One surgical or aerial strike may not force Pak to stop aiding terror. But we have raised the costs: Gautam Bambawale

The terror attack in Pulwama that killed 40 CRPF men, followed by the IAF's aerial strikes on Balakot, have led to an increase in tension between India and Pakistan. A 1984-batch Indian Foreign Service officer, Gautam Bambawale was India's High Commissioner to Pakistan in 2016 and 2017. He was in office when India undertook surgical strikes following the terrorist attack in Uri, and when Kulbhushan Jadhav was captured by Pakistan. Bambawale was India's ambassador to China in 2018, and handled the Wuhan Summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping following the Doklam stand-off

Former ambassador to China and ex-high commissioner to Pakistan Gautam Bambawale says the message from the recent air strike on Balakot is that India can undertake such an exercise “successfully”, insists there is “no deep-seated hatred” between Indians and Pakistanis, and explains why, on listing of Masood Azhar as a terrorist, India needs to be “transactional” with China.

SHUBHAJIT ROY: What does the decision to conduct air strikes on terrorist camps in Pakistan mean?

Pakistan has been following a policy of bleeding India by a thousand cuts. That policy is of aiding, abetting and sponsoring terrorism directed at India. We have had terrorist incidents for almost 35-40 years, not only in Jammu…