Pathankot attack should make us rethink our Pak policy

1. The fact that the terrorists chose to attack an air force base instead of easy civilian targets tells us something. This is in line with previous such attacks in the Jammu region and seems to be a new calibration achieved by the Pakistani MJC (Military Jihadi Complex). Executing such attacks regularly allows the terrorist machinery to keep functioning while the scale doesn’t spiral into something like the Mumbai attacks that will cause a big response from India or internationally. The muted official response (Both the PM’s statement and the PIB release doesn’t even name Pakistan) only proves the point.
2. India still has no credible policy responses that can be callibrated and tweaked as per the level of attacks. Ideally, we should be able to go from bonhomie to sanctions to complete diplomatic isolation (war should not be an option on the table) but we hardly have the diplomatic muscle or economic leverage to do any of these. Our limited diplomatic capacity is used for planning yoga sessions.
3. Personality cults — Mr Modi’s (great nationalist) or Mr Doval’s (uber spymaster) — are great motivators for local fanclubs but will hardly serve national interest. The personal involvement of the Prime Minister and the facade of a personal bonhomie with the Sharif family makes this very complicated. The Prime Minister’s job is not to cultivate friendship with other premiers of states around the world but to further India’s interests. How does giving gifts to the family of Nawaz Sharif help our cause is beyond me. Modern diplomacy has moved beyond loading up the neighboring tribe’s chief with gifts.
4. The quickness with which JeM has been attributed with the attack is highly dubious. Is this to quickly absolve the LeT (which is more directly linked to the Pakistani Army)? Why do we think JeM is not under the army’s thumb? More importantly, why do we want to play into Pakistan’s rogue elements narrative. Mr Modi’s statement that ‘enemies of humanity’ attacked India is a major victory for Pakistani diplomacy (which has punched above its weight many times in the past too).

The current situation where the left-liberals and ultra-nationalists are in agreement on the government’s response to this attack would be highly comical if it was not so tragic. What we need is a dose of realism — keep talks a low key affair at a foreign secretary/NSA level while working to create some real policy options by increasing our economic and diplomatic clout and capacity. The fact that we don’t have any options now doesn’t mean we can’t create them. The first step is to acknowledge the reality.