Interview: India's options are limited but military strikes are 'symbolic', won't deter terror

Military strikes will not deter Pakistan from using terrorism as a tool of foreign policy since Kashmir and the conflict with India are existential to the Pakistani army, said Christine Fair. “The purpose of this was more illustrative than it was deterrence,” Fair told Scroll in an interview.

India’s options remain extremely limited, said Fair, an associate professor at Georgetown University who is considered an expert on the Pakistan army and the country’s terrorist network.

Terror groups, like the Lashkar e Taiba, are domestically crucial to Pakistan while Islamabad’s use of nuclear threats in negotiating with the West will ensure its continued survival, said Fair.

“The only thing that really changes Pakistan is a decisive military defeat of the Pakistan army that leaves the Pakistan army in complete disarray,” she said. “This is not something that India can do right now or for the policy-relevant future. It’s not possible at all now [given the nuclear umbrella].”

Referring to the military strikes, she said they generated a lot of jingoism in India and were risky but didn’t change anything on the ground. “They’re really important symbolic attacks – but they’re symbolic attacks. They don’t degrade the ability of these organisations to operate.”

Fair also pointed out that the off-ramp in this case...