The India-Pakistan war theatre has flared up. In the early hours of Wednesday, May 7, India struck nine targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-controlled Kashmir. New Delhi described the听attacks as a retaliation for the mass shooting of tourists on 22 April in Pahalgam, in the disputed region of Kashmir.听
India had earlier alleged that two of the three suspects in the tourist attack in Pahalgam were Pakistani nationals, without detailing any evidence.听Pakistan has denied any links to the attack.
In swift retaliation, Pakistan hit several targets in the Indian held Kashmir, claiming it shot down five Indian aircraft during the strikes on the Indian side of the de facto Kashmir border.
According to CNN, a high-ranking French intelligence official told them that Pakistan has also downed one Indian Air Force (IAF) Rafale fighter jet.听Quoting local government sources in Indian Kashmir, Reuters reported that three fighter jets had crashed in separate areas of the Himalayan region overnight, and their pilots were hospitalized.
For years, India has blamed Pakistan for using its proxies, targeting civilians to advance its cause in India. On the other hand, Pakistan has been blaming India for aiding the insurgency in its restive province of Balochistan. Pakistan attributed the March attack on a train in Balochistan, carrying mostly army personnel and their families, to the Indian spy agency RAW. Pakistan has also been charging India with nurturing Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) to destabilize Pakistan. 听听
In April 2024, the British newspaper The Guardian reported, quoting Indian and Pakistani intelligence operatives, that the Indian government assassinated individuals in Pakistan as part of a wider strategy to eliminate terrorists living on foreign soil. At the behest of RAW, some 20 people associated with the anti-India uprising in Kashmir have been assassinated in Pakistan since 2020, the Guardian added.
India has also听been accused publicly by Washington and Ottawa of involvement in the murders of dissident figures, including a Sikh activist in Canada and a botched assassination attempt on another Sikh in the U.S.
Rising tensions between India and Pakistan are a point of deep听concern to the world. United Nations Secretary-General Ant贸nio Guterres called for maximum restraint from both sides. 鈥淭he world cannot afford a military confrontation between India and Pakistan,鈥 he emphasized.
United States President Donald Trump said the clashes were 鈥渁 shame.鈥
鈥淚 just hope it ends very quickly,鈥 Trump said at the White House.
Kashmir has been an enduring flash point for more than seven decades between the two heavily armed neighbours. Yet, given recent history, it cannot be ruled out that domestic concerns may have pushed New Delhi and Islamabad to appear firm in times of adversity.
The response of the Modi government to the Pulwama attack in 2019 helped build a macho image of Prime Minister听Narendra Modi and his BJP government. Modi was running then for a second term and his strong image in the aftermath of the attack helped bring him back to power in the centre.
This time could be no different. State elections in the populous Indian state of Bihar are expected later this year. The election is regarded as important for the Modi-led BJP. The renewed jingoistic image of Modi and his swift retaliation to the April 22 attack in Pahalgam may help him win the Bihar elections. 听听
Pakistan is no exception. General Asim Munir-led Pakistani army junta now controls virtually everything in Pakistan, from most politicians to the media and from judges to the top courts. The army junta is out to suppress all forms of dissent.
Yet the generals are still unable to control the massive support of the incarcerated, former prime minister Imran Khan. But they seem determined to muzzle the public support for Khan and his party, at any cost.
In the wake of skirmishes with India, the nationalist wave can help General Asim Munir and his cohorts overcome the Imran challenge and clinch absolute power in the country. 听听
The ongoing war theatre helps those at the helm, in New Delhi and Rawalpindi, respectively. 听听听
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