Indian Politics & Policy Volume 1, Number 2, Fall 2018 | Page 14

India’s Ways of (Non-) War: Explaining New Delhi’s
Forbearance in the Face of Pakistani Provocations
that if even one bomb was dropped ....
Sharif finished his sentence and said it
would be a catastrophe.” 57 With Sharif
continuing to vacillate over a Pakistani
withdrawal from Kargil, Clinton grew
angry: “Did Sharif order the Pakistani
nuclear missile force to prepare for action?
Did he realize how crazy that was?
You’ve put me in the middle today, set
the U.S. up to fail and I won’t let it happen.
Pakistan is messing with nuclear
war.” 58 Finally, Sharif agreed to withdraw
Pakistani forces in exchange for
U.S. diplomatic cover. In a joint statement,
he and Clinton expressed their
“view that the current fighting in the
Kargil region of Kashmir is dangerous
and contains the seeds of a wider conflict.”
In return for a restoration of the
“sanctity of the LOC,” Clinton pledged
to take a “personal interest” in helping
to resolve the Kashmir dispute. 59 Days
later, Vajpayee announced that “the enemy’s
intrusion and aggression in Kargil
has now been decisively turned back
.... our troops are back on the LOC .... A
turning point has come.” 60 On July 11,
the Indian and Pakistani directors-general
of military operations (DGMOs)
agreed to end the fighting. A pullout
timetable was reached and the Pakistani
withdrawal began. 61 In a televised
address on July 12, Sharif told his people
“the deterioration in Pakistan–India
relations brought our two countries to
the brink of war .... We know that in a
nuclear conflict there can be no victors
.... It has been my constant effort that
our countries be spared the horror of a
nuclear war. Only a desire for collective
suicide can prompt us to take such a
step.” 62 Indian Defense Minister George
Fernandes announced on July 17 that
“the war in Kargil has come to an end.
The last of the Pakistani intruders have
vacated our territory.” 63
The “Twin Peaks” Crisis
On October 1, 2001, terrorists
from JeM attacked the Jammu
and Kashmir legislative assembly
building in Srinagar, killing 38 people.
64 On December 13, JeM attacked
the Indian Parliament in New Delhi,
leaving 14 dead, including all six of the
terrorists. The strike at the heart of India’s
government profoundly shook the
country’s national psyche. It was described
by Indian Home Minister L.K.
Advani as the “most audacious and
most alarming act of terrorism in the
history ... of Pakistan-sponsored terrorism
in India.” 65 New Delhi responded
by launching Operation Parakram
on December 18. The Indian Army
deployed to border positions as New
Delhi put its combined military forces—including
those in Kashmir—on
high alert. India also severed road, rail,
and air links with Pakistan and recalled
its high commissioner from Islamabad.
Both sides reportedly moved nuclear-capable
ballistic missiles to positions
closer to the Punjab border. 66 The
Indian government served notice that
unless Pakistan reined in its murderous
jihadi groups, India would do it for
them by destroying terrorist training
camps, sanctuaries, and supply routes
in Pakistani Kashmir. 67 Ultimately, India
moved roughly half a million soldiers—including
three armored strike
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