12-05-2025
For peace with India — and its own future — Pakistan needs moderate rulers
As I wrote nearly a decade ago, and as the Subcontinent moves on from another round of bloodshed and brinkmanship, it is time to confront a hard truth: Lasting peace with Pakistan's military establishment was always a mirage. Last week's escalations were not an aberration, but the logical outcome of two ideologies at odds with each other.
In the language of international relations, countries are often described as 'status quo' or 'revisionist' powers. A status quo power is content with its borders and seeks stability and growth, not territorial expansion. India fits this description. We have no desire for anyone else's land or resources. Our ambition is simple: To build a prosperous, modern nation and to be a force for good in the world (vishwaguru). If we could trust that peace with Pakistan was genuine, we would gladly embrace it and move forward.
But Pakistan, since its inception, has been a revisionist power — one that seeks to alter its region. The military and religious elite in Islamabad have long pursued two goals: First, to 'liberate' parts of India and create an Islamic state for India's Muslims (regardless of whether they want it or not); and second, to block India's rise, clinging to the parity that existed in 1947. For them, a secular, thriving India is a threat that cannot be tolerated as it calls into question the very reason for Pakistan's creation.
This was very clear in Army Chief Asif Munir's incendiary speech a week before the Pahalgam Attacks where he parroted the defunct Two-Nation Theory and insisted that Hindus and Muslims cannot coexist (can you imagine the furore if any other world leader said that?).
Let's be clear. When I say 'Pakistan', I mean the entrenched military leadership and the highly fundamentalist Deobandi religious establishment. This alliance has ruled Pakistan since independence, keeping it both religiously extreme and militarily aggressive. This suits the military by giving it a reason to stay in power and enrich itself and this suits the clerics as they get to espouse their hateful creed. Many ordinary Pakistanis — business leaders, intellectuals, moderate Muslim denominations — would welcome a lasting peace and the prosperity it could bring. But they do not hold power. The military-mullah axis does, and it has crushed every challenge to its authority with a mix of religious propaganda or brute force.
So where does that leave us?
If India is to fulfil its destiny, we must either neutralise the threat next door or live in a state of constant vigilance. The dilemma is real: How do we deal with a neighbour that believes its god-ordained duty is to undermine us?
The long-term answer is not endless confrontation but transformation. Pakistan must become a status quo power. That will only happen when moderates, not militarists and extremists, hold sway in Islamabad. This shift could come through a popular uprising or, more likely, an internal coup by those who see peace and prosperity as Pakistan's true path forward. But for such a change to occur, the current establishment must suffer a defeat so decisive that the rest of Pakistan recognises the futility of their old ambitions.
To do this, India now has the opportunity. The old Pakistani establishment is tottering. The gamble at Pahalgam was the act of an army desperate to keep itself relevant. Imran Khan's ouster has turned popular opinion against the military. Balochistan's insurgency has made almost half the landmass of Pakistan ungovernable, the Pashtuns are in open revolt aided by Afghanistan. Today's India has a technological, military, and economic advantage that is overwhelming, as was clearly displayed last week. And, most importantly, the old apologists for Pakistan in the West, and its patron China are fed up and quiet. We must use this to deliver the blows that show regular Pakistanis the self-harm their leaders cause and end the grip the current regime has on Pakistan's levers of power.
The battle for Pakistan's soul is not one we sought, but it is one we cannot ignore. Our government and security establishment know it cannot afford to wait for goodwill gestures, hollow promises, mediation, or such half measures. It knows we have to leverage our strengths and force a reckoning in Islamabad. We must make it clear that there is no reward for revisionism, only isolation and decline. The choice for Pakistan's rulers must be made simple: Change course, or be left behind as India strides confidently into the future. Last week's actions were a strong step in the right direction. But we must be under no illusions that while an important battle was won, the larger war goes on. We must continue to stand united, bear any pain we need to, ignore any 'liberal' Western criticism and be ready for this kind of decisive action again and again until Pakistan changes.
We owe this to the innocent victims of terror, from 26/11 till today. We owe it to our brave armed forces, and most of all, we owe it to our children.
The writer is an educator, political commentator, philanthropist and businessman with degrees from the Wharton School of Business, INSEAD, and Johns Hopkins University
