Ok folks, here is my reading of this evening’s tri-services press conference. Once again, I’ll be doing this blog on the go, so the chain of thoughts might seem a bit disjointed. Pl bear with me!

Here goes

Firstly, regarding the change of time from 5pm to 7pm. I think it is fair to assume that it was precipitated by the Pakis’ decision to release Wing Commander Abhinandan. In fact, that announcement came less than an hour after I too speculated the same.

The announcement by the Pakistani Beggar-in-Chief Shri Imran Khan was, unsurprisingly, accompanied by a lot of pontification and sermonizing by the still rattled Pakis attempting to take the moral high ground!

Phrases such as Burhan Wani, Kashmir, blah blah were heard aplenty.

Pakis were happy that they have the upper hand by the way of Wing Commander Abhinandan, no doubt.

Yet, behind all that bravado lurked a real fear – that of the Indian ultimatum that the PoW be returned unharmed and unconditionally.

They were, of course, sorely disappointed by the GOI’s stand.

Heck, even their ‘own’ within Indian borders failed to recreate the IC-814 hysteria that they would no doubt, have hoped for. Yet, they floated trial balloons such as this one.

And something tells me that the originally planned presser at 5pm (IIRC, it was supposed to be without any Q and A, but I may be wrong on that account) might just have been to tell the Pakis that their time was up, and things were moving on to the next stage. I may be wrong on the above statement, but I do feel it is a valid hypothesis, esp in this environment of info overload!

What bolsters my conspiracy theory is that Pakis announced his release just about half an hour before the presser and that the presser itself was postponed.

Okay, so enough about conspiracy theories!

Let me get to the presser itself.

A two hour delay meant that my evening suddenly opened up just in time for a short run!

Jokes apart, the presser itself was crisp and to the point.

Like all of us over here, I am sure the Brown Panted ones on the Paki side too would have been watching it with keen interest – would India accept their ‘peace offering’ in the form of repatriation of the PoW or not!

I think within the first thirty seconds, they would have realized this wouldn’t be the case!

The IAF representative not only pulled their brown pants down, exposing them in front of all that were tuned in, he then proceeded to spank their bare, unwashed bums too!

He not only reiterated GOI’s stand of yesterday that PAF was actually seeking to bomb military targets in response to the terror infrastructure engaged by IAF, but he also said that the much hyped Paki ‘Fizzle-ya’ failed to do so, even a mere kilometer or so across the LoC!

Having thus de-panted the Brown Pants and then spanked them, he proceeded a step further to put it OFFICIALLY on record that the Pakis had not only failed in their mission, but also lost a much cherished and worshipped F-16, and that too, to an IAF MiG 21 ‘Bison’!

Of course, it all begun he calling them out for the liars that they are – claiming two aircraft downed and three pilots captured, to merely one aircraft and one pilot!

Then, with a deadpan expression and delivery, he very ‘cheekily’ let out that the second aircraft and the two pilots that Pakis were talking about were actually their own!

Of course, he didn’t say that in as many words, but then, he told them .. well .. Fcuk You, Pakis!

Of course, to further ensure that by the time the presser ends, Pakis won’t be asking questions of the IAF but their own rulers, he later showed the debris of the AMRAAM recovered near the engagement area as well!

(Photo from TL of @delhidefence)

Thus, within the span of less than five minutes that he spoke, he had taught a very important lesson in Info Warfare to the Brown Pants and their Propagandu-in-Chief!

To think that they can still get away with such 1971 like antics in this day and age, is plain IDIOTIC!

Even 32 hrs after losing an F-16 and possibly one of the two pilots flying it, they had STILL not officially acknowledged it to their own population. And they thought they could keep their brainwashed yahoos blissfully unaware!

Well, an Air Marshal in Delhi put paid to that!

Had they admitted their loss yesterday itself, then this night they would have had some more time to actually think about how to plan for the days ahead. Instead, they will now be busy dismissing the Indian statement!

