The reaction of Indians to the gruesome Pahalgam terror attack in which terrorists sponsored by Pakistan gunned down 28 non-Muslims, mostly Hindus, proved yet again that India is not just a union of states, religions, castes, regions, cultures and languages, but a nation united. Our enemies, who see India’s diversity but cannot fathom the unity that circumscribes it, have forever been dreaming of destabilising, if not balkanising, India by exploiting our diversity. The way India responded as one, setting aside all differences, including politics, has undoubtedly dealt a decisive blow to the hopes of many adversaries who could not digest India’s rise.
The way the terrorists executed the attack, screening victims by pulling down their trousers and asking them to recite the Kalma to discern their religion, exposes the sinister design of the masterminds behind the attack. They aimed at triggering communal strife inside India on a scale that could push it towards civil war.
General Munir, Pakistan’s army chief, merely a week before the Pahalgam attack, set the stage by stating that Hindus and Muslims, wherever they live, constitute two separate nations that are irreconcilable. He proclaimed: “Our religions are different, our customs are different, our traditions are different, our thoughts are different, our ambitions are different… We are two nations; we are not one nation.” Although he spoke these words in Pakistan, the fact that he reiterated them four days after the Pahalgam attack while addressing cadets of the Pakistan Military Academy (PMA) makes it clear he aimed at stoking suspicion and conflict among Indian Hindus and Muslims.
General Munir’s statements came after a series of actions planned to raise Hindu-Muslim tensions inside India. These included the disinformation campaign around the CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act). The Shaheen Bagh protests. The Delhi riots of early 2020. The large-scale targeted killing of Hindus and the destruction of their homes, businesses and temples in Bangladesh after overthrowing an India-friendly, democratically elected government led by Sheikh Hasina. And finally, the fuelling of apprehensions among Indian Muslims against the recent changes to the Waqf law, thus stoking protests. It is evident that external forces inimical to India, including Pakistan and beyond, had planned the Pahalgam attack as the final step to plunge India into religious strife after a series of events aimed at escalating Hindu-Muslim tensions.
The timing of the attack, too, is very significant. It came at a time when the US, under its newly elected president, Donald Trump, had launched a tariff war to reshape the global economic and strategic order. With Trump openly declaring China as the US’s primary economic and strategic rival, many American companies, like Apple, have already announced plans to shift manufacturing from China to India. Economists expect this manufacturing and trade shift to accelerate India’s world-leading growth rate further. As a corollary, analysts predict that the same shifts will have a debilitating effect on the export-driven Chinese economy, potentially fuelling unrest.
Now is also the time when the world’s largest economies, including the 27-nation European Union and the UK, are actively pursuing India for free trade agreements as a hedge against supply chain disruptions resulting from global trade shifts. Any strife within India or an uncertain internal or external security environment is bound to slow down this shift in investment, technology, employment and trade flows to India, adversely impacting India’s growth for a long time to come.
What better time for India’s adversaries to hit India to stop its rise? Particularly through an asymmetric, low-cost proxy war that provides plausible deniability? If Pakistan alone is behind the attack, it is a question only time can answer. But Indians have already dealt a crushing blow to the forces behind the attack, who misjudged India and its citizens. India may be diverse, but Indians are united.
Of course, India will not be happy just disproving our adversaries. Prime Minister Modi had already promised that “India will identify, trace and punish every terrorist, supporter and conspirator. We’ll pursue them to the ends of the Earth. They will be punished beyond their imagination.” Given Modi’s record, none in India doubts his resolve when it comes to terrorism, Left Wing Extremism (LWE), or countries that cast an evil eye on India’s territory.
One thing is for sure. India will avenge the deaths of its sons. The punishment to the perpetrators and their masters will be disproportionate. We will not give any satisfaction to our enemies who want to stall or slow down our rise. Yet, the timing of the response and the kind of punishment delivered will be of India’s choosing. Our diplomats, armed forces, and government, led by Modi, deserve our complete trust. No second-guessing, victory will be India’s.
(The author is BJP TS spokesperson)
