Response to Uri: ‘Just Cause Doesn’t Make it an Intelligent War’

To go to war with Pakistan or not? Experts say no.

Army jawans carry the body a martyr killed in Uri attacks. (Photo: PTI)

In the aftermath of the deadly Uri attack that killed 18 Indian armymen, a lot of rhetoric on the streets of the country has involved words like ‘war’, ‘conflict escalation’ and ‘covert operations.’

We sat down with Commodore C Uday Bhaskar, Director, Society for Policy Studies and Abhijit Iyer-Mitra, Senior Fellow at the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, to better understand if going to war with Pakistan is a feasible option.

Both agreed on the fact that war with Pakistan isn’t an option for India but while Commodore Bhaskar believes this is because war is never desirable, Iyer-Mitra believes India has too much of a capacity deficit to undertake a war.

A just cause does not make for an intelligent war. 

Abhijit Iyer-Mitra

In India, the military is the equivalent of the OBC/Dalits and we don’t have an Ambedkar.

Commodore C Uday Bhaskar

I take (the US Bill to name Pakistan as a terror state) with a bucket full of salt with a pinch of action. 

Abhijit Iyer Mitra