Suits me fine, to be very frank!

Once the good Air Marshal was done de-panting & then spanking them (Btw, I hereby proclaim copyright on ‘de-panting’ :D), he made way for the Indian Army representative.

The good general spoke for barely a couple of minutes, since much ‘glamour’ had been stolen by the PAF & IAF.

But then there were two phrases which he used that I am sure, would have made Paki Army proud to have stuck with brown pants as their official uniform!

He mentioned that the IA was ready on the LoC AND THE IB!

And then, to thumb his nose at Shri Bajwa, he very matter-of-factly put in a word about IA’s mechanised formations being put on standby!

In a gesture of extreme benevolence to the enemy, he took extreme care NOT to use the words ‘Cold’ and ‘Start’ at all in his statement!

As the good General stepped aside after brutalizing the Brown Pants, in came the Khalsa of Gobind, proudly attired in his navy uniform. And then, true to the reputation of the Navy as the silent service, he read out a statement that was barely one paragraph long!

(Photo from TL of @delhidefence)

But then, unlike myself who believes in loooong threads, this good Admiral was soon done with his bit of statement.

BUT ..

By even before he was done, the Paki Navy Chief had made a mental note to take up a case for changing their own uniforms too from white, to brown pants!

The Indian Navy was already out at sea in full force! I’m sure the Paki Navy Chief, while changing into a fresh pair of undies, would be thinking about his predecessor during Kargil War and the fate that befell him, forcing his resignation a few months later!

Here’s a link about what the Indian Navy was up to, during Kargil War, in case you are interested – Link

The presser soon ended with the display of the mutilated remains of the AMRAAM. I’m sure the Brown Pants in Pindi would have breathed a sigh of relief, thankful that the brutalizing had finally ended ..

And then came the Qs and As!

The press corps tried their best to squeeze out some ‘juice’ from the ‘bland’ statements of the three gents who had just addressed them. I’m sure that only a few knew that those very statements had already squeezed the juice from a lot of brown panted ones across the border!

But then, the good Air Marshal, in response to a Q about the #BalakotStrike, very ‘drably’ said that we had achieved whatever effect we wanted by the way of the strike. Khatam!

The Brown Pants Propagandu-in-Chief made a mental note about the questions he himself would soon be asked!

Then one question came about which made me think whether a Paki or two had infiltrated the Press Corps in attendance – Was the IAF ‘grateful’ for the release of Wing Commander Abhinandan?

I swear I could almost see the good Air Marshal do a mental facepalm on hearing this!

And then he replied – It is the Pakis who should be grateful to their Brown Panted rulers who decided to release him, or else ..

Ok, so he didn’t use those exact words, but this is more or less the gist of what he conveyed!

Thus ended the evening press conference.

Now let me take a few moments to convey my thoughts on this whole issue thus far.

The Indian side has had official spokespersons giving out statements on behalf of the GOI thus far, and this evening, three military men.

On Paki side, official Govt version was let out by the Brown Pants Propagandu-in-Chief because .. well .. Brown Pants basically own the country, no? However, an entertaining side show was also put up by their Beggar-in-Chief, to keep things light!

What happens next, I cannot say.

But I will definitely point out that the word ‘de-escalation’ nowhere figured in this evening’s presser. On the contrary, practically each and every service of the Indian Armed Forces assured the Pakis that they were raring to have a go at them.

In fact, at about the very time that these gents were addressing the press, Prime Minister of India was convening a high level meeting on security with all 3 Chiefs in attendance.

I’ll not say much beyond this.

Instead, I’ll leave it upto you to make of it whatever you wish to.

Things might heat up yet again, maybe after Wing Commander Abhinandan is repatriated, or maybe tonight itself.

Or they might not heat up at all.

One really cannot say how or what will happen.

But one thing that has in fact happened, is hiding in plain sight – India has forever changed the rules of this game two days ago when the MEA spokie said that the #BalakotStrike was a PRE-EMPTIVE strike.

