IN the four-day military conflict between Pakistan and India, Pakistan was not only able to effectively defend itself but to also neutralise the Indian objective of imposing a military solution as a response to the Pahalgam terrorist incident. India’s effort to expand the space for conventional war below the nuclear threshold did not succeed. Pakistan was able to re-establish conventional deterrence and, by its counter-attack, raise the costs for India for undertaking a reckless military adventure.

This has understandably been celebrated in the country and helped to renew national self-confidence. But it is important now to move past the triumphalism and focus on preparing for the next challenge which is bound to come given the unremitting confrontational stance of Narendra Modi’s government and the fact that the situation remains tense. The risk of basking too long in triumphalism is that it can breed over-confidence and complacency when another, bigger challenge may lie ahead. In fact, the moment urges the need for hard thinking, hard planning and hard work.

Prime Minister Modi has, since the crisis ended, been stepping up his war of words against Pakistan and whipping up anti-Pakistan hysteria. In speech after speech, he has claimed India has established a ‘new normal’ by its military actions, and that any future terrorist attack will be deemed an act of war and responded to militarily by this ‘new’ doctrine. He has also made the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) central to his threats against Pakistan. Modi has repeatedly said Pakistan will not get a single drop from ‘India’s rivers’ and vowed to make Pakistan “feel the heat”. Claiming the treaty was badly........

© Dawn