The staged Pulwama attack was the brainchild of the Narendra Modi government to rally political support the public for the then-upcoming elections by capitalizing on the anti-Pakistan narrative, national revenge sentiment and war hysteria created by domesticated media/manipulated campaign.
Even after 4 years, facts regarding the Pulwama attack remain unanswered; Why was Adil Ahmed Dar arrested and released 6 times from 2016 to 2018? Did the unjust & harsh treatment of Adil Dar result in the Pulwama Attack? How is it possible that Pakistan was able to smuggle 350 kg of highly explosive material right under the noses of 800,000 Indian security personnel and across hundreds of kilometres? India is yet to render any irrefutable evidence. How was India able to conclude that Pakistani hand behind the attack within hours of the incident while ignoring the numerous past arrests of Adil Dar and the statement of Adil’s parents that he resorted to revenge after the torturous treatment by BSF/CRPF?
Codenamed “Operation Bander”, Indian Airforce cowardly attacked a fictitious target which was never there on the ground on the night of 26 Feb 2019. The payload was dropped in the mountains killing some crows and trees only while Indian media went into a war frenzy terming it Surgical Strike 2.0 and claiming that hundreds of terrorists had been killed. Pakistan took the foreign and domestic media to Balakot and revealed the reality of so-called surgical strikes. Until now, India is yet to render any proof of whether a surgical strike was conducted at all. If it was conducted, where were the 300+ casualties or infrastructural damage?
On 27 Feb 2019, PAF jets struck the targets deep inside IIOJ&K while avoiding populated targets to avoid the loss of life. The brief skirmish also resulted in the downing of 2 Indian jets by PAF, the shooting down of a helicopter by the nerved Indian Army and capturing of Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman. As a peace gesture, Pak released Abhinandan within 48 hours of his apprehension demonstrating that Pak is a peace-loving nation.
To hide the embarrassment, India started making ridiculous claims. First, they denied shooting down any Mig-21. Then Indian media claimed the shooting down of Pakistani F-16 which was also rejected by the US, Christine Fair as well as Indian defence experts. To make the matters worse, India announced awarding Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman with Vir Chakra for his alleged (though denied internationally) shooting down of F-16 which was a laughable fantasy aimed at appeasing the domestic audience and efforts to hide his own dismal performance in the Pak-India standoff.
Operation Swift Retort demonstrated that Pak has the capability to defend itself against any form of aggression while retaining the liberty of retaliation at the time and place of its own choosing in response to any hostile misadventure. It highlighted Pak’s capability to dominate the escalation ladder, retaining control of the spiraling situation and ability to exit the conflict to their own advantage.
The resolute and measured Pakistani response restored national prestige & morale, and people’s trust in the Armed Forces as well as thwarted the Indian design of dominating the region by offsetting its ‘new normal’.
The Pak-India standoff brought nuclear South Asia very close to a possible volatile conflict having the potential to destabilize the entire regional peace. The strategic restraint exercised by Pak in face of fake surgical drama, measured & calculated response to avoid populated targets during Operation Swift Retort & release of Wing Commander Abhinandan as a peace gesture diffused the situation.
Indian media was monumental in creating a war hysteria by glorifying fabrications and without realizing the repercussions if the conflict had spiralled out of control. Contrary to the war frenzy of Indian media, the Pakistani counterpart played a more mature role by toning down the rhetoric, unearthing Indian propaganda through investigative journalism & highlighting Pak’s peace overtures against Indian warmongering.
The timing of the Pulwama attack has also raised many serious questions about the incident, its handling by the Indian govt and its subsequent immature impulsive response. This year, 9 states will have local elections in India leading to 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The question which comes to mind is whether will Modi again stake the regional peace for political gains or will International media, Global comity & Indian public pre-empt the nefarious designs of radical RSS-driven Modi’s hijacked BJP.
World must realize that the last time it followed an appeasement policy, WW2 occurred resulting in a massive loss of life and unprecedented destruction. Will the world continue to ignore Indian belligerence & war-mongering attitude due to a temporary alignment of interests or will the world realize the brewing storm in the so-called ‘largest democracy’?