This means that India, in future,may not wait for a successful terror attack in order to cross the borders again.

Read the above statement once again.

Let it sink in.

I’m sure the Pakis have already got the message, and the sinking feeling that comes with it  (Pun intended!)

How things pan out over the coming hours and days, needs to be seen.
Remember, it was business as usual till the #BalakotStrike happened.

It is again business as usual since yesterday.

#JustSaying

Btw, I’ll just leave this pic of a bumper sticker here without any comment 🙂

In the end, let us all rise from our respective chairs or beds or sofas as the case may be, and observe a minute of silence for the F-16 Jet!

What the Pakis managed to do yesterday was to give the F-16 its ‘Sabre Moment’!

Just like the much vaunted Paki flyboys managed to screw up the reputation of the F-86 Sabre in 1965 and then in case you had any doubts, they did it again in 1971 with the Starfighter thrown in for good effect, this time they’ve done it to the F-16!

R.I.P Dear F-16.

You were a good bird, till such time you offered your cockpit & your stick to a Paki bum! (All possible puns fully intended!)

Talking about the F-16, I’ll leave this tweet from a nearly 3 year old thread here for you to see (Link).

The Americans have a HUGE stake in this stand-off. Their interests here include their weapons, given to Pakis to fight fcuking Taliban!

With this, I conclude this blog.

All I’ll say is I’m happy that Wing Cmndr Abhinandan is on his way back. That apart, whatever happens in coming days, or doesn’t happen, is inevitable.

I’ll just leave this tweet here to underscore my view.

Cheers!

Ok folks, carrying on from this Blog yesterday , in light of the events of this day. My thoughts are still a bit unstructured, so pl bear with me.

First and foremost, the point raised in this tweet from nearly four years ago has now been answered.

Whether it develops into a war, or a ‘near war’ is to be seen now.

I guess that the Brown Pants have taken a call to retaliate, assuming that the aftermath of an overt retaliation against India will be easier to manage than the yahoos within their own country.

It is a bold gamble they’ve taken.

A gamble indeed, because they assume that India will not dare to climb up the escalatory ladder and instead, calmly take this punch on the chin and back down.

But, personally, I feel that is unlikely. I say this on the basis of the past record of this GOI, right from the Myanmar strike to yesterday’s #Balakot strike. And, to add to that, something which I wrote on the night of the #PulwamaAttack – THE UPCOMING GENERAL ELECTIONS!

In a way, the GOI has already let out its intentions in the official statement some minutes ago. Let me elaborate a bit on that. What was striking in yesterday’s statement in the aftermath of the #Balakot Strike was the pains which the spokesman took to emphasise that it was a NON MILITARY strike. He carefully underlined the fact that no Paki military or civilian targets were engaged.

Now compare that with today’s statement – it STARTS with the fact that the PAF tried to engage military targets.

The symbolism of this should not be missed.

I’ll just leave it at that.

OK, so Imran Khan is on the air right now, saying that they too were taking care not to cause any casualties / collateral damage. But I guess, that has already been preempted by India which has gone on record saying that PAF tried to engage military targets on Indian side.

He talks about miscalculations in wars and tries to take the moral high ground.

Well, I think that boat has sailed now.

Once again, strictly a personal opinion, mind you.

Now coming to the issue of the confirmation by the Indian spokesman that Wing Commander Abhinandan is MIA. With the Pakis confirming, it is safe to assume that he is in their custody.

The question now is, what next?

An IAF pilot in Paki custody is no doubt a liability for India.

BUT …

I also believe it is also a liability for Pakis themselves, esp since the Brown Pants Propagandu-in-Chief himself has acknowledged it.

Let me spend some time on clarifying that. In case of further escalation, esp with things going south for Pakis, how do you suppose might he be treated?

