The Great Game Re-loaded by Tilak Devasher |  Episode-1: The Pahalgam Massacre – India Strikes Back - video Dailymotion

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The Great Game Re-loaded by Tilak Devasher |  Episode-1: The Pahalgam Massacre – India Strikes Back

Transcript

00:00Namaskar and welcome to the first episode of the Green Game Reloaded. I'm Tilak Divesha.

00:19For years you've seen me on panels and podcasts. But this, this is different. This is where I will

00:26dwell on the most pressing national security challenges that India faces.

00:32The Great Game Reloaded is a re-look at the old concept in its new avatar. So I will bring

00:39you the real picture from Pakistan, Afghanistan and eventually the entire neighborhood.

00:45The Great Game was a name given to the political and diplomatic rivalry between 19th century

00:51British and Russian empires over influence in Central Asia, primarily in Afghanistan and

00:57Persia. Britain feared that Russia's southward expansion would threaten India, the jewel in

01:04the crown, while Russia feared the expansion of British interests into Central Asia.

01:11A British intelligence officer, Captain Arthur Connolly, coined the term Great Game in 1840.

01:18Rudyard Kipling's novel, Kim, popularized the term, increasing its association with great

01:25power rivalry. The Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907 between the British and the Russian empires

01:32officially ended the Great Game. However, many believe that the Great Game morphed into the

01:38Cold War between the US and the Soviet Union. Interestingly, cheerful relations between British

01:44and Russian officers were a constant feature of the Great Game. And whenever their wandering

01:49paths met, there were impromptu parties, relaxing evenings around campfires, during which some British

01:57officers even developed a taste for rye bread, caviar, salt fish and vodka. Crossing the Parmese

02:05on a quest in 1889, France's young husband, a British explorer, encountered another explorer,

02:13Colonel Gromzewski. The Polish officer was a thorough gentleman who made no bones about his mission

02:20and its implications. He told young husband, we are both playing at a big game and we should

02:26not be one shot better off for not trying to conceal the fact." Gromzewski boasted that half a million

02:34Russian soldiers were ready to invade India and his Cossacks cheered when he asked them whether they

02:41wished to join his enterprise. This was a good side war. A convivial evening ended with brandy.

02:49Just one of the many encounters between British and Russian officers in the high mountains.

02:57In this first episode, I begin with looking at the terror attack in Pehelgham on 22nd April

03:03and Operation Sindur that has changed the security paradigm in our region. We now have a new security

03:10doctrine. An act of terror by Pakistan will be seen as an act of war. So this is briefly how

03:18and why India did the pivot.

03:25On 22nd April, in Pehelgham, JMK became the site of a chilling massacre. 25 innocent Indians and one

03:33Nepali citizen slaughtered in cold blood. The resistance front, a front for the banned Pakistan-based

03:40terror outfit Lashkar-e-Toiba, claimed the attack.

03:44Then they tried to backtrack, comically saying it was a site attack on their webpage.

03:49Let's call this what it was. A targeted, religiously motivated execution.

03:55The killers asked the victims to recite the Kalma. Those who couldn't were shot on the spot.

04:01And the message? Tell Modi. The killers knew which buttons to press.

04:05This wasn't a local tragedy. It was a national wound. The communal nature of the killings outraged

04:12the country. Pakistan tried to spin the attack as an indigenous uprising. But here's the question.

04:18When has a Kashmiri ever targeted tourists, whose presence is the lifeline of the local economy?

04:26This wasn't homegrown. This was calculated. It was designed to derail the tourism boom in Kashmir

04:33and challenge the post-370 normalcy India had worked hard to build. But there is more. The timing.

04:41Just as US Vice President J.D. Vance was visiting India and Prime Minister Modi was in Saudi Arabia,

04:48this attack happened. Coincidence?

04:50Coincidence? Not likely. This was meant to send a message.

04:57Let's talk about the recently promoted Field Marshal Asim Munir, the current Chief of the Pakistan

05:03NAMI. He was Director General Inter-Services Intelligence when Pulwama happened in 2019.

