India strikes back against Pakistan: Strategic restraint is passe in Modi era

The video released by the Indian Army showing Indian forces destroying Pakistani bunkers in the Naushera sector in Jammu and Kashmir is a clear sign that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not only re-casted terms of engagement with Pakistan’s Army but also the way Kashmir issue will be dealt with. This is the third time, India has claimed cross border operation and first time officially released a video where Indians are seen to be destroying enemy nation’s bunkers. It also shows the operational flexibility of the Army in the new regime and its ability to act at the time and place of its choosing.

 Some would construe it as a simple message in tit for tat language but it is more than that. This act effectively dismantles the politics of strategic restraint which was practiced as a fine art by both former Prime Ministers Atal Bihari Vajpaye and Manmohan Singh. It seems that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has decided that not only India will fight the war with Pakistan consistently but will also seen to be doing so. The acts not only raise the morale of the Indian forces but also sends a message across the border that every act will have a consequence and it will prove costly to Pakistan. At a regimental level, it also sends the message to Indian troops that ghar mein ghus kar maara. A parlance often used by Pakistani Army after a successful terrorist operation inside India.

This becomes crucial in the context of huge unrest in the Kashmir valley and massive use of social medial by the terrorists for propaganda. It is for this reason India government decided to publicly distribute the visuals of bunker busting is a press conference organised right outside the South Block where the Prime Minister’s office is located.
 
This was not done during North East and Kashmir cross border operations where actual foot soldiers were involved in the operation. Though cynics might say that Modi is trying to use social media to counter local propaganda but the fact is that half the battle is being fought on the social media and it cannot be ignored by the ruling regime. A case in point is how terror organisation ISIS puts out video on social media. While most feel repulsed after seeing the videos, it sends the message across to Islamic State's core followers. Those heavily edited, well packaged videos help in recruiting new foot soldiers for ISIS. 

So the rules of engagement in social media is same for one and all, where the need is to reach out to the target audience and also to dominate the narrative. The Modi government is looking to do the same.  The visuals  put out by Indian Army would help create a counter narrative that there is nothing romantic about being terrorists because apart from the vagary of time, end for each of the terrorist is already pre-determined. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has changed the paradigm of engagement with Pakistan’s Army but the challenge is to sustain it because Pakistan would use it to criticise India’s dismantling of strategic restraint and would attempt to re-cast it as Indian adventurism in South Asia. India will have to make every act of aggression of Pakistan costly and should also be seen making it because half the war is won when the morale of the enemy is destroyed.