And now, with a public acknowledgement that he is indeed in their custody, they are bound to release him whenever they do.

Even during Kargil, Flt Lt Nachiketa was returned after 8-10 days. But that was when the Pakis still had the moral upper hand in the war – the Indian Army was still just about getting its act together in early June that summer. This time things aren’t quite the same, though.

There is no Indian land in Paki custody (except for the entire issue of PoK + GB of course). And a bigger retaliation by India is more or less a given IMO.

All I’ll offer is that Wing Commander Abhinandan is in for a few difficult days in the near future, till his repatriation

And this is exactly what makes things difficult for his Paki captors too – to keep him safe and in good health till such time. Of course, they may try and use him as a leverage to DEMAND a de-escalation from India.

How far might that work is doubtful.

The options up ahead vary all the way from de-escalation to a full blown war. If India indeed takes the enemy up on de-escalation, then we can all go home in time for another chilled out weekend. But, if India doesn’t choose to de-escalate, there are a myriad of options.

What happens next will decide whether Pakis can retain their nuke bluff or not. One reason they tried this stunt of earlier today was the difficulty in managing the yahoos within, no doubt.

But another was also that their nuke bluff was under threat.

Well, here’s some breaking news – the nuke bluff is STILL under threat!

Atleast until the GOI makes it clear that they are backing down. And that, IMO, is highly unlikely due to the past reputation of this govt and the upcoming elections.

The options available range from retaliatory airstrikes, to action on the LoC – limited or otherwise, to the crossing of the International Boundary itself. This more or less covers the entire spectrum of retaliatory options available to the GOI.

Now let me talk about why the Pakis chose to cry themselves hoarse yesterday that the IAF only struck the Balakot in PoK and not in KPK. In addition, today too, they chose to confine themselves to a cross LoC raid, and not across the IB.

The question is, WHY??

I’d say it is for two reasons – Firstly the cover afforded to ingressing aircraft by the hilly landscape.

Secondly, and more importantly, the vain hope of keeping any further escalation localized.

Remember, this is how the 1965 war too began – A delusional Ayub Khan choosing Chhamb-Jaurian for his attack and then crying foul when the Indian Army came knocking on the very gates of Lahore!

Oh, btw, that was also the reason Ayub Khan lost his job soon after his ‘victory’. Coming back to the LoC, an escalation limited to that might be a bit more palatable to the international community, no doubt.

But it has other implications as well.

With a huge disparity in conventional military forces, India will be able to do what it did in the 1965 war – a threat in being for opening up other parts of the IB, even as it maintains pressure on the LoC by concentrating critical military resources out there.

Pakis may have been too clever by half in their cross LoC ‘adventure’ of this morning, but I’m sure they must be working the phone lines furiously, begging the rest of the world to hold India back. Personally I doubt that is gonna happen.

They are once again like a dog who keeps chasing after cars, until one day he actually catches one!

To add to their woes, I doubt they’d ever have gamed getting a PoW.

Yup, I’d call him a PoW, because that is what this is – WAR.

A war that commenced on 22 Oct 1947 when Paki hordes came calling at the gates of Muzaffarabad.

A war that has still not ended, with the current situation merely being another battle as part of it.

Btw here’s something I just realized – After every such battle in this war, the Pakis lose their ruler.

1947-48 – Jinnah & Liaqat

1965 – Ayub

1971 – Yahya, and later, Bhutto

1987 (Brasstacks) – Zia

1999 – Nawaz

Right before 26/11 – Musharraf

Do you folks see a pattern too?

Bottomline – Pakis (and by that I mean the Brown Panted Ones – their Army) are caught in a downward spiral with no control over the escalation ladder – somewhat akin to a monkey with his hand caught in a jar of peanuts.

When they could have quietly stuck to their Propagandu of no damage and IAF turned back, they chose to do what they did.

Now the ball is back in India’s court.

And this is where the current GOI has quite a ‘reputation’, to put it that way.

