Lessons for India from Israel eliminating Hezbollah’s Nasrallah
Image credit X.com @drsjaishankar
S Jaishankar warns Pakistan of consequences of terror export
By Manish Anand
New Delhi, September 29: External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on Saturday warned Pakistan of consequences of exporting terrorism. The warning came in midst of a spurt in terror activities in Jammu and Kashmir.
“Pakistan’s cross-border terrorism policy will never succeed. And it can have no expectation of impunity. On the contrary, actions will certainly have consequences,” Jaishankar told the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
Jaishankar’s emphasis on “no expectations of impunity as well as consequences of exporting terrorism” gain significance. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spelt out his policy of aggressive defence of Israel at the UNGA ahead of the killing of the Hezbollah secretary general Hassan Nasrallah.
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“There is no place in Iran that the long arm of Israel cannot reach,” Netanyahu told the UNGA. The US President, Joe Biden, legitimised the killing of Nasrallah.
“Hassan Nasrallah and the terrorist group he led, Hezbollah, were responsible for killing hundreds of American over four-decan reign of terror. His death from an Israeli airstrike is a measure of justice…,” said Biden in a statement after the killing of Nasrallah.
Biden’s endorsement of Israel’s hot pursuit of “enemies of Israel” in Lebanon, Iran, Yemen, and Iraq has potential to become a template. India can also possibly examine prospects of working in the Israeli template.
The spurt in terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir cannot be possible without Pakistani patronage. India can revisit the option to dismantle the terror infrastructure in the Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) with regular counter-terrorism action.
Also Read: No place in Iran that long arm of Israel cannot reach: Netanyahu
The Pakistani officials in the past have accused India of killing of terrorists on its soil. Al Jazeera in a report in April this year quoting Pakistani officials claimed that “eight killings in Pakistan had fingers pointed at India”.
“These are killings-for-hire cases,” Muhammad Syrus Sajjad Qazi, Foreign Secretary of Pakistan, said on January 25. Qazi claimed that the killings “involved a sophisticated international set-up spread over multiple jurisdictions”.
But Israel unveiled a bottom-up approach in eliminating the whole set up of the Hezbollah in Lebanon. In a coordinated action, noted Middle East observers, Israel eliminated the foot soldiers, mid-rank officials, and the top echelons of the Hezbollah in a span of a few days only.
Israel is setting eyes on “enemies” in Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq, Syria, and Iran. To give effect to Jaishankar’s warning that “actions will certainly have consequences” for Pakistan’s export of terrorism may require India to establish a 360-degree counter-terrorism arm.
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India cannot afford launch a surgical strike and then wait for another spell of export of terrorism. India can also not watch terrorists becoming mainstream in Bangladesh.
Israel’s counter-terrorism template reveals a nation facing existential threat always on the hunt for the enemies. Israel also gives thumbs down to the sermonising world on human rights.
“You attack us, we will attack you,” Netanyahu spelt out Israel’s simple approach. For Jaishankar to see his words spoken at the UNGA taken seriously, India will also need to acquire futures’ weapons and their testing against terror infrastructure in Pakistan and possibly also in Bangladesh with regularity.
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