We spoke to Tuhin Sinha, spokesman for the BJP, prime minister Narendra Modi’s party and asked what he thought India’s strikes had achieved.
Tuhin Sinha: Well, ideally, it was the responsibility of Pakistan to take the kind of action that we did. It’s a shame. Pakistan today is a global embarrassment. The fact that we had to enter another country, and act against terrorists who had been given a free run, shows that Pakistan was complicit in encouraging these terror activities, and which is a point we have made, we have consistently been making, to the entire world.
Krishnan Guru-Murthy: Don’t you think India needs to provide the evidence that the Pakistan government was complicit, which it hasn’t provided yet in the last two weeks?
Tuhin Sinha: It doesn’t matter. From three decades, from the last three decades, this is not the only attack which has been sponsored by Pakistan. 2008 there was direct complicity. What did Pakistan do? Did Pakistan even try to address the issues we had raised?
Krishnan Guru-Murthy: Yes, but do you think evidence needs to be provided?
Tuhin Sinha: We have given umpteen dossiers to Pakistan. In fact, between 2004 to 2008, there was a time when almost on an average, every 35, 40 days, there would be a big terror attack in India through bomb blasts. Every time we would provide them a dossier, they would not act on it. You need to understand this is a different country. This is a new India. It will not tolerate terror activities across the border, and whether there is concrete evidence as of now or not of the particular attack in Pahalgam, the fact is that over the last three decades, Pakistan has not acted on the numerous occasions we provided them multiple dossiers with evidence.
Krishnan Guru-Murthy: When do you think India will actually act on the Indus Waters Treaty? When will it start trying to cut that water off?
Tuhin Sinha: Well, work on that has already begun. There are four new hydropower – there are four new dams which have been commissioned, to arrest the free flow of water to Pakistan. But these things are… I mean, we would not be providing every details on public platforms because there has to be an element of surprise, there has to an element of speculation in these activities.
Krishnan Guru-Murthy: What do your allies say? In the past, we would have seen the Americans urging restraint and the Brits as well. What are your allies saying to India about possible escalation here?
Tuhin Sinha: We want partners at this point of time. We are not looking for preachers. The US is with us, for sure. They may or may not act in a certain manner, or may not put certain words in a message, but we know for a fact that the US is with us. They have a very firm anti-terror stand. And therefore, Pakistan does not get the same support from Islamic countries which it used to get at one point of time.
Krishnan Guru-Murthy: But it does have support from China, doesn’t it?
Tuhin Sinha: Well, China has been restrained. I won’t hide the fact that China… we don’t have… there is a trust deficit between India and China. But again, China has been pretty restrained, China has not openly supported Pakistan.
Watch more:
Pakistan calls Indian airstrikes ‘act of war’
India is ‘rogue terrorist state’, claims former Pakistan minister of foreign affairs
Why are India and Pakistan fighting over Kashmir?