Wing Commander Abhinandan will be back home, no doubt, but a lot of water would have flown in the Chenab and the Jhelum before he does. Of course, he will also figure quite prominently in the political discourse within India too, as we too head towards our own elections.

In the end, I’ll say that we better be prepared for more military to military ‘interactions’ between the IA and the PA alongwith the other two services.

Talking about the other two services, not many would be aware that the Paki Naval Chief actually had to resign after Kargil!

For those who didn’t know, it was due to the Indian Navy. Here is what happened at the high seas that summer – Link

Oh, btw, another interesting thing no one is talking about is the fact that it was an IAF MiG 21 that brought down the much celebrated F-16 of the PAF!

To conclude, let me just say that before the year is out, there will be some very visible changes in top leadership in Pakistan.

Jai Hind!

 

(This chain of thoughts was tweeted right after the initial reports of the airstrike came by. Sharing it here for archival purposes.)

So I woke up to this news and this tweet by the Brown Pants Propagandu-In-Chief!
(NOT a typo, btw)

Firstly, THE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT! It is big. It means that it was something they simply cannot hide away, unlike the #SurgicalStrikes. It also that gives me great satisfaction, personally. In fact I had tweeted this on the very night of the #PulwamaAttack

Link

Now, since they cannot simply wish it away, comes the bombastic statement by the Propagandu-in-Chief that IAF couldn’t achieve its mission.

Well, there are two aspects to it – firstly, in this time of Social Media & camera phones, how long before truth emerges?

Secondly, and more importantly, even IF the IAF failed, fact remains that Brown Panted rulers of Pak still confirm that the IAF came visiting

What will they do now?

Especially when they themselves have so pumped up their own population about their invincibility?

A population so brainwashed that it still believes it won the Kargil War and didn’t quite lose in 1971 either. In fact, I did a three part blog series on this. May have a look – State Sponsored Radicalization in Pakistan’s School Curriculum: Part 1 of 3

Point is that such Propagandu (again, NOT a typo) by a losing army, esp one that is the de-facto ruler of the country is in a way, understandable. But when you yourself start believing in it is when things go South and ‘Victory’ of 1965 turns into a thappad of 1971.

This is when the average citizen starts expecting their mighty Brown Pant Warriors to deliver a ‘befitting’ response to the eternal enemy. How dare the Indians even think about attacking the mighty Brown Pants, hainji?

THIS is when such things start trending on Twitter in Pak

My favourite of the above trends is #PakistanTayarHai.

Indeed, the Paki population is ready!

But what about the Brown Pants?

Why, despite 3-4 hours of the IAF bombing have they not sent their own air force across in retaliation? Weren’t their own aircraft patrolling their own cities to loud, bombastic cheers by their citizens?

Link

I mean, how far is the Indian border from those cities, hainji?
Or was it the loud noise that empty vessels are so prone to make?

My point is, that India has done what it has done.
And done it in a way that the Brown Pants simply cannot wish away (Just as I had hoped for. Refer second para of this blog).

What it means now is that onus of what happens next is now on the Brown Pants. As I see it, they have two options:

Option 1 – Retaliate

Option 2 – Play it down, pontificate, cry, but do nothing

Going strictly by their past track record, esp in light of the #SurgicalStrike, they will go with Option 2. But what is different this time is that, this thing cannot simply be denied, unlike the #SurgicalStrike

The very fact that the Propagandu-in-Chief woke up early in the morning to tweet about it means that it is something much bigger that what he makes you believe. What bolsters my argument is that there is complete silence from him since that early morning tweet. The reason possibly is that now they don’t know what to do with it.

Reminds me of a joke about a dog that always runs behind cars, until someone asks him what will he do if he ever manages to catch one!

Additionally, this time the GOI has not only done something big, it has done it in Pakistan, NOT PoK!

The ball is clearly in Pakistan’s court. Airstrikes, that too, this deep in Pakistan send a different message altogether.

