With elections coming, the Indian leadership was hell bent upon pulling the two nuclear armed states into a state of war. The Indian government backed by their ignorant media built up a war hysteria to charge the sentiments of the Indian public. The entire saga transpired in light of the devastating terrorist attack on Indian soldiers in Pulwama.
Without a shred of evidence, India started officially lambasting Pakistan and levelled allegations of the latter’s involvement in the attack. Pakistan, persistently, denied the baseless allegations and urged India to bring forward concrete, actionable intelligence. PM Modi created a situation impressed from the recent Bollywood movies and continued to threaten Pakistan with an attack every now and then. Eventually, Mr Modi announced that he had given a free hand to the armed forces to strike at will.
In the middle of the night, the Indians violated Pakistani airspace in the Azad Kashmir region. PAF responded immediately by scrambling its fighters and chasing the Indians away. Though, the Indians did drop their payload effectively wiping out some of our trees. Indians celebrated in jubilation. Tall claims amounting to almost a 300 dead were echoed on Indians TV screens. Even though we are well aware of the actual casualties of this so-called strike however, what did perturb our conscience was the fact that Indians violated our sovereignty and integrity. The two trees damaged by the strike were on Indian soil.
The DG ISPR’s ‘we will surprise you’ press conference did stall the situation to some extent however, the Pakistanis were not deeply satisfied in the absence of some practical response. 24 hours later, Pakistan triumphed when the news of downing two Indian jets surfaced. Pakistan did surprise. And it wasn’t just any response, it was a meticulously planned plan which was professionally executed. Indian jets were ambushed and shot down and the cherry on top was the capture of one of the pilot’s alive.
Despite tall claims and a brave front, the Indians are internally well aware of the damage inflicted on them. Firstly, they lost two jets and were unable to inflict even a scratch on the Pakistanis. Secondly, their military installations were shown by the Pakistanis to be in close proximity and well within their reach. Unconfirmed accounts even suggest that senior military leadership was present in one of the installations, reason why the air chief of the region has been shown the door.
Pakistan displayed its readiness which was well-received throughout the country. The armed forces capabilities were tested and the JF-17 was successfully used in combat. Although, the war-mongering even continues at the moment however, Pakistan’s clever decision of releasing the captured pilot and extend offer of peace extinguished the Indian efforts of further escalation. The international community had to turn the guns towards India and with a careful choice of words did criticise them for not opening up to peace talks. Imran Khan, gained the moral high ground and Narendra Modi went further down the ladder.
Keyboard warriors on both side of the border remained geared up for war. The social media army’s twitter commando division did in fact fight a war over the internet. Illiteracy and ignorance displayed its face. The media activists both electronic and social remain busy creating a war hysteria as if it’s the plot of another Bollywood blockbuster. What these ignorant people fail to comprehend is that thousands of lives remain at stake during talk of war. War costs blood and in this day and age it would cost rivers of blood.
The irresponsible attitude of the Indians is evident through their constant war tirades. Instead of focusing on the peace process, the Indians are keen on surging the situation to a violent conflict. Probably the precise reason behind the escalations. Pakistan’s recent uplift on the economic front has perturbed India. They can’t digest Pakistan moving forward. Creating a war like situation will naturally affect Pakistan’s progress and international investment will be halted. These past days witnessed the closure of the airspace and hundreds of flights were cancelled across the country. International airlines faced losses.
India did achieve what they desired. However, at the cost of two Mig-21s and sheer embarrassment. Their inability to counter Pakistan shooting down their fighter jets has indeed been an eye-opener. Narendra Modi even, indirectly, admitted Pakistan’s air superiority by regretting the absence of Rafaele jets.
Pakistan, nevertheless, remained one up. First, by shooting down the Indian jets. Second, by gaining moral ground by releasing the pilot and extending invitation for peace. In spite of the international community urging both the countries to exercise restraint, Indian continues indiscriminate firing and shelling on the LOC desperately attempting to inflict some damage to Pakistan so as to avoid the embarrassment that continues to grace them.
On the other hand, what we need to note is the role of the international community during this continued escalation with our eastern neighbor. The Middle Eastern friends whom we cherish dearly chose to remain neutral and offered the role of mediation. Even the Chinese friends gave diplomatic statements and refrained from standing with Pakistan. The most commendable hand, however, was extended by our Turkish brothers who categorically announced to stand-by Pakistan in the event of a conflict.
We already consider Turkish people to be our brothers but it is time to take our relationship to another level. Turkey has proven beyond any doubt that they indeed value our relationship and out rightly chose to stand with us in our time of need. In a time when Iran is busy cozying up further with the Indians, the Turkish remain the only ones standing up on principle.
Let us hope that better sense prevails over India and we can put an end to the on-going destruction. Otherwise, there is no doubt that war between India and Pakistan would be mutually assured destruction. Simultaneously, a focus on further improving our defense capabilities would also be beneficial in the future and would help us in surprising India even further.
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