NEW DELHI — One year on after the Balakot surgical strike in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir by India, both the countries marked the day in their own inimitable way, with bellicose rhetoric emphasizing their view of what happened.

On Feb. 26, 2019 India announced success for their retaliatory attack on a terror training camp in Balakot, and also a vindication by avenging the killing of 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel in a Pulwama terrorist attack on Feb. 14, 2019.

In one of the many functions marking this day, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh, while speaking at a seminar in the capital, said, “India's surgical strikes and Balakot bombings sent a strong message that terror infrastructure across the border cannot be used as safe haven to wage a low-cost war against India.”

While, on Feb. 27, Pakistan marked ‘Surprise Day’ claiming that the Pakistan Air Force had successfully responded to India with Operation Swift Retort, adding that Pakistan had provided a befitting reply to India’s ‘Balakot misadventure’.

Amid these strident statements and saber-rattling there’s an underlying worry whether the two adversaries across the LoC are once again squaring up with renewed war of words.

Both have warned the other of an aggressive action if the status quo at the LoC is disturbed with India quick to voice their concerns of the continuing existence of safe havens for militants across their border.

Citing sources, India said security forces in Jammu and Kashmir are on a high alert as there are reports that at least 300 terrorists were waiting to infiltrate India. Sources said that several of the terror operatives are believed to be Afghani fighters.

This was corroborated by former Northern Command Chief Lt. Gen. Ranbir Singh, who while speaking to reporters in Jammu last year, said, "As far as militants operating within Jammu and Kashmir are concerned, 200 to 300 terrorists, who have come here, joined militants here."

Singh was responding to reporters’ questions about the number of militants operating in J&K and those in PoK ready to infiltrate into the country.

India’s contention of Pakistan providing safe havens for terrorists, despite the latter’s denials, was borne out by the fact that several Ministers of European Parliament (MEPs) have called out the Islamic nation for providing “sanctuary” to terrorists and for promoting terrorism across LoC in India.

During a session — ‘Situation in Kashmir’ recently, the MEPs termed the revocation of Article 370, which accorded special status to people of Jammu and Kashmir, an internal matter of New Delhi and urged European Union to respect the “sovereignty of India”.

In addition, the Indian military’s resolve to fight the menace of terrorism was reiterated by the new Army Chief Gen. Manoj Mukund Naravane, who in an exclusive interview to PTI hours after taking charge of the 1.3-million strong force, said India reserves the right to "preemptively strike" at sources of terror.

He asserted that a "new normal" in the country's response mechanism to acts of cross-border terrorism has already been "emphatically" displayed.

"If Pakistan does not stop its policy of state-sponsored terrorism, we reserve the right to preemptively strike at the sources of terror threat and this intent has adequately been demonstrated in our response during surgical strikes and Balakot operation," he said, in a stern warning to Islamabad.

Reacting to Gen. Naravane's remarks, the Pakistan Foreign Office in a statement said, "We reject the new Indian Army Chief's irresponsible statement regarding 'pre-emptive strikes' across the LoC" inside Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

Amid these growing belligerent statements, the United States action of suspending security assistance to Pakistan, following through on a threat from President Donald Trump, puts additional pressure on Islamabad.

It also signified Washington’s frustration with what it described as Islamabad’s refusal to crack down on sanctuaries used by terrorists that target American soldiers across the border in Afghanistan.

Another factor that has not helped the two nations to forge a dialogue for peace, is the fact that the Indian government has been steadfast in its stance that dialogue with Pakistan will not happen until it takes concrete action against terror emanating from its soil.

And the recent Financial Action Task Force (FATF) action of keeping Pakistan in the ‘grey list’ does not augur well for a dialogue between the adversaries. Pakistan has fared poorly on the 27 action points submitted to the FATF due to which they were not removed from the ‘gray list’.

Despite the prospects of getting blacklisted by the terror financing watchdogs, Pakistan continues to deny the presence of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) Chief Masood Azhar in numerous FATF meetings and is refusing to take action against the terror group.

Pakistan has repeatedly told the FATF that it is unable to file an FIR against Masood Azhar since he could not be found in Pakistan. And due to this India has repeatedly said that no conclusive/credible action followed which could prove Pak government’s seriousness to take on these menace of terror.

In view of the reports of presence of terrorists at the terror launch pads along the LoC, India perceives that Pakistan persists in using terrorism as a tool of its foreign policy.

And this India views as a grave challenge, and are repeatedly consistent in its warnings that it will not shy away from taking necessary action as deemed fit in order to protect its sovereignty. However, any action from India may provoke a forceful response from the other side.

Both sides need to act with resolve in not provoking the other if they want to give peace a chance. And the onus falls on Pakistan to convince the international community that it does not support terror. And that would go a long way in easing the tensions across the LoC — a step toward peace. — Agencies