India’s confrontational stance

Letter October 22, 2018
There is a llooming threat of war between India and Pakistan in the region

ORAKZAI: While we are busy in our domestic politics, in the global scene some developments have taken place which could have grave consequences for Pakistan. It is a general perception that the US is the only superpower and has a great leverage with India but presently it is India that is in the forefront of the US strategic thinking, most specifically for South Asia.

This has been highlighted in the growing bonhomie between Russia and India in the shape of S-400 missile system along with space technology. One of the main reasons of this mammoth defence deal with the US rival, Russia, is that New Delhi has no fear of the Countering American Adversaries Through the Sanctions Act passed in August 2017 by the US Congress, while China has faced verbal aggression from Washington for a similar deal with Moscow.

China is emerging as a global competitor of the US as claimed by many US officials and the latter is using its full power to counter the former. For that purpose, India is the only option for them as it is equivalent to China population-wise and has a common border with it. But these two countries do not pose existential threat to each other which can escalate into a full-blown war. The looming threat of war is between India and Pakistan in the region.

There are two principles on which Pakistan can counter Indian aggression. One is the tactical device and the other is a missile system with nuclear capability. To restrict Pakistan’s development of a tactical device, India is taking US help and for countering its missile capability it got S-400 missile system and space technology from Russia and its Western allies. The temporary bonhomie between Pakistan and Russia will likely disappear after this deal and no major development in the relationship between the two countries will likely be seen in the near future.

Sadly, it is only our military which is responding to the external threat while our politicians are busy in domestic affairs of the country. We need a political class which can think out of the box to save the country and respond in a befitting manner which is desperately needed in the present circumstances.

Muhammad Arafat

Published in The Express Tribune, October 22nd, 2018.

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