Modi Crossed A ‘Red Line', How It Will Affect The Kashmir Issue?

By invoking Pakistan’s troubled Balochistan province, Modi has signalled to Islamabad that India is willing to take the fight beyond the line of control.

- Raj Chengappa

Offensive defence. The phrase is an oxymoron that originates from the adage, “the best defence is a good offence”. The principle behind it is to be proactive rather than passive when attacked, thereby regaining the strategic advantage and cramping an opponent’s ability to launch a counter-offensive. Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu was a key advocate of this idea, as was Italian philosopher and diplomat Niccolo Machiavelli. George Washington had employed it to good effect more than 200 years ago when he fought America’s War of Independence. Mao Zedong, too, was a firm believer of the tactic while leading the 1949 Chinese Revolution.

Now, Prime Minister Narendra Modi joins the long list of leaders who have sought to employ this curiously phrased approach to their advantage. In his Independence Day address this year, Modi stunned the Pakistani ruling establishment, which had launched a major international offensive against India following the recent turmoil in Kashmir, by signalling his willingness to take the battle deep into its territory.

From the ramparts of the Red Fort, Modi stated: “Today, I want to greet and express my thanks to some people. In the last few days, the people of Balochistan, Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan-occupied Kashmir have thanked me, have expressed gratitude, and expressed good wishes for me. The people who are living far away, whom I have never seen, never met—such people have expressed appreciation for the Prime Minister of India, for 125 crore countrymen. This is an honour for our countrymen.”

MODI’S BOLD GAMBIT