Here are the ways in which India can respond to Uri attack

NEW DELHI: The assertion by Prime Minister Narendra Modi that those behind the terror attack at an Army base in Uri in Kashmir "will not go unpunished" has triggered considerable speculation about the options that India could exercise in the current situation.

Here are some of the possible options being suggested by defence and policy experts:


Surgical strike
A swift, surgical strike on terror camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir(PoK) is among the options that figures in the speculation, but experts have cautioned against the consequences that an escalation could pose if the situation gets out of hand.

Attack on Pakistan army posts without crossing the Line of Control (LoC)
Targeted artillery and heavy-mortar fire on Pakistan army posts and bunkers, and intensive sniping to interfere with the movement of their patrols, are among several tactical options that have been used in the past. "Yes, there will be retaliation from the other side but it can be dealt with," said one expert.

BrahMos missiles can come into play.
For longer range strikes on Pakistan army posts, the 90-km range Smerch rockets or the 290-km BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles can come into play. An escalatory step would be "surgical air strikes" by fighters like Mirage-2000s, Jaguars and Sukhoi-30MKIs armed with laser-guided 'smart' bombs or cluster bombs. But this will have to be carefully calibrated because Pakistan's air defence system is totally geared towards India, with the possibility of IAF taking some losses.

'Operation Parakram' II
The government can further mobilize troops along the Pakistan border as was done by the then Atal Bihari Vajpayee government after the terror attack on Parliament in 2001. Army battalions along the LoC as well as forward IAF airbases on the western front have already been put on "full alert" to take care of any contingency, government sources said. However, this move is not likely to be of much help in the long run.

Isolate Pakistan globally
A high-level meeting, chaired by PM Narendra Modi, has already given its nod to make every possible effort to isolate Pakistan globally. India will present evidence of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad's involvment in the Uri attack at all international forums. Again, this is a long-term strategy and is not likely to be agreeable to Pakistan in the near future. That Pakistan is a safe haven for a plethora of terror groups is well-known and well-documented, so further global embarrassment is unlikely to be of much help.

India-Pakistan talks
India could keep talking to Pakistan. At best, it can hope to drive a wedge between the civil and military leadership of Pakistan. But unless democracy develops deep roots in Pakistan, giving the civilian government an upper hand over the Army, bilateral talks will help India only up to a point.

Essentially, it's difficult to deal with a neighbour that has nuclear weapons and refuses to see reason for peaceful co-existence. A case in point is North Korea, which is keeping South Korea, Japan and even China and the US on tenterhooks with its nuclear blackmail.