In the event of another attack on India, with origins in Pakistan, why should not India respond in the same way that the US does when it is targeted — with unilateral action?
If India is attacked by any neighbour, it should defend itself. But if a jihadi group based in Pakistan strikes India, New Delhi will have to assess the situation and act from its national security perspective. It must make the judgment very well before it decides what to do — because India is a regional superpower and a world power.
If I can advise New Delhi, I would recommend a new Indian strategy against jihadists that would be pro-active and strategically smart and sophisticated. India can do much more than any nation against the jihadist movement, but in ways that are not necessarily a mere retaliation against a Pakistan-based jihadi terror group. This threat must be fought globally, pre-emptively, ideologically, diplomatically, and swiftly. India can always resort to legitimate defence, but it can do so many things before using sheer power.
Despite serious jihadi attacks in Pakistan, we haven't seen mass uprisings and demonstrations against jihadism — in the same way that millions of Pakistanis took to the street against the Danish cartoons caricaturing Prophet Mohammed. Without that kind of mass uprising, can the war against jihadism be won?
Even when al-Qaeda attacked America, Britain, or when jihadists attacked Russia, we haven't seen massive demonstrations against jihadism. That's because there is a lack of understanding of what the conflict is all about. Inside the Arab and Muslim world, the political culture is controlled by the Islamist movements and so you won't see mass demonstrations against al-Qaeda or the Taliban yet. But there are small changes here and there. In Iraq, after each Salafist attack, you are seeing more internet and media attacks against jihadists; in Lebanon, you saw mass demonstrations against Hezbollah; in Iran, after decades of the Khomeinist regime, millions demonstrated against the Islamic republic. These societies have been oppressed by authoritarians and jihadists for decades. Do not expect sudden revolutions against fascism. It will be gradual and slow, but it will come.
The Taliban are killing civilians inside Pakistan, but the jihadi propaganda machine is very strong there. This brings me back to what countries such as India, Russia, and the West can do in terms of war of ideas. An alliance among India, Russia and the West and against the ideology of jihadism could help trigger uprisings against this ideology inside the Muslim world.
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