Govt of India suspends Poonch-Rawalkot bus service after Pulwama terror attack

As per the latest news reports, India has suspended the Poonch-Rawalkot bus service. Rawalkot lies on the other side of the LoC in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK). Trade on this route has also been suspended.

The decision comes after the dastardly attack on the CRPF convoy in Pulwama, Jammu and Kashmir. Four Indian Army soldiers were also martyred today in an overnight encounter in Pulwama. Modi government seems to have understood that any attempt to make peace with the terrorist neighbour is futile. Pakistan is not going to mend its ways and it is not very difficult to understand that the country is indulging in a proxy war with India.

The Government of India has made it a point to take on Pakistan following the Pulwama terror attack. After the Pulwama terror attack, India withdrew the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status that had been granted to Pakistan. This was the first big step taken by the Government of India as the MFN status that had been granted two decades earlier has been withdrawn. Thereafter, the Modi government also raised the customs duty to 200 percent on all goods imported from the neighbouring country, including products such as fresh fruits, cement, spices, wool, petroleum products, and mineral ore.

India undoubtedly needs to avenge the martyrdom of its bravehearts. However, this time around the Modi government has made it a point that now things are not limited to taking revenge. India must realise that Pakistan is a terror outfit, which also happens to have a civil and administrative establishment. It doesn’t make any sense whatsoever to have any sort of relations with such a terror organisation masquerading as a country. Pakistan hardly qualifies as a civilised state in international relations.

India’s Pakistan policy is finally reaching the stage from where there will be no return. Until now, all the governments had been trying to condemn Pakistan and also ensure that the peace route was kept open at the same time. But what must be understood is the fact that the world’s largest democracy cannot have friendly relations with such a country under any circumstances. The government has started on the right footing and one hopes that the suspension of services on other travel routes to Pakistan will follow in quick succession. Efforts at peace with the neighbouring country including the Delhi-Lahore bus service, Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service, Samjhauta Express and Thar Express must not only be suspended but also terminated. Pakistan is a terrorist state and it is now up to the Indian government to treat it like one.