The policy of taking the initiative for building peace without wailing for reciprocity by India that the Pakistani Prime Minister has adopted must be supported. It is also necessary to realise that peace cannot be taken for granted; it will have to be secured through a properly planned campaign. This should reduce Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ability to act on the surgical strike theory because he derives strength for his bellicose posturing from the international community’s uneasiness with Islamabad’s reluctance to deal firmly with militant organisations. Fortunately, both countries realise not only the unaffordable cost of a full-scale war but also the fact that neither side is in a position to obliterate the other. But in South Asia, whoever uses a nuclear bomb against its next-door neighbour will cause its own people almost as much loss and suffering as it might inflict on the rival party. This drain on the country’s resources can be stopped only by pushing for peace with all the neighbours. Secondly, old scenarios of nuclear war involved countries situated long distances away from each other and neither side was likely to be affected by the fallout from its use of nuclear devices.The one positive result of the latest spell of tension in relations with India is the beginning of action against the already proscribed militant outfits that should have accompanied the launch of the National Action Plan in 2014, if not earlier. Perhaps Pakistan is more vulnerable in this regard than India. In this regard, it is wrong to attribute the international community’s criticism of Pakistan’s odd relationship with jihadist outfits wholly to Indian instigation.When the two South insert nut Suppliers Asian neighbours embarked on a collision course, the international community became afraid of a nuclear conflict perhaps to a greater extent than the people of the two countries, especially their rulers. Unfortunately, the media is no longer strong and honest enough to defy the slogan ‘my country right or wrong’. This was because the danger of nuclear weapons being used is greater in South Asia than anywhere else in the world. A surgical strike imposes no additional costs on the aggressor while the cost of the preparedness the victim country must maintain is quite substantial
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