“PEACE CANNOT BE USHERED IN BY THE WEAK. ONLY THE BRAVE CAN BRING PEACE”
Kapil Butt
To avenge the Pulwama attack in Jammu and Kashmir, India conducted an aerial strike at a terror training centre in Balakot of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on February 26 last 2019. Forty soldiers were martyred in the terror attack claimed by Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed on February 14.This was the second major cross-LoC/border response from India in the aftermath of a major terror attack in less than three years. The first such response was the surgical strike across the Line of Control in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) in 2016 days after terror attack at Uri base camp of the Indian Army.
On 26 Feb 2019, 12 Mirage 2000 fighter jets of the Indian Air Force crossed the Line of Control and dropped 1,000 kg bombs on a vast terror training facility at Balakot, which was the hub of suicide attack training. Several terrorists, trainers and Jaish commanders planning more terror strikes in India were killed, which included Jaish chief Masood Azhar’s brother-in-law. India stressed that the strike was based on “very credible intelligence/information” that JeM (Jaish-e-Mohammed) was planning terror strikes across India. That made this strike absolutely necessary.It was an essential message to Pakistan that India will never tolerate any more attacks like Pulwama. Though the Pak tried all the way out to retaliate the very next day, it went in vain. These subsequent retaliations triggered the fright of another war in the subcontinent.
India’s response to Pulwama terror attack was not anticipated by Pakistan. This became obvious with the relative ease the Indian Air Force carried out its mission. Pakistan Air Force was not ready to respond. In fact, it did not get any idea till the Indian team returned safely leaving the Pakistan military red-faced.The strike had been carried out not in the PoK, a region over which Pakistan rejects India’s territorial claim, but deep inside Pakistani territory. Rattled with the audacity of the air strike by India, Pakistan hurriedly planned a counter-attack regrouping its fighter planes.An entourage of over two dozen fighter planes, including F-16s left Pakistani bases aiming to hit military installations inside India. But the Indian forces were ready in anticipation of such an attack. An aerial dogfight ensued that ended with an Indian pilot, AbhinandanV, shooting down an F-16 fighter plane of Pakistan and getting hit in the process.
It was long held in popular perception that India was a soft state. This impression had a bearing on those hatching terror conspiracies sitting in Pakistan.Earlier India agreed to call Pakistan a victim of terror rather than a perpetrator, and also allowed Pakistan to say that India might be meddling in Baluchistan, a restive province of Pakistan.This called for a change in India’s response. In September 2016, special commandos of the Indian Army crossed the LoC to destroy terror launch pads. There was sense that this was a one-off response from India. The Balakot aerial strike confirmed that India was in for a serious counter-attack if terror continues the way it has from across the border.This showed that India has a new appetite for imposing a cost on Pakistan for supporting and sponsoring militant activities in India. And, that possession of nuclear weapon – a blackmail tactic often trumpeted by PM of Pakistan – was no deterrent for India in resorting to conventional cross-border assault. Balakot aerial strike also saw an increasing isolation of Pakistan, particularly in matters of terror funding. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has become particularly tough after the Pulwama terror attack and India’s response to it.
Though Pakistan came on the grey list of the FATF in 2018, it is expected to move to the white list with the change of leadership at the Paris-based body that monitors terror financing. China, an all-weather friend of Pakistan, became its chairman in 2019. But despite China’s backing, Pakistan has failed to get enough votes at the FATF for moving to the white list. This would mean massive economic sanctions on Pakistan, whose economy is already in a dire state. Balakot airstrikes sent out a strong message to Pakistan that terrorist infrastructure across the border cannot be used as a safe haven to wage a “low-cost war” against India. And this made it clear that India will follow a holistic approach in combating the terrorism.
