THE emotions against India find ever more powerful expressions at all kinds of forums with the passage of time. Many Pakistanis angered at the reports of Indian aggression on the borders are keen on letting their neighbour know that they are not overawed by the persistent firing from the other side that has led to the loss of precious lives here.

In fact, the instinct is to outdo the other in issuing menacing threats. Understandable as the ire against India’s aggressive tactics is, it has a very intimidating effect on those who have taken upon them the arduous and very risky job of warning people against the dangers inherent in war, war-mongering or even pure brinkmanship.

Also read: Heavy losses will be inflicted on India if war imposed on Pakistan: Asif

It is difficult to advise restraint to a media person who is bent upon mocking the enemy in the crudest of manners. If this task puts one’s own patriotism to the severest of tests, provocative remarks by responsible appointees of the state cast a gloom from which there is no escape.

Take Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, who has reacted with much sound and fury to the Indian provocation along the Working Boundary in recent days — with some pointing out that his anti-India, ‘pro-war’ outpourings are an attempt to wipe off the residue of any unacceptable remarks he might have mistakenly made in the past.

Whatever the case, one hopes that the realisation will dawn that the minister’s portfolio is a sensitive one and that he should be a little more circumspect in his choice of words without, in any way, betraying a defensive mindset.

The defence minister has every right to be outraged by the Indian aggression and attitude. But his allusions to the possible use of nuclear weapons time and again, and especially when tensions are so high, are not needed and must be avoided. The message was already conveyed when the trust was reposed in the Pakistan military’s ability to teach any adventurer a lesson that would be hard to forget.

Published in Dawn, September 2nd, 2015

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