The Rhetoric of the Past Distracts Us from Deadly Attacks and Aggression

BARBED WORDS

- Pushpesh Pant

Every time terrorists strike a blow, we hear the same chorus condemning the "dastardly crime committed by cowards" and promises to give them "a befitting reply." The breast-beating by the bereaved families and chest-thumping by those elected to protect us sound discordant notes. Balakot and Pulwama are still fresh in memory. Nor have attacks on Mumbai, Akshardham, and Indian Parliament been forgotten. These are dramatic incidents of bloodshed that have been countered by surgical strikes or appropriate calibrated responses, military and diplomatic. Sadly, nothing has worked. Pakistan continues to wage its "war of a thousand cuts," backed by powerful patrons like China and the US. Both have exercised vetoes in the UN Security Council to save Pakistan from being declared a terrorist state or to designate individuals whom it harbors as international terrorists. Pakistan has long been identified as a failed state, a bankrupt state, a nation under the boot of a self-serving army that has brought the state to the verge of implosion. This is no time for blame games. The nation must remain united in the face of an existential threat. Make no mistake, India's failure to exterminate the root of evil threatens the unity, integrity, and the composite inclusive culture that is our priceless heritage.