Defence Minister Antony faux pas in the Indian Parliament can become for India, a serious liability, like when the Pakistani high commissioner Salman Bashir on Sunday has voiced his argument that India's reaction to the August 6 killing of five Indian soldiers may have been based on an "afterthought".
Salman Bashir suggested that India's second official reaction on Thursday, in which it blamed the Pakistan army, may have been an afterthought. He was asked if he really thought that India did not initially believe that the attack was carried out by Pakistan army regulars. He said, "I would not say that this is the conclusion I am drawing but it is very evident from the way things have happened in terms of the statements, that there is what I say an afterthought that is involved,''.
The gross mistake of soft and low speaking Defence Minister Antony has emboldened Pakistan as the Pakistani troops resorted to unprovoked firing at ten Indian posts, from across the Line of Control of Poonch, while the civil authorities at Islamabad continued with its aggressive stance and denied any wrongdoing on Sunday.While officials in Islamabad warned of a possible escalation in tensions with India if the latest initiative of PM Nawaz Sharif failed.
Defence minister AK Antony had said in Parliament on August 6 that the attack was perpetrated by men dressed in Pakistan army uniforms, apart from terrorists, before he retracted two days later and said the killings were the handiwork of Pakistan army.
Indian External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said India wants the Pakistan government to take responsibility for the killings of five (NOW GOING UP TO SIX) of its soldiers on the LoC on August 6,as he said,"The responsibility must rest with the government. Our meeting point is the civilian-elected government of Pakistan, not the Pakistan Army or any other agency,".
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has said that violations of ceasefire along the LoC by Pakistan are triggered to force India to respond,as these violations are intended to either facilitate infiltration or distract attention from internal failures of Pakistan.
Addressing a huge youth rally at Hyderabad, BJP's Narendra Modi recalled the Prime Minister's stern warning to Pakistan that it cannot be business as usual following the beheading of Indian soldiers by Pakistani troops in January, and asked, "I want to ask the Prime Minister You assured the nation that you will not tolerate such acts. But again last week's incidents at the LoC have shaken the nation and raised a question 'whom do we trust?',".
BJP Chief Rajnath Singh blamed UPA's "inaction" for Pakistan daring to attack India and also demanded that India's High Commissioner to Pakistan be recalled and diplomatic relations with that country scaled down. "You should declare today itself that there will be no talks with Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Also, you should take effective steps by taking all political parties into confidence. All limits have been crossed now," .
Time will tell, how much the diplomatic and strategic missed ground the present Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will be able to cover, though by this faux pas of the Defence Minister Antony, has made Indian position suspectable in world forum, where many enemies are searching opportunity to negate India's genuine concerns ? This will be a costly mistake of missed opportunity to nail Pakistan for its continued misdeeds again sadly with a possible retrospective effect, the havoc of which, many of the learned politicians have failed to gauge.