While Pakistani Field Marshal Asim Munir’s oration at the Pakistan Naval Academy on June 28 has drawn considerable media focus, there is a need to assess how much attention India should pay to his utterances. The rabble-rousing tone and toxic India-baiting content of his speech, ill-befitting the occasion — a navy passing-out parade — was a clear sign of insecurity in the face of widespread public criticism of the Pakistan army in general and his promotion in particular.

Notwithstanding the banality of his words, we must recognise that since Field Marshals do not retire, Munir, if he so chooses, will be around for a long time — either as Army Chief or as political puppet master. By harping on Hindu-Muslim schisms and framing India as an “existential threat” to its perpetual “victim”, Pakistan, Munir seeks to gain favour with the public and cement a political niche for himself, sidelining the civilian regime.

Given Munir’s continued malevolent presence, India must steel itself to face escalating tensions. In all likelihood, it was his inflammatory rhetoric that triggered Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence and its terror proxies to plan and launch the Pahalgam strike.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his speech on May 12, unequivocally spelt out four core principles that would govern India’s future policy against terrorism. Optimists amongst us are hopeful that this declaration of India’s “red lines” by the PM will cause the Pakistan “deep state” to pause and perhaps mend its ways. Sceptics, however, believe that it is only a matter of time before the ISI........

© Indian Express