Deniability is part of Pakistan's strategy of asymmetric warfare: Former diplomat Dinkar Srivastava
Former diplomat
Dinkar Srivastava
has said that deniability is part of Pakistan's strategy of asymmetric warfare, examples of which lie with its each act of aggression, starting from its "tribal raid" of Kashmir in 1947, Operation Gibraltar in 1965, Kargil war in 1999,
Mumbai terror attack
in 2009, and the recent attack in Pahalgam.
Srivastava, who has served in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and was posted to Pakistan, the United States, and the European Union, said that Pakistan's involvement was subsequently established in these acts of aggression.
"Pakistan initially denied in the UN Security Council that its forces were involved (in tribal raids of 1947). In May 1948, Pakistan's foreign minister Sir Zafarullah Khan admitted to the UN Commission on India and Pakistan that two brigades of Pakistani army were fighting in Kashmir, which had acceded to India," the former Indian ambassador to Iran told PTI in an email interaction.
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Srivastava, in his latest book, "Pakistan: Ideologies, Strategies and Interests", traces Pakistan's evolution and drift to an uncertain future through the lens of the partition, Two-Nation theory, the dynamics between its leaders and the army, its many internal conflicts, and the diplomatic relations with India.
Talking about Pakistan's "strategy of asymmetric warfare", he added that it will sponsor terrorism as long as it feels the idea is working. However, India's firm response in the form of Operation Sindoor post-Pahalgam terror attack has sent a clear warning to "terrorists and their masters".
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"Deniability is part of Pakistan's strategy of asymmetric warfare. They will continue to sponsor terrorism if they feel that this idea is working. Operation Sindoor - firm response by India, has conveyed the message to terrorists, and their masters in the Army and the ISI that such adventures will result in costs to them," he said.
In a terror attack on April 22 in Pahalgam, Kashmir, as many as 26 people, mostly tourists, lost their lives. India retaliated with Operation Sindoor targeting terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir on the intervening night of May 6 and 7.
This act of terror, Srivastava said, is partly linked to Pakistan's internal situation.
"With mounting internal troubles, the Pakistani Army needs to divert focus to India. The country witnessed food riots in 2022, its economy has been on the verge of default, the Army's legacy is being challenged in Punjab, which has been the main source of recruitment since the British days. There is an insurgency in Balochistan. A terror attack in J&K helps divert attention," he said.
As the situation between the two neighbouring countries got intense in the first part of May, the threat of a nuclear war also loomed large. However, the Indian military response also called off "Pakistan's nuclear bluff", on which it has relied in the past.
"...Pakistan threatened in the past escalation to the nuclear level in case of Indian response to acts of terrorism. This was aptly described by Prof. C. Christine Meyer as 'Jehad under nuclear umbrella'. The Indian military strike against terrorist training camps in PoK and Jaish and Lashkar headquarters in Bahawalpur and Muridke showed that India will retaliate in all such cases. This is the new normal," he added.
As director of the UN Political Division in the MEA, Srivastava was part of India's lobbying efforts to prevent internationalisation of the Jammu and Kashmir issue in 1999. In 1993-94, he was part of Indian lobbying efforts against four Pakistani attempts to have resolutions on J&K adopted in the UN General Assembly and UN Commission on Human Rights.
The book, published by Bloomsbury, is priced at Rs 799 and is available on online and offline stores.
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