'Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif and army chief Raheel Sharif need time to respond to India's surgical strikes'

NEW DELHI: Pakistani army described India's surgical strikes across the Line of Control as an “illusion'' created by Indian forces even as it admitted that two of its soldiers died in cross-LoC died in cross-LoC firing. Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif accused India of “unprovoked and naked aggression“, not for the strikes which Pakistan claims never happened, but for the cross border firing. Many see the reaction as a sign that Pakistan is not willing to escalate the situation immediately and will probably wait for the right opportunity to strike back. By denying any foreign troop action on its territory, Pakistan is also seeking to exempt itself from the pressure it might have been subjected to domestically in the aftermath of the strikes.

Former foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal said Pakistan was following a defensive strategy and India should have no problem playing along. “They need time to figure out how they can react. There will be a lot of pressure to retaliate if they admit to a surgical strike by India,'' Sibal said. “India should play along and not sound jingoistic about this as escalation doesn't help us.'' It's significant that India's operation came at a challenging moment for Pakistan, more specifically its formidable and popular army chief Raheel Sharif, when it is in the middle of Operation Zarb-e-Azb against Tehreek-eTaliban (TTP) and other terrorist organisations in North Waziristan.

After the strikes by India, Pakistan will know that its threat to lower the nuclear threshold against India in the face of rising conventional asymmetry is no longer enough to deter action by the Indian Army across, even if not very far, the LoC. To meet the challenge from the, as Sibal puts it, “new element of unpredictability“, Pakistan will be forced to think in terms of pulling out some of its resources from the western border and use them along the border with India. That, of course, is easier said than done as Pakistan remains vulnerable to groups like TTP.

Nawaz Sharif too is facing his moment of truth. After deciding to pull out of the Saarc summit and now with the military action, PM Narendra Modi has shown he has given up on the personal friendship he was said to have forged with Sharif. Sibal said Pakistan should decide what form of democracy it wants and that Nawaz Sharif should not be India's business. “On Kashmir, Nawaz Sharif made a mistake by going on a rampage over the issue of Burhan Wani. He should pay for it,'' Sibal said.

Pakistan has so far used LeT and JeM as strategic assets, its force multipliers, in the low-intensity conflict it has sought to wage with India. The Indian Army has just raised the stakes with its action and it is certain to force Rawalpindi to do a rethink.