It seems that the Nawaz Sharif Government is not overly anxious to respond to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s overtures for bilateral talks between the two countries. Pakistani Rangers started an unprovoked attack across the LOC and then in the Poonch Sector in Jammu. India lost six persons and thirteen were injured. The objective appeared to be to enable infiltration of terrorist into J&K. Indian security forces unleashed massive retaliation. They attacked thirty seven Pakistani border posts causing 15 to 20 deaths and injured more than 30 persons. Damage was done to outposts manned by Pakistani Rangers. A senior South Block official has reiterated that India had no intention of escalating the situation on the Jammu border. But Pakistanis were not to get off without a counter-offensive. The Indian side was forced to open fire after the Pakistani Army violated the LOC. The Pakisatani Rangers let loose heavy machine guns and mortars. An Indian Army jawan was killed. The Border based Pakistani terrorists were getting ready for action.
One might say that the honeymoon period of Modi’s Prime Ministership in foreign relations has soured only on the Pakistan front. Modi for the first time had the Pakisatan Prime Minister at his swearing ceremony in May. But soon thereafter the Indian foreign secretary’s visit to Islamabad was cancelled. The expected goodwill between Modi and Nawaz Sharif at the UN General Assembly in New York did not quite materialize either. It surprising that Islamabad is targeting India at a time when it is at odds with the Pakistan Army, the ISI and the pro-Taliban elements led by Imran Khan. The Pakistan economy is on the rocks. The only explanation for Islamabad’s anti-India operations may be to divert Pakistani people’s attention from the civilian government’s predicament.
