A few hours ago new broke that the Indian air force has launched strikes inside Pakistani territory. I’ve been in the US since almost a decade now but still actively follow Indian and international news… and things have definitely changed.
For many years, growing up in India I used to wonder what would happen if India moved to a more aggresive strategy. In the past terrorism from Pakistan has been met by harsh words but little to no direct action. I’m sure a lot of work was always being done behind the scenes diplomatically and covertly.
The current mood of the country and the goverment is very different now. There was a heinous suicide attack on 14 February, that resulted in 46 deaths in India that were clearly planned (and accepted) by terrorist groups in Pakistan. That has lead to the current attack on Pakistan by India. All the political parties in India are now for action like this. It’s hard to imagine otherwise. Within my various Whatsapp groups, there is marked support for this as well. Social media/gifs/meme’s have trivialized war. Internal politics has become extremely polarized.. but bashing a rival nation is extremely popular. Bollywood movies in the past few years have also been advocating for war.
I’m hoping someone has a strategy around this. This is an extremely hard problem. Over 70 years of enemity does not just vanish. If only we can learn to live and let live. Because life is hard enough anyways. I suppose I’m a pacifist.