Imagine a scenario where a truncated,moth eaten SAARC summit is held in Islamabad which is duly attended by Lanka, Maldives and Nepal. India can claim diplomatic victory by pointing towards the  withdrawals of Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Bhutan.
But isn’t it a major slap on our face that three of our neighbouring countries might attend that summit? I can’t imagine a worse scenario for India.

This is possibly a case of damned if I go,damned if I dunt.But then why shud any country support us,when we have even failed to recall our ambassador from Islamabad.Have we taken any steps beyond two speeches,one at  a party rally in kozikhode ,and another a  diplomatic necessity at the UN.Off course,our media army,party spokespersons and ministers have been shouting so hard it seems we have already vanquished the enemy.
Added to this humiliation is  Pakistan’s ever strengthening all-weather relationship with China, and growing closeness with Russia(which India must consider a zero sum game).
Pakistan also  has OIC  firmly behind it.

Even IRAN has chosen to express its interest in Gwadar project at a time when its message is unmistakable.Off course,media has chosen to ignore this.

That US shall dump Pakistan is also a foolhardy expectation, as history has well shown.

It wud be advisable to this bury this strategy of ‘’diplomatic isolation ‘’ sooner rather than later.Or else,in the coming days ,the embarrassment shall become more obvious and we shall have no cover to hide.We shud rather take some firm and concrete unilateral steps against Pakistan and show the world that we are hurting and are capable of direct action.No one in in the world watches Zee or Times now to gauge a nation’s intent.Its our actions that speak.
Our media is going bonkers over Pakistan’s diplomatic isolation. Bjp off course has nowhere to hide. They can’t blame Congress governments for our unpreparedness bcoz that wud expose our vulnerability before the world.
Govt knows that it can’t do much about Indus water treaty, it has after all Kosi and Brahmaputra to consider. MFN is a joke and might only be a self goal.I dunt see how shall it hurt Pakistan.We have not even recalled our high commissioner from Pakistan. Trains and buses across the border keep running.
It feels embarassing to talk about our national self respect any more.
A nation whose armed Forces were not prepared for hot persuit in 2001and 2008 doesnt seem to have learnt any lessons.If there was any readiness to strike we wud already have seen action.Some stories regarding cross-border action were planted to satisfy hardcore supporters of the government,but they could not get much traction. They have promptly been dropped.That trial balloon didn’t float for long.
All this talk of hitting back at at a time and place of our own choosing is just hogwash. Hot persuit was understandable given the circumstances,the world wud have understood . rest all is just an indication of our strategic shallowness,and military hollowness.

Media has raised the battle cry to such fever pitch,that I shudder to think what would happen,if god forbids,jihadists strike again ?Are we ready for a full scale war? Because its very clear we cant have surgical strikes.

I understand the government has not much options.Media frenzy and social media clamour have further roused the public opinion and limited the options before the PM.Our diplomatic weakness,military unpreparedness or the troubles in Kashmir cant be attributed to the present dispensation.Infact in these times of global jihad from Minnesota to paris to Syria and xinjiang we have done rather well in containing the damage.Pathankot and Uri ,were afterall,not attacks on civilian population,rather on military posts located in  areas that have been traditional fronts of war.Failure to manage the public opinion has allowed the situation to reach a point where we only stand to lose.

This hurts.

This might hurt more.