In May 1998, after India’s successful Pokhran-II nuclear weapons tests, the result of decades of careful preparations, when Prime Minister Vajpayee was heading the government, one of his Cabinet colleagues, the late Madan Lal Khurana, had unbelievably challenged Pakistan to a wrestling match. There was stunned silence in the BJP and the government when the riposte of the then Nawaz Sharif government came with Pakistan’s own successful nuclear tests.
There is something uniquely foolish about the saffron diehards wanting to be seen as a having a “tough” attitude on national security, and top ministers of the Modi government have followed in the footsteps of their predecessors, with defence minister Manohar Parrikar (who has betrayed an absence of sobriety more than once in recent weeks) leading the pack. Mr Parrikar’s worse than careless observations have come after the recent attack against a faction of the Naga rebels by the Indian Army in the India-Myanmar border areas.
Mr Parrikar and colleague Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, a former colonel, went overboard, revealing operational details, thus prejudicing future actions against insurgents in the Northeast, and deeply embarrassed the Myanmarese authorities, who had helped the Indian operation. Myanmar has issued statements to deny that the Indian operation was on its side of the border, throwing water on jingoistic sentiments.
Compounding their immaturity, both ministers made silly comments, in effect threatening that Indian forces could now cross the boundary to attack terrorist camps in Pakistan-controlled areas as the “mindset” in India (under Mr Modi’s leadership) had changed. The Indian Army’s commander in Kashmir found it expedient to clarify that the anti-Naga (Khaplang) operations could not be replicated in the Pakistan theatre. Our ministers’ comments have drawn a predictably sharp response from the Pakistan Parliament, with both Houses passing resolutions about India’s attempt to “destabilise” Pakistan. These are not encomiums. In world forums, the exuberance from the highest levels of the Indian government would doubtless expose us as diplomatic boors.
A friendly neighbour in the east has been humiliated, and a difficult neighbour in the west has been permitted an opportunity to do sabre-rattling and attract the attention of the international community.
