“India’s ‘Surgical Strike’ Stratagem: Brinkmanship and Response”

Assalam-o-Alaikum

Gen Naeem Khalid Lodhi Sb, Dr. Zafar Nawaz Jaspal, and worthy participants: I offer my gratitude to the honorable guests for finding time from their busy schedules and gracing the occasion with your presence.

I would like to express my appreciation to Dr. Zafar Nawaz Jaspal for his efforts and hard work to present a neutral and balanced account of India’s propaganda of surgical strikes, evolution of the Indian strategic thinking and military doctrine in his book.

The book presents an objective account of the legality of surgical strike within the scope of United Nations Charter and International Law.

The security landscape in South Asia has visibly changed over the past few years as a result of fundamental changes in strategic thinking and military doctrines of regional powers.

In the current environment the security challenge for Pakistan from the Indian side is quite clear. First, India is attempting to create a two front scenario by adopting an aggressive posture along the Line of Control and backing proxies in Afghanistan. It is openly maligning Pakistan as an alleged sponsor of terrorism and making false claims of conducting surgical strikes to shift focus of international conversation away from the Kashmir issue. The emerging situation underscores the precarious nature of the environment prevailing in South Asia.

India’s offensive rhetoric and aggressive international posturing poses an unprecedented challenge for Pakistan’s security, and consequently for regional stability. While India is employing force in Kashmir, it is also politicising international discourse at multilateral forums to the detriment of Pakistan. A case in point is on-going tensions over FATF issue.

Therefore, pursuing qualitative and quantitative modernization of conventional and strategic forces is necessary.  Pakistan is meeting these costs despite economic challenges facing the nation.

Surgical strikes or no surgical strikes, fact of the matter is, Kashmir is at the root of India-Pakistan tensions. It is in prevailing scenario, post-Pulwama aerial engagement between two countries, that this book by Dr. Jaspal has come out as a timely publication. It proffers objective analysis for academia, think-tank experts, policy-planners and opinion-makers. Islamabad Policy Institute commend Dr. Jaspal for authoring a book that will surely be read by audiences in Pakistan and abroad.

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