Indian Army soldiers in a vehicle patrol a street as a woman walks past during a curfew in Jammu. PHOTO: REUTERS/FILE
As Indian media continues to whip up war hysteria in the aftermath of the Pulwama attack, an overwhelming majority of Indians favour war or surgical strikes against Pakistan as New Delhi's best response to the February 14 incident in occupied Kashmir.
Indian politicians are also giving out belligerent statements and enraging the public against Pakistan, which they allege for being behind the suicide attack.
As a result, Kashmiri students in different cities of India have complained of mob attacks and discrimination.
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According to a poll conducted across the country by India Today, 36 per cent of the respondents favoured a full-scale conflict with Pakistan while 23 per cent supported surgical strikes in response to the question: “What should India's response be for the Pulwama terror attack?”
As many as 18 per cent backed the idea of an operation against Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) head Masood Azhar, similar to that of US Navy SEALs that killed Osama bin Laden in 2011.
There were 15 per cent respondents who supported moves to ‘isolate Pakistan diplomatically and economically’.
Meanwhile, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was voted as the “most capable leader to deal with terrorism”.
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Over 30 per cent of the respondents described Pakistan’s armed forces as the main culprits when asked about the “real architect” of Pulwama incident.
While 13 per cent blamed JeM, which reportedly claimed responsibility for the attack, 19 per cent considered Prime Minister Imran Khan as the perpetrator, and 25 per cent chose all of the above as their response.
Interestingly, a majority of the respondents – 57 per cent – ticked the "don't-know" box when asked: “What might have caused terror in Pulwama to unfold on February 14?”
Meanwhile, 13 per cent of the respondents blamed it on intelligence failure and 17% on the government's “weak anti-terror policy”.
The survey, based on telephone interviews with a sample size of 12,815, was conducted between February 20 and 22.
This article originally appeared in India Today
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