Today the foreign secretory made a statement to press “In an intelligence led operation in the early hours of today, India struck the biggest training camp of JeM in Balakot. In this operation, a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis who were being trained for fidayeen action were eliminated. This facility at Balakot was headed by MAULANA YOUSUF AZHAR (alias USTAD GHOURI), the brother-in-law of MASOOD AZHAR, Chief of JeM.”
However, what followed was much more interesting “The Government of India is firmly and resolutely committed to taking all necessary measures to fight the menace of terrorism. Hence this non-military preemptive action was specifically targeted at the JeM camp. The selection of the target was also conditioned by our desire to avoid civilian casualties. The facility is located in thick forest on a hilltop far away from any civilian presence. As the strike has taken place only a short while ago, we are awaiting further details.”
Non-Military Actions
This parlance does not (used to) exist in vocabulary of Indian Diplomats. India had always maintained that all terrorism originating from Pakistan was state sponsored and controlled by officials in Islamabad or Rawalpindi.
Pakistan has always insisted exitance of non-state actors in Pakistan. This was Islamabad’s defense when US took out Osama-Bin-Laden from a farm house, next to Pakistan Military Academy in Abbottabad.
Non-Military Actions implies…
Non-Military Actions implies that New Delhi strongly suggest that India is accepting Pakistan’s way of thinking and putting it back into Islamabad’s court. If Pakistan maintains the line that IAF action resulted in no casualty to its civilians or Army personal and there were no Terror camps in their jurisdiction, then IAF didn’t do no harm.
It almost aligns with the line of Pakistani statement that only ‘Pay Load’ was dropped by IAF before returning to sovereign air.
It does gives Pakistan a chance not to escalate
Will there be escalation of hostilities?
It is now a solemn decision of Pakistan, and more specifically its Generals out of Rawalpindi GHQ. The economy of Pakistan is no condition to carry on a sustained campaign against India. Even their backers in Beijing would not want another impediment to the belt and road initiative. India has offered a possibility of peace to exist, it all now depends on General Qamar Javed Bajwa if can swallow another humiliation for the force he commands.
