War with Pakistan – Is it feasible?

By: Subhadeep Bhattacharjee

There seems to be a very large emotional outcry in the country after the terror attacks in Mumbai. A question arising in all these is should we go for a war with Pakistan? Considering the present state of things a full scale war with Pakistan should be the last measure in our fight against terror. Waging a war is not as simple as it seems on the streets. It just does not have military cost it has a huge economic cost associated with it.

After the December 13 Parliament attacks Indian defense forces has launched what is known as Operation Parakram and mobilised soldiers along the border with Pakistan. The aggressive military move hardly yielded any results but cost us Rs 6500 crores. More importantly 680 soldiers lost their lives mostly to accidents without any militarily engagement a figure which even outnumbered 527 soldiers who sacrificed their lives during Operation Vijay in Kargil.

Pakistan has an non existent economy today and trying to wage a full scale war against it will lead to an huge economic loss for us even if it turns out to be a military success. The Afghan and Iraq campaign has cost America more than it has cost the two countries. Also considering the nuclear arsenal that Pakistan has coupled with little influence its politicians have over the military a mindless act might lead to catastrophe for us more than them.

Does that mean no action against Pakistan if we have strong enough evidence. No certainly not we need to act and act immediately. First the drama of diplomatic talks and dialogues has to end. It is clear that Pakistan is not controlled but its politicians or its diplomats. Its the men in boots who call shots there and if there is any talk necessary it has to be with them. A politician in Pakistan and I in India have similar control over the functioning in the country!

We seem to have specific information about terror camps running out of Pakistan occupied Kashmir. The Government needs to fuel our Sukhois and MiGs and order them to take down specific targets rather than do carpet bombings. The intelligence inputs in such an operation will be very crucial it need not bypass our inefficient bureaucracy. Senior military commanders have to be given more decision making power to fight our enemy.

The intelligence claims to know about the hideouts of Dawood Ibrahim, Maulana Masood Azhar, Hafiz Muhammad Saeed and other people involved in attacks against India. These people can be neutralised in their own den by a secret police much like the Mossads and KGB. A full scale war against Pakistan will need tremendous sacrifice by our soldiers and our economy and it does not seem too feasible at this moment

Taking smart actions and striking them by surprise in their own land will create a terror in their minds too. We have shown enough resilience, spirit of cities and taken high moral grounds its time to act, act quickly and act smartly. The government has now to choose between the lives of Indians and terrorist and making a choice shouldn't be too difficult.