Now, by merely striking terror camps and not the regular, uniformed jehadis, GOI has indeed given an avenue to the Brown Pants that a war / further escalation will happen ONLY if the Brown Pants want it.

And that is something I seriously doubt.

With tonnes of dispensable terrorists, a few dozens or 100s of them dead doesn’t matter, esp for an army that refused to accept its own dead in Kargil.

Plus, attacks on terror camps is something which the US itself has been doing in past, albeit with missiles. This is something which bolsters India’s case externally too (Not that it matters). What I now await is the reaction from Jaish. THAT is what will set the tone for what happens next. Esp when photographs emerge.

Ah, so the Propagandu-in-Chief is back online after his morning potty and weekly bath! Going back to photographs that I talked about in the previous tweet, this is the first set released officially by the Brown Pants.

Now will come photographs, including satellite imagery and those taken by the attacking aircraft themselves, that will be released by own side. Plus, photos taken by Pakis themselves in the immediate aftermath must already be circulating on their own WA groups.

Once those come out, the Propagandu-in-Chief will once again come out denying them.

But what about the mango, brainwashed Paki, and the mango, brain-dead Jaish ‘worker’?

They too will buy the party line – the IAF ran back.

YET, fact remains that the IAF came in and dropped bombs on Paki territory. The mango Paki WILL demand blood, and answers.

Here is how I visualize it panning out, ATLEAST INITIALLY.

They will issue ‘STRONG’ statements and dismiss this ‘attempt’ by IAF. They will try and be the ‘bigger’ power and pontificate about need to keep tempers under control (All that, while the Brown Pants themselves stock up on toilet paper)

Bottomline: They know their bluff has been called. What they need now is moral lectures on why not to escalate.

BUT ..

Bulk of their energies will now be dedicated to managing the opinions within their own country.

And THIS is where the ‘unknown’ lies. Over the coming hours and days, this is what the Brown Pants will be fighting against, not India. Once again, a story about a monkey with his hand caught in a jar of peanuts comes to mind!

Let me wind up this blog post by saying that this day suddenly becomes a lot more ‘interesting’. This is just the beginning, mind you. The events triggered by the #PulwamaAttack have still not been played down fully.

What if they are not able to answer the questions raised by their own countrymen?

Esp if the India side releases photographs of their own and more importantly, Pakis themselves get to see the photos of immediate aftermath clicked by their own jehadi countrymen?

As I said, interesting days ahead! Btw, you might want to google as to why the Paki Navy Chief resigned soon after Kargil War! 

 

This stream of thoughts was shared by me on Twitter last night in the immediate aftermath of the Pulwama Attack. Putting them here for archival purposes.

Firstly, what happened and how it happened is by now well known. So I won’t talk about it. In addition, it continues to be my belief that it is Pakis that are behind it. Thoughts on that are embedded in THIS blog post.

Let me concentrate instead on some thoughts that have been wracking my head for the past few hours. 

Firstly, and strictly a personal opinion, this is partly a manifestation of the planned US withdrawal from Afghanistan. Logistics & efforts from that end can now safely and easily be diverted to the 1000 year war that Bhutto promised before he was hanged.

Coming to timing, it couldn’t have been better, or worse, for that matter, depending on the glasses you wear while observing it – General elections on the horizon, Governor’s rule in Kashmir .. and more importantly, the Saudi Crown Prince about to land up in the sub continent. What sort of messaging might be going on, I’ll leave it for you to decipher.

Btw, on a not so unrelated note, next month is the 19th anniversary of the Chittishingpura massacre that happened on the eve of US President Bill Clinton’s visit to the sub continent.

That there is a definite, even if unintended, political angle to this is undeniable. All one needs to do is go thru the TL’s of some ‘celebrity’ journos and politicos. Of course, there are folks saying this was done solely for political purposes.

