Indian task force suggests “economic pain, covert retaliation” against Pakistan

[Naveed Yaseen]

* FICCI suggests launching surgical strikes, intense attacks on Pakistan, blocking water routes to stop ‘terror attacks’

By Iftikhar Gilani

NEW DELHI: As India prepares to mark a year since the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, its corporate captains have asked for inflicting “economic pain, covert retaliation and surgical strikes against Pakistan to end terrorism inside India”.
In an 118-page "Task Force Report on National Security and Terrorism", the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) has called for launching a limited but intense attack on Pakistani-controlled territories in case another Mumbai type incident takes place in India.
The report also called for using water as a weapon to punish and pressurise Pakistan.
“Water is a very serious issue for Pakistan and India channelling water for irrigation and power can severely pressurise Pakistan,” it added.
The report suggests a basket of options for using against Pakistan – economic, trade, media, foreign relations, military and covert measures. Ironically the FICCI, which almost suggested launching a war against Pakistan, partners the India-Pakistan Joint Chamber of Commerce dedicated to promote trade and relationship between the two countries.
The trade body also observed that terror attacks in India were meant to "derail India's surging economic growth".
The FICCI task force include former bureaucrats, intelligence and defence officials, including Lt Gen ® Satish Nambiar, former air chief S Krishnaswamy, former National Security Guard head Ved Prakash Marwah, former additional cabinet secretary B Raman and former Intelligence Bureau director Ajit Kumar Doval.
The report documents in detail how Pakistan's policies on terrorism and its military establishment, “infused with jihadist mindset”, would continue to threaten India's surging economy and security in the future.
"India needs to be sanitised from influence or affliction by radical elements of Pak-Afghan origins that have their focus on destabilising India," the report states. "So far India's response has been reactive and defensive. India must make Pakistan realise that continued use of terrorism against her will hurt itself more than India."
The report suggests "hard options" to make "sponsorship of terrorism prohibitive for our neighbours". For starters, the report suggests to "inflict economic pain" on Pakistan. "Stop all imports from Pakistan, ban flights of Pakistani airline over Indian territory, and significantly restrict travel between the two countries. Pakistan will react but the pain will be asymmetrically more for Pakistan," the report recommends.
"Covert retaliation. Immediate reprisal strikes should always be an option. India must revive its covert capabilities and be able to take deniable covert actions inside Pakistan."
"Surgical strikes. Conduct surgical strikes, particularly (at) Pakistan Occupied Kashmir terror camps. This can be done. India seems to know with reasonable certainty where these terror camps are. We should be prepared to deal with international disapproval and more importantly be prepared for escalation of war with Pakistan," the report says.
The report also notes that it was “fallacious to believe that the so-called soft attitude and double standards of the West on Pakistan will change".

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