India puts squeeze on Pakistan

New Delhi uses soft power and relationships to bedevil its old enemy. By Alex Travelli

- By Alex Travelli

Even as India was gearing up to use its military to strike at Pakistan last week, calling it revenge for a terrorist strike in Kashmir last month, the government was pursuing other forms of power projection as well: bloodless and more refined, and mostly aimed at Pakistan's economic vulnerability.

On Friday, the executive board of the International Monetary Fund was to meet three blocks from the White House. Indian officials have suggested they will make a case that the IMF should refuse the extension of a $7 billion loan to Pakistan.

The loan has been described as crucial to getting the country on more solid financial footing and to funding desperately needed services for its people. And though Indian officials will not confirm it, other sources of Pakistani aid may also be in India's sights, according to domestic media reports.

In the weeks leading up to its strikes against Pakistan on Wednesday, India was already testing new ways to aggrieve its old enemy. On April 23, India pulled out of a river-sharing treaty that has safeguarded Pakistan's vulnerable water supply since 1960. Pakistan called it an act of war.

India turned to its soft power, as well. As tensions rose after the terrorist attack in Kashmir, India tinkered with its internet controls to cut off Pakistani musicians and cricketers from their audiences on Indian social media, much as it blocked Indians from using Chinese-owned TikTok after a clash with China in 2020.