India appears to be in no mood to spare an aggressive, double-speak, Pakistani establishment known for conspiring against their own people, which is keen to use terrorism against India again, but an appropriate punishment will be accorded after adequate defence preparations. It will be accompanied by the necessary diplomatic initiatives and narratives representing the Indian approach towards worldwide terrorism.
New Delhi is quite aware of the recent paradigm changes in conventional warfare as well as the reluctance of the US-led West to pick up the gauntlet against their much-pronounced war against Islamic terrorism. India is not surprised by their retreat from commitment. She has been preparing for facing the challenges of terrorism by preparing with better weapons and war strategies. India has started noticing Washington’s half-hearted commitment and its final retreat from combating Islamic terrorism even before the inauguration of the US President Donald Trump in White House. She was expecting renewed terrorist attacks after the Sindoor Operations against Pakistan in May this year.
Trump’s Appeasement Policy
Interestingly, it is not only the support of the US President Donald Trump, the Western media, including BBC, appear to be engaged in helping the radical Islamists in West Asia as well as in the Indian subcontinent. Also, al-Jazeea, a Dohas-based media house is projecting the Red Fort Blast as a part of the terrorists’attack engineered by a section of Muslims resisting Indian presence in Kashmir.
With these coverages in western media it is not surprising that Pakistan is now emboldened enough to unleash the terrorists against India.
Meanwhile, India is to gear-up its media and diplomatic offensive yet, she had undertaken during the Bangladesh and Kargil operations. It cannot be denied that despite the lackluster response of the West against Islamic terrorism, India, however, is much better prepared and , perhaps, to crush terrorism sponsored under the radical Islamic umbrella. She can crush with her resources despite the Pakistani conspiracies.
Unfortunately for the West, Trump is not camouflaging the real motives of his administration as his predecessors used to claim regarding peace and terrorism. Trump not only has invited the new president of Syria Ahmed al-Sharaa at the White House, a known al-Qaeda terrorist, he, earlier,had welcomed Pakistani army chief, Asim Munir, a self-appointed Field Marshal, on lunch in June this year, while the Pakistani Government’s civilian face, Mohisin Naqvi, the Federal Interior Minister, who had escorted Munir to the White House, was seen sitting with the staff at the White House. He wasn’t invited to the luncheon, where Trump served Pakistan’s de-facto ruler, Munir, with halal dishes. Interestingly, Trump’s decision to host the luncheon was well received in Pakistan. The innocent Pakistani felt that by offering the ‘halal’ meat, Trump has betrayed his special regards for the Muslims. Later, in September, Munir revisited White House with the Pakistani PM Shahbaz Sharif and it received friendly media coverage in Pakistan. Sharif had anointed Munir after the ceasefire between India and Pakistan in May this year.
Shahbaz Sharif owes his position to Munir, who had manipulated the elections through ISI, the election commission and the kangaroo courts. He ensured the political outfit, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, of Imran Khan, a cricketer -turned politician, was de-recognized and Khan was implicated in some cooked up cases to be imprisoned.
Biden’s Policy
Earlier, during the Biden Administration, Islamic radicals in Bangladesh had succeeded in toppling the democratically elected Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. She was replaced by a civilian face, Muhammad Yunus, 85, an economist also a noble laureate, known as an American proxy in the region who has replaced an elected government by seeking the support of the radical Islamists and the Bangladesh army.
The international forces representing American and Chinese interests have converged with the Islamists in Bangladesh to end democracy..
The New Narrative
The so-called supporters of democracy in the media in the West, are also past masters in creating narratives for justifying the anti-democratic policies of their respective governments.
With a view to justify the welcome of an erstwhile terrorist in White House, the media including the BBC is trumpeting, “Syria will join the international coalition to combat the Islamic State group”. The announcement emphasises that it is a shift in US foreign policy in West Asia, the BBC has made these unsubstantiated claims by quoting a senior Trump administration official without mentioning his name.
