In 1971, India broke Pakistan into two. A beaten and bruised Pakistani army was brought to its knees. 93,000 Pakistani soldiers were taken as prisoners of war. Despite the fact that India had broken Pakistan’s spine back then, Indira Gandhi chose not to reclaim Pakistan Occupied Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan. Also, for reasons best known to her, she chose to return all the Pakistani prisoners of war. Perhaps, the assumption back then was that Pakistan had been neutered, and that it would not threaten India in the future. Obviously, that assumption proved wrong almost immediately as Pakistan adopted a strategy to “bleed India with a thousand cuts." This began with Pakistan fuelling the Khalistani movement in Punjab, and almost parallelly, the jihadi movement in Kashmir.

In hindsight, one can argue that India squandered a perfect opportunity to solve the Pakistani nuisance for once and for all. Now, India has been presented with another historic opportunity. In the aftermath of the heinous Pahalgam terror attack, in which Pakistani terrorists racially profiled and executed Hindu men, national tempers are running high. There is a genuine desire to see Pakistan getting punished. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has the opportunity to go down in history not just as the leader who contained Pakistan, but as the one who finally broke its spine.

Since 2014, Modi has systematically dismantled the pillars on which Pakistan’s asymmetric warfare against India stood. From the abrogation of Article 370 to surgical and air strikes across the LoC, and from neutralising separatist funding to turning Pakistan into a global laughing-stock, a lot has been achieved........

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