India; Police Detain Pigeon with Hostile Note for PM Narendra Modi

Indian police detained a pigeon after finding that it carried a written warning message addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The bird was captured within the area of the heavily defended border with Pakistan.

Members of the Nation’s Border Security Force discovered the Pigeon at the City of Pathankot in India’s state of Punjab. This is also the location where militants based in Pakistan initiated a lethal attack on an airforce base in January.

In a telephone interview with AFP, Patahankot police inspector Rakesh Kumar said, “We took it into custody last evening.”

“The BSF found it with a note in Urdu saying something like ‘Modi, we’re not the same people from 1971. Now each and every child is ready to fight against India’,” Kumar added.

The last full-scale war that India fought with Pakistan was in 1971.

Kumar also said stated that the note was ostensibly signed the a Jihadist group based in Pakistan named Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). He folowed with “so we are investigating the matter very seriously”.

New Delhi believes the same rebel group recently attacked an army base in Kashmir, killing several soldiers. Tensions remain on a very high level due to that raid.

India’s retaliatory strike – simultaneous cross-border assaults by special operations troops on militant bases, severely enraged Islamabad.

In connection with the pigeon incident, Indian forces found the same type of messages in two balloons in Punjab.

Jail birds

This is not the first instance that birds became involved in the seemingly perpetual hostilities between the nuclear-armed neighbors.

Indian police held a pigeon last year that they suspected of being used as an instrument for spying by Pakistan. It was X-rayed to spot any hidden surveillance equipment.

Furthermore, in 2013, soldiers found a dead falcon with a small camera attached. In 2010, another pigeon was also detained for being suspected spying.

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Militants Strike Anew on Indian Army Base in Kashmir Killing One and Wounding Another

At least six militants attack another Indian army base, north of Kashmir on Sunday. Ensuing firefight resulted in the death of one border guard and has wounded another. The attack came just barely two weeks after a similar attack that killed 19 Indian soldiers.

Militants attacked the base at around 10:30 pm local time (1700GMT).  Firefight between the militants and the Indian units erupted after the militants tried to enter the base. The army base houses the 46^th Rashtriya Rifles in Baramulla as well as a unit of the Border Security Force.

Baramulla Superintendent of Police Imtiyaz Hussein said that the militants have reached the camp by boat through the river that passes through the town.

The militants had escaped as “they fled under the cover of darkness,” according to Hussein.

After the attack, India sent in the 4^th Para Special Forces to Baramulla. Ground and air operations continued till the morning to secure the camp.

Baramulla is a district capital located on the road from Srinagar. The area is near the frontier settlement of Uri where the first attack that killed 19 Indian soldiers happened.

India’s Retaliatory Strike

According to India, the armed forces had launched “surgical strike” last Thursday against identified militant camps in Pakistan. Reports say that the attack on the Pakistani side of the Line of Control (LoC) inflicted heavy casualties.

Pakistan on the other hand has denied of any attack claimed by India.

India’s cross-border raid has raised international fears that the military action could lead to an armed escalation. India and Pakistan both has nuclear capabilities and has been at arms against each other over Kashmir for nearly 70 years now.

Pakistan said that the national security advisers of both countries are in contact to attempt to pacify the situation on the LoC.

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Cooler Heads Prevail Amid Rising Tension Between India and Pakistan

War between two nuclear capable nations is what apocalyptic movies are made up off. However, this time, the threat of nuclear war looms not from the usual suspects between the US and Russia or from China for that matter, but between two warring countries fighting over their border.  The fight is between India and Pakistan.

The two nation have already clashed four times since the British relinquished its control over India in 1947. Three of the skirmishes were in Kashmir, over the Himalayan region. New Delhi and Islamabad are both claiming the entirety of the region. This resulted in a massive military buildup, which makes Kashmir one of the most militarized in South Asia. The two nation is divided by a de facto border known as the Line of Control (LoC). Since both countries have nuclear capabilities, a potential apocalyptic collision is a possible horrifying scenario.

World attention has been focused on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi since the attack on the Indian military outpost on Sept 18. Four gunmen were able to cross the LoC and killed eighteen soldiers in the Kashmir town of Uri. The attack is the worst of its kind in more than two decades. Pakistan rejects India’s presumption that the gunmen came across the LoC from the Pakistan side of the border.

Clamor for a strong response is growing among the people, as well as with close allies of the Prime Minister. Ram Madhav of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have upped the ante with a war-like rhetoric. He said that the days of Indian restraint is over. “For one tooth, the complete jaw. If terrorism is the instrument of the weak and coward (sic), restraint in the face of repeated terror attacks betrays inefficiency and incompetence. India should prove otherwise.”

Indian Media has also demanded that the country to show that it will not take the murder of 18 soldiers sitting down. The uncertainty is growing on what will be the next move by the Indian government following the Uri attack.

Last weekend, Prime Minister Modi gave a speech that had the world breathe a sigh of relief, at least for the time being. Modi is stepping up efforts to pressure Pakistan diplomatically rather than the use of military force. At a BJP meeting in southern India, Modi said. “I want to tell the people of Pakistan, India is ready to fight you,” he added. “If you have the strength, come forward to fight against poverty. Let’s see who wins. Let’s see who is able to defeat poverty and illiteracy first, Pakistan or India.”

Experts believe that Modi’s approach is a result of India recognizing the downside of a military confrontation. India’s growing economy which has one of the fastest growth in the world, would have adverse effect and would definitely pull down their sustained growth. Happymon Jacob, an expert from Delhi’s Jawaharla Nehru University stated. “Having gone through some discussion, the government of India has come to the conclusion that you can only escalate this diplomatically and politically, which is exactly what they are doing.”

Ashok Malik, a senior member at the Observer Research Foundation think tank sees India’s situation as volatile. The Prime Minister domestically faces pressure “to be seen to be doing something in response to this attack.”

On the global scale however, India needs to build “an even stronger case against Pakistan and emphasize that [terrorism linked to] Pakistan is a challenge not just for India but also the rest of the world.”

Adding Diplomatic Pressure

India also withdrew from the upcoming summit for the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation. The regional meeting will be in Islamabad. This is to add to the diplomatic pressure India is currently undertaking on Pakistan.

Although the world can sleep better with Prime Minister Modi’s approach, the possibility of a military confrontation will always be an available option.  Malik said. “I don’t think Modi has given up on the military option for the remainder of his term [in office, which expires in 2019].”

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