THAT the Armed forces have full freedom to decide the mode, the target, and the timing of the country’s response to Pahalgam terror strike, means India has moved its preparedness to hit back to another level. This is something the entire country had been waiting for. This green signal by a high-level meeting of Defence Minister, National Security Advisor, chiefs of three Forces under Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi’s chairmanship demonstrates India’s heightened readiness to teach Pakistan a lesson it will never forget. Now what will matter is when the strategic decision is actually made and implemented -- so that the Pakistanis are brought down to their knees most comprehensively. The common people now see major developments on the border as well as in the national capital. They sense that things are getting keener as time passes.

 

True, the Government has yet not made up its mind on the final strike -- and the common people expect that to be done sooner than later. That may not actually happen as per the people’s wish, all right. But the fact that high-level meetings are taking place in corridors of power and major issues are being discussed, is good enough for the people to be assured that the Government is in no mood to tolerate nonsense anymore. For the people who are sick of terrorism and its Pakistani sponsorship, this assurance, too, is good enough. However, there also is an opinion doing the rounds in the country -- that the Government’s grant of full freedom to the Forces to make their choice of mode, target and timing of attack has no value greater than political optics. In other words, the Government appears interested more in creating some tough sounds but may not take actual quick action to teach the Pakistanis a genuinely harsh lesson. If such so-called tough sounds keep emanating from corridors of power without any accompanying action, then the people will feel disheartened after some time.

 

Of course, if the common people can sense such a risk, then the powers that be in the Government, too, must be conscious of the tame outcome. Seen from this angle, it may, therefore, be appropriate for the people to keep patience and allow the Government to handle matters as it feels fit. For, when stake are very high, a haste in making decisions may be detrimental to find long-term national interest. The common people do understand this tricky area. They are willing to wait for the ‘right’ time the Government chooses to hit back at Pakistan. Yet, they have a genuine issue to contend with -- that a too much of delay in hitting back may taper off the current sharpness and intensity of popular sentiment in the country. In any case, that must not be allowed to happen. The Government must recognise the delicateness of people’s sentiment on the issue. For, the people -- the nation as such -- have suffered a lot on this count for decades on end. It has seen many a terror strike before as well.

 

Some of the previous attacks did have the Pahalgam-style detail -- like the killing of about two dozen people in a bus in Doda district many years ago on similar lines. But in Pahalgam strike, the common people saw many television images on what actually happened and how. That is the actual cause of people’s anger. The Government can only ill-afford to ignore that angle. For record, the Government would insist that it knows the intensity of public sentiment. But if there is an inordinate delay in response, then the people would lose faith in the Government’s ability to take revenge in right time. At this moment, the people do not want political optics. They want actual action so that people’s collective anger is assuaged appropriately.