Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivered a stern warning to the Pakistan Army and its terrorist network during his address on July 26 at Drass, Kargil, of the occassion of the 25th anniversary of Kargil Vijay Diwas.
“Pakistan has not taken any lessons from its past. It is using horror as a means of trying to stay relevant. I am speaking today from a location where the terrorists’ leaders may hear me right up close. I want to make it clear to those who support terrorism that their evil schemes will never succeed. With all of our might, our courageous hearts will defeat terrorism, and the adversary will face an equally shattering blow,” PM Modi said.
Regular units of the Pakistan Army carried out the military action in Kargil, not terrorists. Pakistan attempted to pass it off as a terrorist project, but India foiled that plan.
Despite this, Modi was right to send Pakistan a strong message about terrorism at this point, as it has sparked terrorism in the Jammu Division of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It is obvious that Modi would have been thinking about Pakistan’s support of terrorism in Drass on June 9, the day of his swearing-in. This included Reasi.
Pakistan will pay any price to continue using terrorism as a means of subjugating India. In fact, it is refusing to change its stance on terrorism during this time when its economy is still in such dire straits that it has applied to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for financial help for the 24th time in its history.
Pakistan is dealing with terrorism while encouraging it against India, particularly in the provinces of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan. The Tehreek-e-Taliban-e-Pakistan (TTP) and other terrorist organizations that are thought to have close ties to or are TTP proxies are being opposed by the country’s security services. However, it is unwilling to have its security policy change to exclude the use of terrorism against India.
The generals of the Pakistan Army are comparable to the French Bourbon family, whose rule marked the start of the French Revolution in 1789. It was stated of the Bourbons that they remember nothing and learn nothing! The generals of the Pakistan Army behave in the same manner.
On July 15, early in the morning, terrorists assaulted the Bannu cantonment located in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. They managed to penetrate the cantonment wall and kill eight Pakistani security agency officers in the ensuing gunfight. In the cantonment, 141 more people are said to have suffered injuries. It seems that the terrorist strike claimed the lives of some civilians as well. Ten terrorists were said to have been killed by the Pakistani army. It is thought that Jaish Fursan e Muhammad, a TTP operative, claimed responsibility for this terrorist attack. One way to translate the word Fursan is “warriors.”
Terrorists attacked a rural health center in Dera Ismail Khan one day after the Bannu incident, murdering two mothers, two children, and a watchman. They lost three of their own and killed two security personnel in an encounter with the attackers.
On July 19, an IED detonated in South Waziristan, killing four persons. The same day, an attack at the Buddhist archeological site Takht Bahi in Mardan resulted in the death of a policeman and the injuries of two others. But the most significant event of that day happened in Bannu. Merchants staged a peaceful march. The marchers made their way across to the cantonment from the stadium. The specifics of what transpired are unclear, but there was violence and one person died, along with over 20 injuries. The security personnel dispute any firing into the throng.
The nation was shocked by these terrible happenings in KP. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), led by former prime minister Imran Khan, controls the KP government. The governor of KP berated the province for its poor state of law and order, but he also promised Islamabad will not violate the will of the people. The army, however, believes that these actions are an attempt to damage its and the nation’s reputation.
Thus, on July 22, Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, the Director-General of the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), gave an hour-long press conference. Its clear goal was to communicate that the Pakistani army, in the midst of the new Azm-e-Istehkam (Resolve for Stability) campaign, is effectively fighting terrorism. Chaudhry, however, insisted again and time again that other government organizations had to carry out their responsibilities if stability was to be restored.
Chaudhry added during the press conference that since the start of this year, Pakistani security forces have carried out up to 22,904 “small and big” security operations against terrorists. 31 of the 398 terrorists that were slain in this incident were “high value” targets. These counterterrorism operations had claimed the lives of up to 137 officers and jawans. Chaudhry expressed his disapproval of the false narratives being constructed in opposition to the army’s actions, particularly with regard to Azm-e-Istehkam. He angrily refuted claims that it featured massive army campaigns including mass population displacement. He said that the necessity for such measures had been removed by the accomplishments of earlier counterterrorism initiatives.
In support of Azm-e-Istehkam, Chaudhry stated that the National Apex Committed in June gave its approval for the operation. The leaders of the intelligence services, army brass, and province chief ministers were present at the conference, which was presided over by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. The operation had informational, political, diplomatic, and socioeconomic components in addition to military action.
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Therefore, he was trying to emphasize that a whole-government strategy was required. He added that Sharif had stated that it was essential to the existence and welfare of the country. He emphasized that nobody could be permitted to contest the state’s writ. Some of Chaudhry’s remarks during the press conference hinted that the army still despises the PTI because he also mentioned May 9, 2023.
Three points in Chaudhry’s response:
- Pakistan was dealing with a criminal-terrorist network that was unwilling to let things improve. This alliance desired open borders with Afghanistan so that smuggling could go on. He said that Afghanistan’s transit trade grew when Pakistan tightened import restrictions. It was evident that this meant items that were forbidden from entering Pakistan directly entered via Afghanistan. Among them were automobiles, which terrorists also utilized. The truth is that life along the Durand Line revolves around smuggling, and the Pakistani government can never close every available gap. This has also to do with the flow of drugs from Afghanistan into and via Pakistan. It is possible that certain top army officers are involved in the drug trade. In fact, it’s possible that some ISI factions use the money they earn from the drug trade to fund or launch terrorist attacks in other nations, including India.
- Chaudhry expressed his vehement dissatisfaction towards “digital terrorists” that propagate aggressive, negative, and harmful narratives against the Pakistani army, economy, and government. Their aim was to support the terrorists in their endeavors. They intended to disseminate negativity throughout Pakistan. It is evident that using kinetic force against them is not the solution. In order to stop fake news from spreading, it was necessary to deploy both technology and legal measures to battle them. Naturally, in this day and age of increasingly potent artificial intelligence capabilities, all of this is easier said than done.
- According to Chaudhry, India was waiting for Pakistan’s army and institutions to deteriorate so that it could carry out events (wardat). These charges are absurd. Though strategically, India’s focus has clearly shifted from Pakistan to China. India still needs to confront and defeat the Pakistani terrorist threat. Pakistan finds this extremely upsetting, as its basic tenet is “equality” between “Hindu” India and “Muslim” Pakistan. It was a logical consequence of the two-nation idea, but it was always a foolish perspective on India-Pakistan ties. Pakistan has never been at peace with India’s secularism.
The Pakistan Army need to realise that normalising relations with India is the only way their nation can truly prosper in the future. It will constantly be in an economic, social, and political ICU and on a drip if it maintains its animosity toward India.
