Remember Swift Retort?

As Indian quarters drum up intimidating rhetoric, they would do well to remember the true events of Feb 26 & 27, 2019

KARACHI:

We keep on listening to Indian rhetoric nearly at all political and military levels. India’s Prime Minister Modi and its defence minister, army chief, Commander Northern Command, etc., try their best, though in vain, to intimidate the people of Pakistan by announcing their readiness and intentions to capture Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan.

We know that India’s defence budget is about ten times more than that of Pakistan, and that they have some important strategic agreements with a super power, have acquired some advance weapons like S-400 ABM Systems that could destabilise the strategic balance, and pursue diplomatic and economic moves to enhance their military, political and economic prowess. They have all the right to do everything good for their people and their country.

Pakistan cannot grudge most of the developments except for the negative destabilising efforts like acquisitions of ABMs, maligning Pakistan by fabricating and spreading false information, undermining our efforts to break free from FATF (and we have ultimately succeeded), and other restraining regimes. We are aware that we need to put our own house in order, specially our economy, governance and law and order, etc.

But we also fully understand the roles of economic hitmen, employment of proxies against us in the shape of TTP, BLA and others. The intentions behind attacks on Chinese and supporting certain movements in the north and south of the Country have also not escaped our attention.

Whereas we might have done a lot of harm to ourselves due to some internal myopic policies, yet the steps taken by the enemies of Pakistan and especially Indian efforts to exploit the weaknesses and fissures thus exacerbating our difficulties should never be lost sight of. And if we add to this spectre the recent aggressive statements by Indian political and military leadership and their offensive posturing, strategically thinking minds can easily visualise the grand designs likely to unfold in future.

Enemies of Pakistan would try their best to ensure the destabilised political, economic and security environment perpetuates. To that end they would keep adding fuel by cautioning investors to remain away, use influence to prevent any help coming from international finance institutions, create internal and external misunderstandings through fake news and disinformation campaigns etc. They are employing special media tools and efforts to create a chasm between the people and the Armed Forces.

Thankfully, this enemy effort is now being understood by the sane factions of society . It would be the ultimate desire of the enemies of the state to pull Pakistan Army into the quagmire of the political and economic mess, thus diverting their attention from hardcore security issues and discrediting them in the masses. And after fixing the environment at their desirable low level, move for the coup de grace by physically attacking some limited spaces, with a view to causing limited destruction on Armed Forces of Pakistan below a certain threshold, attempting to discredit and embarrass them

This is where the author intends to remind the Indian political and military leadership of certain other ground realities.

Decades of stringent training of the armed forces of Pakistan along with the acquired and indigenously manufactured modern weaponry has given us a certain fighting potential that is not going away anytime soon.

The world witnessed the entire saga of Indian Air Force incursion violating our airspace (any border violations in Azad Kashmir are tantamount to attack on Pakistan) and our response in the shape of “Swift Retort”. It exhibited our successful integration of surveillance, command and control, delivery means with real-time battlefield awareness.

Our Navy kept the Indian submarines at bay by detecting them much away from territorial waters, not once but twice. And recent unearthing of some planned false flag operations even before their implementation should give an indication of our intelligence outfits. The ongoing operations of CTD and Police against terrorists, and the way attack on Karachi Police Headquarters was repulsed says volumes about the capacity of our Law Enforcement Agencies.

All said and done, presently we do have some serious political and economic issues, which are being tackled at various levels, and may take some time to resolve; nevertheless people of Pakistan should remain confident that Pakistan Armed Forces, our intelligence agencies and other LEAs are in a satisfactory state to beat back any external aggression and internal terrorism attempts. If Indian aggressive intents are getting any fillip from the numerous security agreements that they have with other powers, they must evaluate Pakistan’s special and deep relations with some of our friends, even if there are no overt defence pacts.

Pakistan Armed Forces are keeping their fighting potential sharp by maintaining highest training standards and a lot of hands on experience in fighting and defeating the well trained, armed to teeth, foreign sponsored terrorists. We have exhibited our professional and operational fitness at a number of occasions while competing with other armies, navies and air forces of the world. Cambrian Patrol, Physical Fitness competitions, Army, Naval and Air force Exercises at international and regional levels, etc., are some of the examples, that clearly exhibit our fitness and inter operability prowess.

The economic stress, though ominous, so far, has not affected logistic stamina, morale and operational readiness of our forces. And on top of that the strategic deterrence is very much in place as a safeguard against any surprise move or unexpected breakthrough by enemy forces. The present routine visit of IAEA officials to carryout periodical inspection of our Civil Atomic Facilities was misconstrued and drummed as an intrusion in our military atomic facilities. It was a sponsored narrative that fell flat after appropriate clarifications.

As a rule, an atomic power should never be given a surprise as the reaction could be prompt and violent beyond any expectations. So it would be prudent on part of Indian leadership to desist from making belligerent statements and stop interfering in the internal affairs of Pakistan, including the negative propaganda blitz, unnecessarily trying to aggravate our internal problems, specially when India itself is highly vulnerable due to their internal mistreatment of minorities and failure to control numerous dissident movements in northeast and Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir. The referendums on Khalistan Movement is also a glimpse that what could happen to Mother India in future. With China now a full fledged affected country due to Indian actions in Himalayas and Kashmir, Indian position has become even more untenable due to multi front scenario. We appreciate the economic development of our big neighbour, but will never accept the hegemony that is being projected through irresponsible statements and actions. We will be SWIFT IN OUR RETORT as was demonstrated just few years earlier, and defeat any aggression, Inshallah.

Let us live like peaceful and cooperative neighbours; and rather than aggravating each other’s vulnerabilities, we may coordinate and cooperate to resolve regional issues, act on the UN Resolutions as per the spirit and Principle of peaceful coexistence. If this simple and direct piece of neighbourly advice sinks in the heads of Indian leadership, numerous vistas of progress and peace can open in the region, otherwise as a last resort Pakistani People and Armed Forces combined are resolute to defend their integrity and honour at all costs, literally at any cost. And we retain enough wherewithal including modern well trained Forces and Strategic Capabilities to sour any wishful incursions.

Naeem Khalid Lodhi is a retired Pakistan Army lieutenant general. All facts and information are the sole responsibility of the writer.