By Imran A. Chowdhury ;

Regional peace and respite from all types of terrorist activities in the area are essential. The Balakot air strike was one of the most expressive symbols to give an ultimatum to those who are constantly and continuously engaged in unsettling the tranquility and development of the sovereign countries. In this game of deceit and treachery, India has suffered among the hardest hit from cross-border incursions and acts of terrorism.

The neighbouring state and her apparatus of the deep covert state, relentlessly crying wolf and yet allowing the non-state actors engaged to provide a safe haven from which to take part in religious radicalization culminating into terrorism the world over.

It seems likely that they have opened a Pandora’s Box of industrial scale – a factory manufacturing terrorism. Pakistan has done this since 1971 and, for some unknown reasons, they are never brought to book, which has perhaps given them a free-ride to continue the same game of annihilation and cross-border killings, and taking innocent lives.

They carried out an ethnic cleansing in Bangladesh (formerly East Pakistan) from the 25th of March 1971 and their activities have continued since then, from the carnage in Mumbai in 2008 to the Pulwama attack in 2019. The list of atrocities that cause loss of human lives perpetuated by the same regime goes on and on.

Any promise can be broken and there were no other means of diplomacy left there to engage in order to resolve this mindless unilateral aggression. The inherent inability of Pakistan to really pull back on terror activities, thereby conducting any bilateral talks with India, is on the brink of impossibility.

India is not prepared to talk with the perpetrators of terrorism. It was not for the first time India had no other choice but to strike hard and deep into the territory of Pakistan’s so-called de facto border in the disputed Kashmiri region, and to drop bombs on the town of Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, on the installation used by the infamous terrorist training camp for Jaish-e-Mohammad.

Indian Army fighter planes yet again bombarded deep inside Pakistan like they did in 1965 and 1971, both in the East and Western theatres of battle. The speed and the element of surprise stunned the radar and the early warning systems of their so-called world class armed forces.

India went in deep and pounded the area to obliterate the terrorists’ training camps allegedly run by the likes of Mumbai carnage planner Hafeez Sayeed and others. This was a daredevil air raid in the history of the century-old Indian Air Force – an air force that has 1 world war plus 3 Indo-Pakistan wars and one Sino Indian skirmish under its belt.

This is the epitome of professional outfits in the region, if not in the world. Pakistan was yet again in denial and tried to pull the wool over the eyes of its coterie of journalists and visitors on their payroll, so they would pen stories about the airstrike to make it appear to be a fake claim by India.

Nevertheless, the proof was in the pudding when Pakistan closed their air space for the next 72 hours, leaving nothing to the imagination of the observers from around the world.

Although media reports are suggesting that, in the last few days, the infamous Hafeez Saeed has been sentenced to 5 years of imprisonment, this could well be total media eyewash, just as his pre-trial so-called arrest was. Who is to know their secrets from the outset?

It is also revealed by reliable news sources that their deep state’s apparatus is helping those terrorist to regroup. What is ironic here is, when the world watches the Pakistani Prime Minister shedding crocodile tears for the Kashmiri Muslims, there is no remorse, no atonement, no reparation either moral or financial for all the rapes, tortures, genocide and annihilation of the former East Pakistani (present day Bangladesh) Muslims!

It makes one wonder about the deceptive behaviour of Pakistani leadership. In addition, I would urge the Kashmiri Muslims to sift through the evidence themselves of the history of the 1971 Bangladesh liberation war, before falling into a booby trap. This will perhaps open their eyes about the holocaust that the Bengali Muslims suffered at their hands.

It is absolutely imperative for Pakistan to understand that Indian military superiority in combat, looking through the prism of 1971’s colossal and shameful surrender to date, speaks volumes about Indian ascendancy. Pakistan’s nuclear bluff is yet again called. The evidence is crystal clear that Pakistan cannot stand up against Indian supremacy, hence it uses the divisive proxy war strategies which Balakot has exposed.

One would anticipate, after the surgical strike that they would learn some lessons. Alas, however, they have learned nothing since.