Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, in a bid to respond against India’s move to abrogate Article 370, through his tweets and his recent address in a joint session of the Pakistani Parliament, has been making provocative claims of an imminent Pakistani offensive action against India. So much so that Imran Khan even went to the lengths of shamefully claiming that India would have to face Pulwama like terror attacks after taking away the special status of Jammu and Kashmir. In the joint session, Imran Khan said “attacks like Pulwama are bound to happen again. I can already predict this will happen. They will attempt to place the blame on us again. They may strike us again, and we will strike back.”
The audacity with which Imran Khan has made this remark is appalling. While the world recognizes Pakistan’s role in terror attacks in India as well as its harbouring of terror groups on its soil, Imran Khan took the risk of evoking the Pulwama suicide bombing which killed over 44 Indian jawans, warning India that it will happen again. It must be noted that India vehemently protested against Pakistan internationally as it once again found terror group based in Pakistan, Jaish-e-Mohammd’s footprints all over the heinous terror attack in Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir. Following this India carried out the Balakot airstrikes on Pakistan soil, targeting a massive JeM facility. Despite being grey-listed by FATF, Pakistan refuses to take action against terror groups on its soil, at it uses these terror groups as a strategic asset to further its geopolitical goals. Ensuring constant instability in the Indian state of Kashmir is one of them. It is to note that that these non-state actors have been used by Pakistani deep state to execute their theory of ‘bleed India through a thousand cuts’ for long; Pakistani military complex, which includes the tremendously corrupt Pakistani armed forces and ISI or the state’s infamous intelligence agency, is believed to be the main state actor behind every important administrative decision in Pakistan.
Nonetheless, for Pakistan, which is already facing a lot of internal backlash for failing to deter India in any aspect, taking refuge behind terrorists is not new. Moreover, an ‘elected’ representative making such provocative comments in the Pakistani parliament is a norm in Pakistani politics. With this statement, Imran Khan has not only tacitly acknowledged that Pulwama like terror plots might be hatched against India in support of Pakistan’s stand but also implicitly justified and encouraged such heinous crimes against humanity; also these comments coming at a time when India has been working ahead towards maintaining peace in Jammu and Kashmir also expose Pakistan’s nefarious plans and covert support to such terror activities in a bid to destabilize the region.
Following this threat, and further displaying its support for terrorists, Pakistan administration has also released 26/11 Mumbai terror attack mastermind and UN designated international terrorist Hafiz Saeed, who was ‘arrested’ just weeks ago, right before Imran Khan’s meeting with President Donald Trump in the USA. In the run up to Imran Khan’s visit to the USA, there was also a remarkable drop in ceasefire violations and a clean of terror camps in PoK, however, cross-border firing and infiltration attempts reached unusual levels at the border, and reports suggest that the terror camps have also returned after Imran Khan’s meeting with Donald Trump. Last week, in an infiltration attempt by Pakistan’s Border Action Team, seven armed infiltrators of the BAT force were neutralized by India.
Imran Khan has eerily warned India of more Pulwama type suicide bombings at a time when, in congruence with these developments, several reports have also been surfacing regarding Pakistan backed terror outfits like the Jaish-e-Mohammed (literally “The Army of Muhammad”) planning major terror attacks across India. These reports just come after Imran Khan had made vacuous comments in Pakistani parliament and said “attacks like Pulwama are bound to happen”. According to reports terrorists can attack infrastructural and economic targets. Intelligence inputs also say that JeM is planning a terror attack in Mumbai. The central government had already put several state police forces on high alert. Security has also been tightened at New Delhi’s IGI airport.
IGI Airport: Due to enhanced security arrangements, flyers are requested to reach Delhi Airport minimum 3 hours in advance for all domestic flights and 4 hours in advance for all international flights. pic.twitter.com/0ICIV29ggk
— ANI (@ANI) August 8, 2019
After the Pulwama attacks, despite there being no doubt of Pakistan’s involvement, Imran Khan repeatedly denied India’s but now by these comments has committed a self-goal and shown Pakistan’s long standing justification and propagation of terrorism against India. Pakistan also refuses to hand over to India the terrorists lounging on its soil, Hafiz Saeed and Masood Azhar, the JeM chief. One of the major longstanding demands on India’s part for enhancing bilateral ties is that Pakistan takes action against terror groups on its soil. However, Pakistan has made no effort to win India’s trust and openly aids and abets terrorism in not just India but also Iran and Afghanistan.
Regardless of the veiled threats and clear cut warnings made by Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, the multidimensional approach of the Indian security forces combined with the support of political leadership has been successful in creating a shield of deterrence against external aggression. India’s firm resolve to protect its national interests against external hostility with punitive action has further discouraged destabilizing elements and India will surely not shy away from any preemptive strikes to save lives and property of Indians, should Pakistan resort to some misadventure.
