and should be had at the time and place of our choosing.
We must also remember the Berlin Wall incident. If the differential between the 2 countries on economic indices becomes too wide. and we manage to control the communal hotheads in our country; then there is a solid chance that there will be a demand inside Pakistan to reunite with India. We must covertly start aiding the groups or people who might be sympathetic to such a demand right from now as these will demoralize the Pak military establishment.
Thirdly, there must be a focus on development of covert assets in all our enemy countries. This must be primarily targeted at Pakistan. We must know a lot more about them than we do already.
But choosing our friends is also important. For instance, arming the TTP is not a good idea. If they gain sway within the country, it would be highly detrimental for India. Thus, the Baloch rebels must be our primary focus.. The decision by previous leaders to dismantle our covert assets in Pakistan should never be repeated.
One of the keys to Pakistan lies through Afghanistan. If we can strengthen the self sufficiency of the Afghans and they emerge victorious over the Taliban, then most problems for us would be solved.
But that possibility looks distant with the Taliban gaining ground. It must be remembered that even the US military was not able to subdue them even after spending hundreds of billions of dollars. So direct intervention is not a solution. We must try to build on current efforts with Iran, Russia and the US.
Another way of controlling Pakistan is by cozying up to China; but the Chinese are way too clever to be fooled by this strategy but we must try. The border dispute must be resolved soon by taking some bold calls even if that means losing some territory. I'm not calling for the surrender of Arunachal Pradesh by any means but for proper demarcation of the land border. Increase in trade esp. exports to China must be done at a war footing so as to make the relationship more equal. We must also facilitate the big investments announced by China in Indian manufacturing and infrastructure.
To conclude, the way to deal with Pakistan lies mainly in internal dynamics of India and clever foreign policy, and nuclear or other weapons do not have any role at all!
