Indian Army patrol in the hills of Kashmir finds the going hard. (Photo : Indian Army)
Faced with China's statement of military support for Pakistan should the latter be attacked by a "foreign aggressor," India is playing the only effective tool against Pakistan at its disposal: diplomatic isolation.
A defiant Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared India will mount a global campaign to isolate Pakistan from the rest of the world. He also accused Pakistan of being an "exporter of terrorism."
"We will isolate you. I will work for that," said Modi in his first speech after the attack on an Indian Army base in Uri, Kashmir last Sept. 18 that killed 18 Indian soldiers.
Modi warned Pakistan that India will do all it can to make Pakistan a pariah state in the eyes of the world.
"We will intensify it (our efforts) and force you to be alone all over the world," he said.
Modi also noted terrorist attacks in Bangladesh and Afghanistan are being instigated from Pakistan.
He accused Pakistan of trying to destabilize Asia by exporting terrorism. Modi revealed that in the last four months, Indian security forces killed 110 terrorists that allegedly crossed the Line of Control into Kashmir from Pakistani territory.
"This is the only country (Pakistan) that is exporting terrorism in all corners," said Modi without directly naming Pakistan.
"Wherever there is news of terror, there is news that either the terrorist first went to this country or later, after the incident, like Osama Bin Laden," he said at a rally in southern Kerala state.
"We both gained independence in the same year but (today) India exports software and your leaders export terrorists," he said in a statement aimed at Pakistani citizens.
"India has and never will bow down in the face of terrorism."
Earlier, environment minister Prakash Javadekar said Pakistan is a hub of terrorism and is involved in subversive activities against India.
"Pakistan has become a big center of terrorism and is resorting to subversive activities as it cannot win an open war with India," he pointed out.
Bruce Riedel, a former CIA operative and long-time expert on the region said it's "been clear for several months that the Pakistan Army believes the situation in Kashmir is ripe for a re-intensification of the conflict and that India has few credible options to respond."
Michael Kugelman, a South Asia expert with the Wilson Center, said the attack might have been triggered by Modi's recent comments about human rights violations in Balochistan, the Pakistani province where an insurgency by the dominant Baloch people fighting for independence from Pakistan has been festering since 1948.
