After Pulwama, it’s high time India talks tough with China on Masood Azhar

New Delhi, Feb 14: The dastardly suicide attack that killed over 40 CRPF jawans in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on Thursday will put Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government before some serious questions both on the home and foreign fronts.

Just months before a national election in which Modi will seek to renew his mandate, this deadly terror attack on a CRPF convoy will leave the Government of India with the task of reviewing not only internal security but also foreign policy options.

The fact that Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) claimed responsibility for the attack and released a video of the suicide bomber, Adil Ahmad Dar, also brings into question Modi's China policy besides the perennial Pakistan policy.

What will initiatives like those in Wuhan do if China doesn't care for anti-terrorism?

When Beijing has continued to object the international procedure to designate JeM chief Maulana Masood Azhar as a terrorist, then what do instances like the informal summit that took place in Wuhan in China between Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in April last year mean in reality?

China has several reasons to veto labelling Azhar as a terrorist as that would hinder India on many fronts - economic, geopolitical and strategic - but what is New Delhi's stance vis-à-vis Beijing when it knows the latter has been deliberately stalling a counter-terrorism initiative only to see India, one its closest competitors, to bleed?

In Wuhan, Modi and Xi had agreed on a number of issues like reducing border tension, dialogue to pre-empt conflict, cooperation and commitment to counter-terrorism but in reality, it is clearly seen that China has little plan to deviate from its deep-rooted strategy of continuing to back all-weather ally Pakistan to keep India busy attending its security challenges.

This is a very well-crafted strategy and one feels disappointed to see New Delhi not taking on Beijing sternly yet on more relevant issues related to JeM and Azhar.

The two sides decided to take up some joint economic project in Afghanistan which is absolutely vague and instead, the two sides should have spoken in details on why Azhar is still being backed by China. As per informed sources, the two national leaders did not get into the specifics on Azhar in Wuhan.

The Pulwama tragedy will put New Delhi under a fresh challenge as now, it has to somehow devise a Pak-China policy to bolster its security.

After the tragic instances in Pathankot and Uri, this another big attack in the Modi era and China cannot disown the moral responsibility for it backs the JeM chief for its own narrow gains by cornering India.

The Wuhan talks were more about breaking the ice after the Doklam standoff but after the Pulwama disaster, it is in India's interests to convey a strong message across to the Chinese.