According to the constitution of India, every five years, 'general' elections must take place unless the state of emergency has been declared. The last time a state of emergency was declared was in 1975, therefore, it's not very likely that anything too minor will be able to disrupt the forthcoming elections. Every time a new government comes into power, a lot of vital changes take place due to different perspectives and ideologies of the people in power. These ideologies often clash with various other perspectives and a sacrificial solution is reached to decide and execute policies, which are more or less agreed to by everyone. Such government policies are fundamental for growth in terms of education, healthcare, GDP, HDI, and general public satisfaction and welfare.
What makes government policy so crucial is its ability to influence so many people. Before the Nazis came into power, any policies they presented that were objected to by the people were completely eradicated but were only re-introduced when they were in complete power. Therefore when incidents of terrorism like in Uri, 2016 and very recently in Pulwama take place, any government should have a plan already present to deal with them. The presence of such policies will not only provide an alternative for an immediate response but can also instill fear in other terrorist organizations with similar prospects. Indian anti-terror grew from the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (UAPA) through the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, 1987 (TADA) to the Prevention of Terrorism Act, 2002 (POTA). Section 15 of the UAPA defines a ‘terrorist act’ as “whoever does any act with an intent to threaten unity, integrity, security or sovereignty of India or with an intent to strike terror in the people of any section of the people in India or in any foreign country”. Perhaps the most popular and well-executed responses to any terrorist operations were the surgical strikes carried out in 2016 after four militants snuck into an army camp in Uri and killed almost a hundred and twenty soldiers while they slept. But otherwise, we have not seen the government of India at any point in time to provide their stance on an incident or take any direct steps to prevent further attacks.
Whenever people do not know the intricacies of any incident such as the very recent Pulwama attack, they take their frustration out on whomever they can. Major Vibhuti Shankar Dhoundiyal was a resident of Dehradun. He lost his life in the Pulwama attack. Thousands attended his cremation in Haridwar and shouted anti-Pakistan slogans. Even though it has not been clarified whether Pakistan was in any way involved with the Jaish-e-Mohammed in the Pulwama attacks, mere assumptions by common people could start revolts and more issues for our government in this already plagued time. There have been many incidents in the past three days which are showing increased nationalism; in Dehradun, three college students beat up an Afghani national because they assumed he was a Kashmiri, a Private college has suspended all its Kashmiri students because of pressure from right-wing activists and in Delhi, demand for the Delhi-Lahore bus service has fallen and security for those passengers arriving from Lahore has tripled. What we must practice is patriotism, the admiration, and love for your own country and not nationalism where you put another country down to express admiration for your own country as nationalism is what usually leads to militant nationalism and brings out war and violence.
After the Pulwama attack, lots of key developments have taken place. Two days after the attack, India stripped Pakistan of its Most Favoured Nation title (MFN) and raised the customs duty to 200% for all imported visible goods. 6 days after this, the union minister of India, Nitin Gadkari, declared that India will ‘stop’ the flow of its share of water to Pakistan. Then on the 25th of February, there was a trade of firing at the Line of Control in Rajouri district, Jammu and Kashmir. Finally, on the very next day, the 26th of February, India directly responded to the Pulwama attacks. At approximately 3:30 AM, in the Muzafarabad sector, 12 Indian Air Force Mirage 2000 jets dropped 6 1,000 kg bombs on suspected Jaish-e-Mohammed camps. This was the first of such aircraft movement across the Line of Control since the 1971 war. On the next day, Pakistani jets violated Indian airspace and dropped bombs on camps of the Indian Armed Forces throughout the Rajouri sector in Jammu and Kashmir. The Indian Army responded by shooting down one of the Pakistani F-16s.
Meanwhile, India is considering boycotting the India-Pakistan showdown in the upcoming world cup and the captain of the Indian cricket team, Virat Kohli, has declared that he is fine with whatever the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) decides and will follow their commands. On the other side of Pakistan, Afghanistan has restarted trade with India via Iranian ports, choosing to avoid entering Pakistan.
Till now, 48 countries have come together to condemn the Pulwama attack. These countries include the USA, France, Germany, Maldives, Nepal, Bhutan and Tajikistan. All of these countries have expressed their regret over such heinous acts of terrorism and have wished for speedy recoveries of the injured and have promised to provide diplomatic support to the Government of India in this grave situation.
For now, these developments can only be classified as flashpoints as the threat of a full-fledged war still lurks around us.