05:10Now he's the top boss during Pehelgam. His tenure ends in November. But before Pehelgam,

05:16there were whispers of an extension. And here's what's interesting. On 16th April, just days before

05:22the massacre, he gave a speech at the Pakistan Overseas Convention in Islamabad. It was pure communal

05:29rhetoric. Two-nation theory, Kashmir is a jugular vein and so on. It's believed that this was the start of

05:37his campaign for an extension. Pehelgam, that was step two. But there is more. Asim Munir's credibility is

05:45crumbling. In Pakistan's Punjab, traditionally the army's power base, he is losing ground,

05:52thanks to the damage inflicted by Imran Khan. The diaspora in the US is openly hostile to the army.

05:59Meanwhile, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are slipping out of control. Even in Sindh,

06:05there are anti-Punjab protests over water. Pakistan has lost the narrative in Kashmir.

06:10So what options did Pakistan have left? Diversion, manufactured crisis,

06:17the old playbook. Attack India, bleeded by another deep cut, unify the country.

06:22This time, India didn't blink. On 7th May, India launched Operation Sindhul. A precision

06:31strike on nine terror targets. These weren't soft targets. These were Lashkar and Jaish headquarters,

06:38Murit K., Bhawalpur, Mazharabad. India didn't target civilians or military. We went straight for the

06:45terror infrastructure. And we released the visuals. This wasn't covert. This was an open warning.

06:52Pakistan reacted by hitting both military and civilian targets. They believed India would back

06:58down under the nuclear override. Instead, India escalated. Drone and missile strikes followed.

07:05Lahore and Sialcourt's air defenses were knocked out. Eleven airfields seriously damaged. Strategic ones,

07:12two. Noor Khan based in Rawalpindi, Sargoda, Jakobaba. And yes, F-16s and nuclear assets were housed there.

07:21Let that sink in.

07:25Then came the admissions. Pakistan's Defense Minister Kwaja Asif, in an interview with Sky News said,

07:31right quote. We have been doing this dirty work, i.e. supporting and funding terrorists,

07:37for the US for three decades. And Balawal Bhutto added, Pakistan has a past.

07:43This wasn't just a past. This was policy. It has been. It continues to be. Visuals emerged of Pakistani

07:51army officers carrying the coffin of a known terrorist with the coffin draped in the Pakistan flag.

07:57The man officiating at the funeral? Hafiz Abdul Rauf designated a global terrorist by the US.

08:04And by the way, he contested Pakistan's general elections in 2024.

08:09Under intense pressure, Pakistan reached out to India on 10th May. Talks followed at the level of

08:15director generals of military operations. But even after agreeing to stop hostilities, Pakistan broke the

08:22understanding within two hours. Why did India even agree to the cessation of hostilities?

08:29The answer is simple. We achieved our objectives. We didn't escalate. We calibrated. We struck where

08:35it mattered. And when Pakistan escalated to civilians, we responded, not with emotion,

08:41but with intent, measured and proportionate.

08:49On 12th May, Prime Minister Modi visited the Adampur Air Base. The very base Pakistan claimed to have

08:55destroyed. He landed in a C-130 Super Hercules. That visual alone shattered Pakistan's false claims.

09:03And then came his address to the nation. Oppression sindoor, he said, was a new normal that was in place

09:11now. A new national security doctrine. Here it is. If there is a terror attack on India,

09:17there will be a fitting global response. Nuclear blackmail will no longer work. India will strike

09:23precisely and decisively. There is no distinction between terrorists and their sponsors. He was blunt.

09:31If Pakistan wants peace, it must dismantle its terror infrastructure. There is no middle ground.

09:37Terror and talks can't go together. Terror and trade can't go together. Water and blood can't flow

09:43together. His words were historic because now this is the way forward for the national security apparatus

09:51of the country. This is the path of peace. But peace goes through power, he added. He ended with a final

09:58note. Operation Sindoor is paused, not ended. India will evaluate Pakistan's behavior. The ball is clearly

10:06in Pakistan's court. 7th May wasn't just a military operation. It was a strategic message. India's patience

10:15has a limit and India will hit back hard at any terror incident. And now the world knows when that line

10:23is crossed, the response will be swift, brutal and precise. In the next episode, we'll explore the

10:31Indus Water Treaty and how India's non-kinetic response to the Pahelga Moutrage has struck just as hard.

10:39Until then, I am Telak Devesha. Namaskar and Jai Hind.

The Great Game Re-loaded by Tilak Devasher | Episode-1: The Pahalgam Massacre – India Strikes Back

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