As tensions rise with Islamabad, Sushant Sareen, Senior Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), has called on the United States to seize a fresh opportunity to reset strategic ties with India by using financial leverage against Pakistan’s terror infrastructure. Drawing parallels with two pivotal moments in India-US relations — the Kargil War and the civil nuclear deal — Sareen argued that Washington’s next major trust-building gesture could come not through troops or arms, but through multilateral financial pressure.
The greatest intellectual and strategic failure of India is the absence of Shatrubodh (understanding of the enemy). This is not limited to only the society but also extends to sections of the Indian state and many of its functionaries, political, military and bureaucratic. The inability to clearly identify the enemy, much less its motivations and its mindset, means India has never prepared itself to vanquish, or even deter, the enemy.
Forget China or Bangladesh or the fifth column inside India, even an enemy like Pakistan that avows enmity and hatred for not just the idea of India but also of Hindus has not been studied and understood like it should have been. What is mind boggling is that even when Pakistanis openly proclaim they are an enemy of India and Hindus and want to balkanise India, there are people (including people who have served as advisors to Prime Ministers) who insist that “no, no, you are not an enemy but a brother and friend”. And then there are people who were responsible for securing India and fancy themselves as experts on Kashmir feel proud to call for “moving on and moving forward” with Pakistan.
Security analyst Sushant Sareen on Monday criticised India’s response to shifting global alliances following the Pahalgam terror attack, warning that countries like China, Turkey, and Azerbaijan have openly aligned with Pakistan. Sareen argued that while India’s adversaries are clearly identifying themselves, New Delhi continues to pursue trade and defence deals with them instead of imposing costs for their actions.
