Indian Army Myanmar op: It is silly to posit hot pursuit as the new strategy against Pakistan

India has done well to neutralise separatist militant outfits of the northeast in their hideouts inside Myanmar, in retaliation for the attack on Indian military personnel on June 4 that killed 20 soldiers. The operation was well planned, in terms of political leadership, coordination with the authorities in Myanmar, intelligence gathering and logistics; and the final execution was excellent, with no casualties on the Indian side. This does credit to the political leadership, the security establishment and the special forces that carried out the action. It is a pity elements of the political leadership converted this moment of achievement into one of embarrassment by suggesting that India is now poised to follow a strategy of hot pursuit against Pakistan as well.

India's action inside Myanmar did not amount to hot pursuit. It was done with the knowledge and permission of that country's authorities. In the past, suggest reports, India has allowed Myanmarese forces to chase their rebels into Indian territory , based on a mutual understanding be tween the two governments and the militaries of the two countries. It is empty , pretentious bragging to sug gest that India would be able to carry out similar operations in territory controlled by either Pakistan or China. That would amount to an act of war against one nuclear power by another. Pakistani spokespersons have already ridiculed the suggestion that India would carry out `hot pursuit' of miscreants into Pak-controlled land.It did not show sense to invite such ridicule.

The political leadership probably calculates that such braggadocio, however unrealistic, will go down well with some sections of the voters, typified by the characters who passionately argue, in TV debates, for immediate invasion and destruction of the enemy following some incident on the border. Feeding such jingoism is more likely than not to turn counterproductive, both for cross-border relations and in terms of building unrealistic public expectations of how India would respond to provocation in the days to come.