{"id":3219,"date":"2019-03-05T18:00:30","date_gmt":"2019-03-05T18:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/?p=3219"},"modified":"2019-03-05T18:00:30","modified_gmt":"2019-03-05T18:00:30","slug":"kashmir-latest-one-downed-plane-and-one-airstrike-each-can-india-and-pakistan-now-call-it-even","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/2019\/03\/05\/kashmir-latest-one-downed-plane-and-one-airstrike-each-can-india-and-pakistan-now-call-it-even\/","title":{"rendered":"Kashmir latest: One downed plane and one airstrike each \u2013 can India and Pakistan now call it even?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/a>https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/world\/asia\/kashmir-latest-india-pakistan-air-strike-planes-attack-a8800131.html<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a certain symmetry to the way things stand in the highly strung conflict between India<\/a> and Pakistan<\/a> \u2013 as of Wednesday night, we should add, given just how fast the situation is developing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Tuesday morning, India took the unprecedented step of launching airstrikes at what it said were militant targets in Pakistani territory<\/a> across the Kashmir line of control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hours later, the Indian foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale appeared on national TV to talk down the action, explaining that the country meant to target only \u201cthe menace of terrorism\u201d and not the state of Pakistan or its citizens \u2013 indeed, chastising Pakistan for not taking similar action itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Wednesday morning Pakistan said it had launched its own airstrikes, targeting and then firing away from Indian military assets so as to demonstrate its defensive capability. Chaos only ensued when India scrambled its jets in response, and in the dogfight that followed one Pakistani and at least one Indian jet were shot down<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then it was the turn of Imran Khan, the Pakistani prime minister, to go on TV and play down his country\u2019s part in the skirmish. His air force had only set out to give India a warning, he said, before things got out of hand. He repeatedly used the phrase \u201cmiscalculation\u201d and said such unforeseen events had led to \u201call wars\u201d in the past.   TOP ARTICLES1\/6READ MOREBrexit news latest: Macron attacks’anger-monger’ Brexiteers as EU and UK hold crunch talks over Irish backstop<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And so, having shot down one aircraft each (though Pakistan still claims two) and conducted one round of airstrikes each across the line of control, where do the two sides go from here?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his statement, Mr Khan invited his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi<\/a> to \u201csit down and talk\u201d. Clearly it is Pakistan\u2019s view that the violence should end with today\u2019s misadventures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Indian government, however, has made plain that it does not see any equivalence between Tuesday\u2019s and Wednesday\u2019s events. In the government\u2019s latest statement, the foreign ministry said Pakistan\u2019s ambassador here in Delhi<\/a> had been summoned in protest at the \u201cunprovoked act of aggression\u201d by the Pakistani air force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But while the statement also said India \u201creserves the right to take firm and decisive action\u201d going forwards, there were two glimmers of hope for observers \u2013 the international community included \u2013 who want to see a de-escalation of tension.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One was that India said it had handed over a dossier to the Pakistani envoy detailing intelligence regarding both militant camps in Pakistan and \u201cspecific details of JeM [Jaish-e-Mohammed<\/a>] complicity in the Pulwama<\/a> terror attack\u201d \u2013 the deadly car bombing in Kashmir<\/a> on 14 February that, after all, set this whole situation going.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Khan had already urged India to share any information it has on militant groups so they can \u201ctalk about the terrorism that effects us both [sic]\u201d. Publicly seizing on the intelligence shared by India would be one way of reopening paths of cooperation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Secondly, the Indian foreign ministry confirmed a man shown in videos released by Pakistan is indeed one of its air force pilots, captured after the Indian fighter jet came down in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

India bemoaned the use of the pilot in the \u201cvulgar display\u201d, saying it contravened the Geneva Conventions<\/a>, and demanded he come to no harm and be granted \u201cimmediate and safe return\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pilot certainly \u201ccomplicates the picture\u201d regarding India\u2019s next steps, one analyst told me. His detention may act as an effective deterrent to any further military action, particularly given the already deafening clamour on Indian social media channels for his safety to be assured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are other options India can pursue. As the larger and more robust economy, the country can continue steps it has already been taking since 14 February to diplomatically isolate and \u2013 in its view \u2013 punish Pakistan for its perceived role in militant attacks in Kashmir.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the Indian government, hitting back at Pakistan militarily may be seen as a popular move \u2013 but with hashtags like \u201cSayNoToWar\u201d and \u201cpakindiaceasefire\u201d, there were plenty of calls from ordinary people on both sides of the border to show restraint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So all eyes turn to Mr Modi, who did not make a public statement about Pakistan on Wednesday but met with the heads of India\u2019s armed forces after ducking out of a National Youth Parliament festival that was taking place as the details of this morning\u2019s events unfolded. As you read this, he may already have decided what India\u2019s next step will be. Let\u2019s hope he has been paying attention to those hashtags.
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/world\/asia\/kashmir-latest-india-pakistan-air-strike-planes-attack-a8800131.html There is a certain symmetry to the way things stand in the highly strung conflict between India and Pakistan \u2013 as of Wednesday night, we should add, given just how fast the situation is developing. On Tuesday morning, India took the unprecedented step of launching airstrikes at what it said were militant targets in Pakistani territory across the Kashmir line of control. Hours later, the Indian… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":105,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[15,21,13],"class_list":["post-3219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article-post","tag-india","tag-kashmir","tag-pakistan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/105"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3219"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3219\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3220,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3219\/revisions\/3220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}