Modi govt's response to Gurdaspur attack: Talks with Pakistan to continue, but expect reprisal

Initial investigations into the Gurdaspur attack on Monday have claimed that the three terrorists involved in the strike had crossed over from Pakistan on the night of 26-27 July and they had more than one target after they crossed into India. But even as the evidence against Pakistan mounts, a report says that it still may not derail the impending talks between the two nations. In an exclusive report,  The Hindustan Times says: “In spite of the provocation, the Narendra Modi government is on course to engage the Pakistanis on the basis of the recent Ufa joint statement with a National Security Advisor level dialogue followed by talks between chiefs of border forces and then the heads of military operations.” [caption id=“attachment_2369026” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. AFP[/caption] The Gurdaspur attack came even as India planned to continue talks with the Pakistan government in spite of incidents of repeated ceasefire violations along the border in Jammu and Kashmir. According to a Times of India report, Indian officials are convinced that the attacks were aimed at derailing talks between the two countries. The report quoted unnamed officials as saying that “India believes it was part of an effort by the Pakistani military-ISI complex to get New Delhi to call off the NSA-level talks to be held in August. The meeting between Modi and Nawaz Sharif in Ufa (Russia) happened after sustained diplomatic feelers from Pakistan to the Indian government”. The attack has put India in a tight spot. The Modi government is stuck between pacifying nationalistic groups and ignoring what this latest attack was meant to do — disturb peace talks between the two countries. The Times of India report notes that Pakistan hasn’t been making things any easier for the Modi government and the attack could be a test to see how India might retaliate. So even though the BJP had slammed the earlier UPA government for their policy when it came to Pakistan, the party’s government is not taking a path that is too different while trying to engage with Pakistan. And that has not going down well with some groups. Known Modi-baiter and VHP chief, Praveen Togadia, was the first off the blocks. Terming India’s policy towards Pakistan as a “failure”, Togadia on Tuesday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should put an end to the “saree, shawl” diplomacy following the Gurdaspur terror attack and exhibit a “strong will” like Indira Gandhi to deal with it. “Diplomacy of saree, shawl and mango is enough for now. India should stop all dialogue with Pakistan and start preparing to teach a lesson to the country, which is sending AK 47-armed Jihadists for carrying out attacks,” Togadia told reporters. But despite the criticism, there are still multiple theories on why the attacks were carried out.   An earlier Firstpost article also points out that the attack may have been to either revive militancy in Punjab or in protest of the upcoming execution of 1993 Mumbai blasts death row convict Yakub Memon. The large amount of arms indicates the trio may have planned to attack more than one target. The police said that 11 unused bombs had been recovered and five of them had been defused. Three AK-47 rifles, 17 magazines, 55 cartridges, one Rocket launcher, three hand grenades, bullet proof jackets, night vision device and heap of unused bullets were recovered from the site of the encounter. Officials have said the tracking point of one of the two GPS systems found with the terrorists showed Talwandi point, Parmanand village and Dinanagar as targets while the other system had Gurdaspur Civil Lines, implying that the areas were also targets. But though the government may have decided to go through with talks, it has said that the Gurdaspur attack won’t go unanswered, as promised by Home Minister Rajnath Singh on the day of the attack. A senior official told the Hindustan Times that  while the UPA had allowed the Pakistani government to dictate terms to it, that wouldn’t happen during the Modi government. “This time every uncalled for action will have an unpredictable and disproportionate response,” the official said.