Red Fort Blast
The mandarins in New Delhi are not amused by the new posture of the West towards Islamic terrorism. They, perhaps, rightly are apprehensive of the West allowing Pakistan to revert to its old strategy of repeating a Mumbai attack on India’s major cities. It is to be ascertained what policy Beijing would be adopting in the near future regarding the aggressive agenda of the Pakistani army against India
However, there is general consensus among Indian scholars regarding the ongoing deterioration of the security environment in Asia.
European Theatre
During the nineties, soon after the collapse of the USSR, the successor state, Russian Federation, had decided to remain a European power instead of asserting its global presence. It had dissolved the Warsaw Pact and also ended its security umbrella to India. It may be recalled that India and the USSR had signed the peace treaty on 9 August, 1971 just a few months before the Bangladesh War.
In the current geopolitical situation, India is preparing herself for a prolonged conflict in the region.
There is a paradigm change in warfare with the induction of artificial intelligence, drones and communication satellites. There are reasons to believe that during the Operation Sindoor against Pakistan in May this year, the Indian war machinery faced formidable challenges from the Pakistani army during the initial flare up. Pakistani aircrafts empowered by the Chinese software and communication systems could give a setback to Indian aircrafts. Later, it finally led to the use of Brahmostra, perhaps, India’s ultimate weapon system to restrain Pakistan.
Chinese Approach
There has always been a strong presence of pro-India sentiments within the Communist Party of China (CPC). Later, during private conversations, the Chinese diplomats used to confide before their friends in New Delhi that the Chinese attack on India in 1962’was uncalled for. In this context, it may enable us to understand that in spite of their new found love for Washington, the Chinese did not wage a full scale aggression against India in 1971 December, despite the pleas of Nixon, when India was trying to prevent the ongoing genocide in East Pakistan, now Bangladesh. At present, the Chinese support to Pakistan is expected to be limited, but the outcome of a conflict cannot be predicted. However, the strategic affairs scholars in India may undertake deeper studies related to the lukewarm response of Beijing to Nixon’s repeated requests for opening a military front against India in the high Himalayas.
A section of the Indian scholars believe that the Chinese were grateful to then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi for not revealing the number of casualties of the PLA during the Nathu La conflict in 1967. Indira Gandhi had obliged the then Chinese Ambassador in New Delhi by not sharing the big setback to the PLA. During this period, the PLA was also trying to grab the Russian territory under the USSR. It had flared up in a full scale war in 1969.
Before the Bangladesh war, India and the USSR had signed a peace treaty. Earlier, in 1969, the tensions between the two communist giants, USSR and China had flared up in big conflict. It had escalated so much that the USSR had even considered a nuclear strike against China.
The disenchantment between them had given a window to Washington to win Beijing to its fold. Even without signing any defence treaty with the US, Beijing was quietly made a trusted partner of Washington for more than five decades. Its cheaper workforce enabled the manufacturers of the US and Europe to earn huge profits in the global economy.
The Apprehensions
The Chinese economy has become a formidable force in contemporary geopolitics in recent years with the technology and capital of the West. It has enabled China to invest more resources in the research and development of its technology., thus ending its dependence on the West. It, however, has alarmed the erstwhile colonial powers. They are also experiencing a threat to their access to the cheaper labour force of China
Meanwhile, the Chinese penetrations in the US economy, media, academia and even in befriending American allies such as Pakistan and the countries of Africa and Southern America has caused policy paralysis in the American establishment.
Pakistani Diplomacy
It goes to the credit of the Pakistani establishment or its generals that they had evolved a system of hybrid regime with civilian face but the real power lies with the GHQ, while they continue their mischief against India or conspiring against Afghanistan for American dollars.
Interestingly, Washington under President Donald Trump has recently been imitating his predecessor, Richard Nixon, but he doesn’t have a person like Henry Kissinger as his National Security Advisor. Before his death in 2023 at the age 100, Kissinger had visited Moscow and Beijing on unofficial visits but he was received like a statesman and honoured by the Chinese President Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin, the Russian President.
Unfortunately, Trump does not have a team of policy makers like Kissinger and others, who could steer his agenda according to contemporary global politics.
The Russia-Ukraine War has given a strong message that there are no winners in modern warfare.
Gopal Misra has been associated with national and international media. His books on journalism and geo-politics have been well-appreciated. Views are personal.
