'One man's ego brought two countries on the brink of war.'
"As long as Asim Munir is in power, India should not take its foot off the accelerator," asserts military historian Shiv Kunal Verma.
The author of several books on the Indian armed forces -- 1962: The War that Wasn't, 1965: A Western Sunrise: India's War with Pakistan, Yodha: Illustrated Military History of India among other books -- Mr Verma is an authority on India's defence history.
"We have to destroy the mischief making capacity of the Pakistan army," Mr Verma tells Rediff's Archana Masih.
Pakistan army chief Asim Munir has taken his country down a dangerous path because of personal ambition and to ensure his longevity as ruler of Pakistan.
Asim Munir should be declared a war criminal.
Deniability has been the hallmark of Pakistan. The lashkars they sent into Jammu and Kashmir in 1947 were terrorists. The modus operandi has been the same since then. Only thing was that it was not called terrorism at that time.
Asim Munir is desperate to stay in power. He called Kashmir Pakistan's jugular vein which was followed up by the Pahalgam attack. One man's ego brought two countries on the brink of war.
How long will the people of Pakistan keep turning a blind eye to its army? They must understand that the Pakistan army is playing on their patriotism.
This is not propaganda. It is the truth.
The Pakistan army is so self-centered and self-seeking that the Pakistani people are suffering. Therefore, the people must rise up and fix it. The Pakistan army should be overthrown.
A nation can't be subservient to a bunch of handpicked generals who have demonstrated the worst kind of abuse of power.
As long as Asim Munir is in power, India should not take our foot off the accelerator.
With the level of escalation spiralling upwards in the last couple of days are we in for a long drawn conflict or a limited one?
A bit of both.
[This interview was conducted before the ceasefire was announced on Saturday, May 10, 2025, evening.]
The international community will push for de-escalation because of the threat of a nuclear flare up.
While we continue with measures like mobilisation of forces, keeping the Indus Water Treaty in abeyance, appropriate retaliatory strikes etc, did not articulate our end plan.
It is not easy to articulate an end plan as long as Pakistan has the backing of countries like China, Turkey and to some extent Saudi Arabia though they (the Saudis) are playing a fairly neutral stance at the moment.
We must not underestimate the enemy. Various television channels are saying that the Pakistan economy is in ruins and a conflict will destroy the country. The Pakistan army has destroyed the economy no doubt, but Pakistan has enough military hardware from China and American to stick it out. It's no pushover.
Is an all-out war possible?
The Pakistan army and terrorists are the enemy. We have to take them out and that has been the message of the Modi government.
The government has been balanced, nuanced and clear about India attacking terrorist camps, not civilians. We must divorce the Pakistan army from the country.
Pakistan launched missiles, drone attacks across the border accompanied by heavy shelling that has resulted in loss of lives and left several injured. What do you think of India's response?
By doing this Pakistan gave India the opportunity to attack military targets.
There is a window of about 72 hours before other countries start dialling up to de-escalate.
We should continue tightening the screws on Pakistan until the end game comes into play.
Frankly speaking, the situation is hopeless like it was in East Pakistan in 1971 when the Pakistan army massacred 3 million people.
Imran Khan, the elected leader of Pakistan, has been put in jail. This is exactly what happened to Mujibur Rehman after he won the election in 1971.
Imran Khan today is what Mujibur Rehman was in 1971.
It is for the people of Pakistan to rally around Imran Khan. He is equally rabid about India, yet he is the elected representative.
We would much rather talk to a rabid elected leader than a mad military dictator with a finger on the nuclear trigger.
We should keep the pressure on.
How can we use this 72 hour window to India's advantage?
Let's look at how Pakistan has gone about the escalatory spiral. A few hours after the missiles were fired they launched a planned misinformation campaign that Indian aircraft had been shot down.
We need to be smart enough to know the mindset which is controlling this narrative.
Pakistan is playing this deadly game by thinking that that they can hit a few cities and create panic.
So whether you have a 72, 96 hour or a one week window, we have to find ways and means of making our strikes lethal, avoiding civil targets and severely damaging the Pakistan military.
We have to destroy the mischief making capacity of the Pakistan army.
You tweeted shortly after the Pahalgam attack about deploying the Indian Navy immediately.
The navy has a long term role.
The next day after the Pahalgam attack, I had tweeted that we should use the navy immediately.
The navy is known as the silent service.
In the Kargil War, we did not officially declare a blockade, but we created a blockade. We let Pakistan know that we had submarines outside Karachi, and because of that Nawaz Sharif was on his way to Washington to plead with Bill Clinton to stop the war.
I had used the word 'blockade' in my tweet after the Pahalgam attack, but in hindsight, I feel a blockade will give an excuse to the Chinese.
After all, Gwadar for all practical purposes is with China.
But there are other ways and the sheer threat of the Indian Navy sitting outside Karachi is enough.
We have to kill terrorism. Not score points. Therefore, we shouldn't let optics over overtake strategy.
We have to stop terror from across the border. We've been left with no choice. In fact we've taken too long to actually clamp down on it.
There's so much of misinformation, rumours and fake videos. How do you separate fact from fiction?
This is the reality of our times. It's as much a war of narratives.
War is won by strategy.
We are not the bad guys here. We are being forced to do this by the enemy. We are dealing with an immoral enemy since 1947.
We have shown the world our intent and capability.
In this whole geopolitical game, we are standing alone. Ultimately what is permanent is yourself. We have to walk alone and carry a big stick.
© 2025