Whether India Should Attack Terrorism

The argument that India should mount full scale military attack on the sources of terrorism wherever they are is a result of frus­tration, utter sense of helplessness, a feeling of insecurity among all citizens irrespective of one’s financial position, Jatin Khanduja expression of anger against innocent killings and the commonly shared assertion that if we anyway have to die by the bullet or bomb of a fanatic either religious or ideological whose only motive in life is to kill and get killed then why not die killing these fanatics due to a series of terrorist strikes across the country which has had the common man, the primary targets of these terror strikes distur­bed, traumatised, shattered and seeth­ing with rage and waiting for an opportunity to vent their ire on the perpetrators, supporters and orga­nisers of such dastardly acts wher­ever they are.

Soon after the Mumbai attack the country unanimously echoed the words ‘Enough is Enough’ and asked the country’s leadership to destroy the sources of such attacks at what­ever cost. But we with a calm mind have to consider certain key ques­tions before taking any action that could have far reaching consequences on the demographic, social, ideo­logical and financial health of our country. We also need to take a close look at our own internal security apparatus and also evaluate the supposed effects of such an action on the world arena which is standing on the threshold of devastation.

First, we need to understand that the terror targets we intend to destroy are nurtured in a country that has no clear leadership; the civilian government has only a token control of the army which has a sizeable number of religious extremists at the top hierarchy and also has control over the country’s nukes.

Secondly, we need to consider the international ramifications of such an action. We are surrounded by two hostile neighbours, China on one side and Pakistan on the other. China is an all weather ally of Pakistan, has aided it with sophisticated defence tech­nologies and has considerable influ­ence on Pakistan’s army which in itself is a government of its own. The civilian government in Pakistan is under Washington’s influence but the military takes its orders from China. If India attacks terror camps in Pakistan the army (Pro-China) is bound to retaliate and the nuclear option for them is always on the table since Pakistan has ‘no first use of nuclear weapons’ policy like India’s and nuclear weapons if used will kill everyone except the extremists and the terrorists. If this happens we would end up killing more people than protecting.