Pakistan action boost to Modi diplomacy

Pakistan’s action on terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad and its chief Maulana Masood Azhar have come as a huge boost to PM Narendra Modi’s diplomacy and indicates that India’s pressure on Pakistan seems to have paid off. By cracking down, Islamabad has virtually admitted that terrorists operating from its soil had a hand in attacking the IAF base at Pathankot. It also indicates United States pressure on the Pakistani military establishment and the ISI to fall in line with Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s attempts to save the peace process.

By announcing action, Islamabad has admitted that the Pathankot attacks — much like the 26/11 Mumbai attacks — were planned from Pakistani soil. That itself is being seen as a major departure from its previous policy of blatant denials.

So what has led to this For one, the global mood against terror particularly in Western capitals has intensified after the Paris terror attacks. There is also a sinking realisation within Islamic countries that terrorism has, most of all, affected the Islamic world, with large parts of the West Asian region up in flames and terror attacks even in countries such as Turkey. Pakistan therefore finds itself isolated.

There was no better indication of this than when Pakistan’s all-powerful Army chief Gen. Raheel Sharif as well as his ISI chief attended the meeting called by Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif following which the action was announced. This despite a universally-known fact that terror outfits such as the LeT and the JeM have always done the bidding of Pakistan’s military establishment. This also shows that Pakistan’s civilian government led by Mr Sharif is finally asserting itself.

For India, the move has come as a vindication of the Modi government’s diplomacy. Mr Modi had made a sudden stopover in Lahore on Christmas Day, thereby giving a huge impetus to the peace process. Even as critics had then scoffed that the move would not have any lasting impact, the turn of events now has proved otherwise.