With the surgical strikes, including the recent bollywood movie, behind them, there seems to be absolutely no way that this govt won’t react. And given the magnitude of the attack, a similar surgical strike which the Pakis can easily deny, won’t cut it. In any case, this is something they must already be guarding against. Hence, I would personally rule out another surgical strike in which own soldiers will go across this time.

How and what shape might the reprisal take, I’ll leave to the CCS that meets soon.

But one thing is for sure – quite a LOT of folks won’t get much sleep tonight, on both sides of the LoC and within the hinterland.

Just as the attack, the response too needs to be ‘spectacular’, and one that is equally visible to the whole world. Herein lies the difference between the #PulwamaAttack and the Uri Attack – visuals of the attack itself.

Incidentally, just as the Uri attack itself, the reprisal in the form of the surgical strikes too was away from the ‘limelight’ until formally announced by the Indian Army. Hence, the Brown Pants of the Paki Fauj could so easily just dismiss the same.

This is what makes the job of the CCS that meets soon, a bit more complicated – An attack that was SEEN by the whole world deserves a response that is equally visible.

Now come the big questions – WHEN and HOW?

Firstly, let me talk about the ‘When’.

With the Saudi Prince very nearly on his way, would the GOI wait for his visit to culminate before doing anything and putting India – Saudi relations in an awkward place?

It is a very serious question indeed, given the recent uptick in the relationship. But in any case, his visit to both the countries will still be overshadowed by the incident.

On that note, why do I get a feeling that phone lines between New Delhi and Riyadh will be quite busy tonight. However small, but what might be the odds of the visit of the Saudi Prince being rescheduled in light of this attack, I wonder..

But the fact remains, that time is running out for the govt even as I type this. By that, I mean that time is running out politically as the elections come closer and closer.

Already, a narrative is building up, on twitter atleast, against the Govt and its security policies. So, the question of WHEN is a critical one for the govt, lest a response be spun as a political gimmick to win an election.

I mean that in all seriousness. My opinion is bolstered by the fact that more than just a few folks actually call Kargil as Vajpayee’s Re-Election War.

Now coming to the question of HOW.

A reprisal can take many forms – Diplomatic, Economic, or Military. I guess, whatever happens, a military response is a given, along with a Diplomatic one.

What form might the military response take, needs to be seen.

Like I said earlier, this time a Surgical Strike won’t cut it. The response simply HAS to be big, and more importantly, visible to all. In fact a highly visible response needn’t be that big since a very visible slap on the face of the Paki Fauj too will suffice.

Despite being in the news for all the wrong reasons, the Indian Air Force still remains leagues ahead of the PAF, as does the Indian missile force when compared to what the Pakis can bring to bear of their own.

Just got this on my mentions tab.

All I’ll offer is that Pakis are bluffing. The facade of irrationality will work only till such time someone gets ready to call their bluff. The moment you do so, you’ll find others joining you.

Talking of Paki bluff, how many of you remember PAF’s ‘valourous’ CAP sorties over Lahore and Islamabad as the Mumbai attacks raged in Nov 2008? Chests puffed, Pakis cheered them on, just because the IAF permitted them to fly unmolested.

Think.

Your army is as strong as you want it to be.

No enemy can stand in front of it.

Period.

Here’s a bet – within 24 hours atleast one ‘prominent’ Paki will remind the whole world that Pakis are a nuclear power.

That bombast is what has worked so far, but ONLY because no one has called them out on that.

I had tweeted this nearly four years ago. This decade is still not done, btw.

I am not saying this will precipitate another war. Far from it. All I am saying is that the sheer audacity and timing of it all means that there will be something coming their way soon enough.

Oh, btw, forget about the Kartarpur Corridor   It will remain yet another election issue against the govt, just as I mentioned some months ago in THIS  blog post.

Let me end this blog post with a prayer for the martyred CRPF boys and a hope that the Nation gives it back to the perpetrators in a form not seen for a long time.

Om Shanti ..