New Delhi has said Pakistan-based militants were behind Sunday’s attack in which 17 soldiers were killed, raising the prospect of a military escalation in the already tense disputed Himalayan region.
Advertisement
Modi held a meeting on Monday with top ministerial colleagues and the army chief, after tweeting on Sunday “those behind this despicable attack will not go unpunished”.
Attacking Parrikar, he said, “Will Prime Minister show courage of conviction and fixing responsibility and accountability for this complete failure, particularly that of his Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, who is more of a Swayamsevak, than holding the serious and responsible position of the Defence Minister of the country?”
India has blamed Pakistan for the ghastly attack on a military base in Jammu and Kashmir that killed 18 soldiers. France remains at India’s side in the combat against terrorism.
He alleged Pakistan has not been “mending ways” despite repeated warnings at appropriate forums and held the “rogue country responsible for the ongoing mayhem in Kashmir which had left thousands of security personnel injured”. Expect voices in India that had begun to question the government’s harsh tactics to be shouted down.
The president further informed that India has also closed down all offices of Amnesty International on raising voice against its atrocities in Kashmir.
Modi is under pressure to live up to his 2014 election campaign rhetoric of showing Pakistan that India is not a “soft power” and would give a “befitting reply” to any attacks on the country. Officials adamantly denied any involvement and excoriated India for making what they called unsubstantiated and “premature” charges. Militants killed 30 soldiers and their families in a suicide attack in Kaluchak area in 2002. But it is also alarmed by growing US ties with India under Modi, a lifelong pro-Hindu activist, and about India’s deepening relationship with Afghanistan, whose USA -backed government has also accused Pakistan of harboring violent militant groups.
For Modi, Uri may well mark the end of a confused period of marrying India’s Pakistan outreach with Indian electoral politics. The strike was uncannily similar to the Pathankot terror attack on an airbase earlier this year. Unlike Pakistan, India’s government is civilian-led and senior military officials “are not in the security planning loop at all”, says Ajai Shukla, a former Indian army colonel, now defence analyst. Naqvi said that Pakistan has been “exposed” before the entire world “only because of “zero tolerance” policy adopted by the NDA Government against terrorism”.
Yet if the Indian government can ride out the public anger, a restrained, diplomatic response might be its wisest route.
Advertisement
“Views of Modi’s performance are increasingly partisan as the divide grows between how BJP supporters and Indian National Congress adherents judge his achievements”, the Pew report said.
