DESPARDES — Military action against Pakistan is PM Modi’s “Go To” option, a senior Pakistani Defense official tells DesPardes.
The high ranking official’s comment dovetails Prime Minister Imran Khan’s latest warning that India could launch ‘false flag operation’ against Pakistan.
The official says rising criticism of Modi’s handling of internal situation in face of Coronavirus, bad international media on Kashmir and economic meltdown of already struggling economy leaves India’s second-time elected nationalist Prime minister to go for some action — a move observers says would be (if so happens) diversionary in nature and destabilizing.
“Concerned quarters realize this and required safeguards have already been put in place on ground,” the official says. He spoke on condition of anonymity as he’s not authorized to officially comment.
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Earlier this week, Kashmiri freedom fighter Riyaz Naikoo was killed by Indian army in the occupied Himalayan Valley — people’s reactions were overwhelming, social media and independent reports indicate.
A strict stay-at-home restrictions countrywide in India has put an already slowing economy on a tight-rope. Informal economy is now badly hit due to the pandemic.
Bloomberg reports that India’s GDP could contract by 15 percent — “it has lost already an economy bigger than one and half time size of Pakistan”, says an expert.
The services sector makes up more than half of India’s gross domestic product.
The services purchasing managers index plunged by 43.9 points to 5.4 in April, the lowest in the world, hitting single digits for the first time and staying below 50, the dividing line between contraction and expansion, according to data published Wednesday by IHS Markit.
“Growth in India is clearly under siege,” ANZ Banking Group economists Rini Sen and Sanjay Mathur wrote in a note to clients on Wednesday.
An expert thinks Indian economy may be moving from severe contraction to comprehensive collapse phase. Up till now, his forecasts have been quite on the mark over the year.
