Shashi Tharoor (a former UN under-secretary-general and
former Indian Minister of State for Human Resource Development and Minister of
State for External Affairs) captures the feeling of most Indians:
“The Indian public and
the country’s notoriously fractious political class reacted with great pride to
the news, unanimously hailing the decisive action as long overdue. For the
preceding quarter-century, Indians had watched helplessly as their attempts at
peace-making with their belligerent, military-dominated neighbor had collapsed
repeatedly, thanks to terrorist attacks from Pakistan that the government in
Islamabad seemed unable or unwilling to prevent.
The most horrific of these attacks, the assaults on multiple locations in Mumbai, starting on November 26, 2008, killed 166 innocent civilians. But India confined its response to diplomatic action. This exercise of “strategic restraint” in the face of repeated Pakistani assaults – partly in order to avoid provoking a full-fledged war with its nuclear-armed neighbor – had left many Indians seething in impotent fury. It seemed to them that Pakistani terrorists could strike at will in India, with the government’s reluctance to hit back guaranteeing the killers’ impunity.”
The most horrific of these attacks, the assaults on multiple locations in Mumbai, starting on November 26, 2008, killed 166 innocent civilians. But India confined its response to diplomatic action. This exercise of “strategic restraint” in the face of repeated Pakistani assaults – partly in order to avoid provoking a full-fledged war with its nuclear-armed neighbor – had left many Indians seething in impotent fury. It seemed to them that Pakistani terrorists could strike at will in India, with the government’s reluctance to hit back guaranteeing the killers’ impunity.”