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10 things India has done to corner Pakistan after Pulwama terror attack

Not just Pakistan, India has also upped the pressure on Islamabad's allies.

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(File picture: PTI)
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The Narendra Modi government is making a push to increase the pressure on Pakistan to stop its support to terrorism in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack, which killed 40 Indian paramilitary personnel. The government's efforts may have taken time, but seem to be progressing one step at a time to box Islamabad and Rawalpindi into an increasingly small corner.

Here are 10 things the government has done in response to the Pulwama attack:

   1.   Withdrawal of MFN status, and imposition of steep customs duties

India withdrew the 'Most Favoured Nation' status it had accorded to Pakistan under the WTO rules. While the move will not devastate Pakistan economically, it is a further strain on it economy, which is groaning under the strain of a crushing balance of payments crisis. The government also imposed an import duty of 200 percent on all imports from Pakistan. There are now reports of hundreds of Pakistani trucks stalled at the Attari-Wagah border crossing in Punjab.

   2.   Divert river waters

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari has said India would star diverting its share of the waters from rivers in the Kashmir region from flowing into Pakistan. India has so far been allowing the water it is not presently utilising to flow on into Pakistan. Gadkari's announcement concerns the waters of the eastern rivers, which belong to it under the Indus Waters Treaty. There have been no remarks yet from the government on the state of the waters of the western rivers which flow from India into Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and Pakistan. 

   3.   Renew push to have Azhar Mahmood designated a global terrorist

India renewed its efforts to have Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar recognised as a 'globally designated terrorist' by the international community. India's efforts so far have been blocked by only one country - China. Beijing has repeatedly put a 'technical hold' on the efforts, which it has announced it would resort to again this time. But with JeM proudly and repeatedly claiming responsibility. France has come out in India's support and said it would initiate proceedings to officially brand Azhar a terrorist.

   4.   Getting UNSC to pass strongly-worded resolution against the attack

India has made a strong diplomatic push to get the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to pass a resolution condemning the Pulwama attack. Not just that, India has used its diplomacy to strengthen and sharpen the language of the resolution. Again, China was the lone voice holding up the passing of the resolution, making attempts to have India's language watered down.

   5.   Cooperation with Iran against Pakistan's support for terrorism

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had a brief stopover in Tehran and met Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi. Iran too has suffered a suicide attack launched a Pakistan-backed terrorist organisation that killed 27 personnel of Iran's Revolutionary Guards in Zahedan. India and Iran agreed to cooperate in their bid to curb Pakistan's terror-support politices.

   6.   Pushed for censure from FATF

India worked the diplomatic ropes at the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the global anti-terror funding watchdog. On Friday, FATF came down hard on Pakistan and demanded that it keep its promises to tighten the screws on terror funding. The FATF had in 2018 put Pakistan on a grey list for its support for the funding of terrorist groups and networks.

   7.   Increase pressure on Pakistan's allies

India has raised the pressure on Pakistan's allies, which continue to bail Islamabad out of deep trouble after each of its misadventures. Soon after the attack, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale brief Chinese Ambassador Luo Zhaohui on Pakistan's culpability in the Pulwama attack. Even as China continues to back Pakistan, the thinking is that continued pressure would render Beijing's support untenable soon, just as it had happened during the Kargil Conflict. India also engaged with Saudi Arabia, getting the kingdom's visiting Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman to agree to denounce terrorism in a joint statement with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi.

   8.   Shutting the door on dialogue

Prime Minister Narendra Modi publicly shot down any possibility for a dialogue with Pakistan, saying the time for talks is in the past. The move effectively blocks Pakistan's usual trick of asking for talks and then refusing to discuss anything without solving Kashmir. It also kept up the pressure that has remained on Islamabad since the Modi government pulled the plug on any formal dialogue following the 2016 Uri attack.

   9.   Publicly authorise revenge for the attack

The Modi government revealed in the immediate aftermath of the Pulwama attack that the military had been authorised to retaliate in any manner it sees fit. This public authorisation of revenge has put Islamabad and Rawalpindi (Pakistan Army HQ) on a tightrope. Pakistan will have to keep up tough rhetoric while taking steps to avoid an all-out war with India, which it knows it cannot in any circumstance survive. Pakistan has also reportedly issued instructions to hospitals in Balochistan to prepare for the eventuality of war. Any actual mobilisation would place a further strain on Pakistan's economy, which is teetering on the brink of economic disaster.

  10.   Stepped up anti-terror operations in Kashmir

Security forces have stepped up operations in Kashmir to raise the pressure on terrorists. The terrorist who planned the Pulwama attack and radicalised a Kashmiri youth to carry out the suicide bombing was killed in an encounter just days after the attack. Other JeM operatives have been targeted and some have been neutralised.

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