Not to glorify war
The raging frenzy against Pakistan following Pulwama massacre after a suicide bomber rammed in an explosive-laden SUV into a CRPF convey leading to the death of 40 soldiers on February 14, had toned down considerably and was nearly put to rest until Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi claimed in a statement that based on their intelligence report, India is planning another attack on Pakistan. The western neighbour's "reliable intelligence" specifies the time of this attack to be in between April16 and April 20. The foreign Minister's concern was shared with the five permanent members of the UN Security Council. As a matter of fact – and politics – the retaliation to Pulwama came with the widely-sensationalised Balakot air strike on a Jaish-e-Mohammed establishment in PoK just two weeks later. The relation between these nuclear-armed nations nose-dived to unprecedented lows after successive events of aggression. Qureshi did not give any comprehensive point on the evidence Pakistan had or the basis on which he could be so specific with the timing, but confirmed that Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan had agreed to share the information with the country. Such a stunt in politics deserves an independent and elaborate commentary. Prime Minister Khan blames Indian establishment for whipping up war hysteria over claims of India shooting down a Pakistani F-16 during the February standoff. India's accomplishment in the Air strike on Jaish-e-Mohammad militant camp, however, is given to doubt after satellite images betrayed little evidence of damage.
India refrained from making a statement immediately but eventually replied befittingly and politically correctly that it rejects the statement by Pakistan Foreign Minister and termed it as irresponsible and preposterous. Also, that his statement comes with a "clear objective of whipping up war hysteria in the region. This public gimmick appears to be a call to Pakistan-based terrorists to undertake a terror attack in India," the spokesperson of Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. War hysteria was, in fact, whipped up a fortnight earlier when Pakistan sponsored the suicide attack on Indian soldiers. War-mongering is deployed as a political tool. Both sides have a pressing need to focus on development over politics at the cost of development and welfare. The possibility of war between two nuclear-armed nations is a serious international concern and will end up affecting sovereignty and integrity of especially India, given how it has carved an image in the global arena in the past 5 years. Elections happen routinely but the impact of war is suffered for generations together.
