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While tensions between India and Pakistan have been simmering, one trend that emerged throughout the ongoing row between the two nations is the ‘art of mimicking’. On Wednesday, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met with soldiers who reportedly participated in the country’s military operation against India. However, many on the internet quickly called out that Sharif copied Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the Adampur Air Base following the successful conclusion of Operation Sindoor.
The visit and the tone of the speech were not the only things Sharif copied from PM Modi. In fact, the whole Pakistani establishment resorted to mimicking the moves done by their Indian counterparts in a bid to push their false narrative.
From diplomatic measures to speeches from both the Prime Minister and the country’s Army, the authorities tried to imbibe India’s approach. It is pertinent to note that the tensions between the nuclear-powered nations reached an all-time high after India witnessed the devastating Pahalgam attack, which saw the death of 26 tourists in Kashmir. After the Indian authorities found that the terrorists involved in the attack were indirectly linked to the Pakistani terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba, New Delhi imposed several security measures against Pakistan.
The diplomatic row turned into military escalations following India’s Operation Sindoor against 9 terror camps in Pakistan. Throughout the whole ordeal, here’s a look at how Pakistan mimicked India’s moves.
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A day after PM Modi visited Adampur Air Base in Punjab and interacted with soldiers following the success of Operation Sindoor, Sharif took a trip to Pasrur Cantonment in Sialkot and met Pakistani soldiers. Not only this, but he also took photographs similar to the ones PM Modi took with soldiers in Adampur.
It is pertinent to note that Adampur was among the air force stations that Pakistan attempted to attack on the intervening night of May 9 and 10 after India’s “Operation Sindoor”. At that time, Pakistan claimed that its hypersonic missiles fired from China-made JF-17 fighter jets destroyed India’s S-400 air defence system in Adampur. However, India rejected the claim. The photographs from the visit with the S-400’s missile intact were enough to counter Pakistan’s false claims during the military escalations between the two nations.
Putting treaties on hold
One of the measures from India after the Pahalgam attack that rattled Pakistan to a great extent was its decision to put the Indus Water Treaty into abeyance. The treaty, signed in 1960, regulated the water flow between the two nations from six rivers divided between India and Pakistan. Following the announcement of New Delhi’s move, Pakistan described the suspension of the Indus Water Treaty as an “act of war”.
Not only this, as a countermeasure, Islamabad also suspended all bilateral treaties it signed with India, including the Simla Agreement and other treaties that regulated and ensured the protection of both the country’s nuclear facilities. The move was seen as Pakistan’s attempt to ‘one-up’ India, but many argued that the abolition of these treaties could be detrimental to Pakistan.
CCS meeting vs NSC meeting
Soon after the Pahalgam terror attack, Prime Minister Modi chaired the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS). The meeting was attended by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah, and others. Following the meeting, India announced its security measures against Pakistan.
Rattled by punitive measures pushed by New Delhi, the Pakistani establishment conducted the meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC) in Islamabad and announced counter-measures, which more or less sounded similar to the ones taken by New Delhi.
Authorising forces to strike with ‘time and place of choosing’
On April 30, days after the Pahalgam attack, reports emerged that PM Modi had given the armed forces “complete freedom to decide on the mode, targets, and timing of India’s military response to the terror attack in Kashmir. The message was delivered during PM Modi’s meeting with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, and Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan.
Similar wordings were also parroted by the Pakistani premier soon after India launched Operation Sindoor. On May 7, Pakistan’s National Security Council announced that the country’s armed forces have been duly authorised to undertake retaliation at a time, place, and manner of their choosing in response to the Indian military strikes. Sharif’s proclamation came after he presided over the National Security Council (NSC) meeting, which was attended by cabinet ministers, chief ministers, all service chiefs and senior officers to discuss the situation. While some saw Sharif’s move as a ‘tit-for-tat’ measure, others described it as using India’s playbook when there was no other recourse.
Banning media and social media handles
During the diplomatic row with Pakistan, on April 28, New Delhi banned “16 Pakistani YouTube channels, including Dawn News, Samaa TV, Ary News and Geo News, for disseminating misinformation against India,” following the Pahalgam terror attack. The authorities noted that the channels were being banned for spreading provocative and communally sensitive content, and false and misleading narratives against India, its Army and security agencies.
Soon after Operation Sindoor commenced, on May 7, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) announced that it had blocked 16 Indian YouTube channels and 32 Indian websites for spreading “anti-Pakistan propaganda” and “disseminating false information” following the Indian military’s precision strikes. The wording of the statement from both nations mirrored, to the point that Pakistan even copied the decision to ban exactly 16 YouTube channels, just like India.
Apart from this, the Army of Pakistan and even its leadership copied the language of the Indian forces, describing Islamabad’s retaliation as “precise and restrained”. The move was seen as Pakistan’s effort to hide the fact that the Pakistani military did target Indian civilian infrastructure following Operation Sindoor. With all these instances in mind, it will be interesting to see how long Pakistan will try to mimic India’s tactics.