Former Diplomat reveals why Pakistan feared 'Qatal ki Raat' post Balakot

NEW DELHI: Former Diplomat Ajay Bisaria has talked about coercive diplomacy that took place after the Balakot strikes that resulted in Pakistan repatriating Wing Commander Abhinanandan whose flight had crash landed in Pakistan teritory.

In an interview with ANI, Bisaria stated that Pakistan had a credible threat regarding India using missiles and it was amplified to them directly or through diplomats of other nations.

He noted that then-Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan attempted to call PM Narendra Modi as the threat of force was very "credible to return the pilot" in order not to escalate the situation.

In his latest book, 'Anger Management: The Troubled Diplomatic Relationship between India and Pakistan, former Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Ajay Bisaria claims that Pakistan had credible information on nine missiles India had prepared to launch into Pakistani territory.

He has mentioned receiving a call from Pakistan's High Commissioner to Sohail Mahmood, who said that Imran Khan was keen to speak to PM Modi.

Asked about being contacted by Sohail Mahmood and Pakistan suspecting that India would launch a missile strike, he stated, "After Pulwama, India had taken action in Balakot and that was followed by Pakistan's operation which it called Swift retort in India and as a result of which an Indian pilot Abhinandan was captured, he fell in Pakistan and he was captured."

"So what I tried to do is present an account of the coercive diplomacy that took place after that, to get the pilot back and there was a very credible threat of force of the use of nine missiles and I've given an account of how that played out in Pakistan that Pakistan had this credible threat which was amplified to them through various means directly and also through other diplomats of other countries and as a result a of which Pakistan made the choice of returning the pilot, not wanting to escalate that conflict and being assured that if the pilot was not returned, there would be huge consequences and as a result of that, in trying to de-escalate the situation, the Prime Minister of Pakistan attempted to call the Prime Minister of India and the point also here is that the Prime Minister of Pakistan was then felt obliged to take a decision because the threat of force was very credible to return the pilot in order not to escalate the situation," he added.

On PM Modi's "Qatal ki raat" reference and the then Pakistan PM Imran Khan's attempt to make a phone call to PM Modi, Ajay Bisaria said "PM Modi did mention this in his speech. He did refer to this episode but Imran Khan also referred to this episode in his own speech in Parliament, that he had made an attempt to talk to the Indian PM. There was a conversation in Pakistan's parliament also, which has been reported by a Pakistan MP. He mentioned that both, then Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and then Army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa came to brief the MPs and said there is a serious danger of the crisis escalating and India taking hard action and therefore, we should return the pilot..."

Further asked whether India was close to taking action, he said, "You know the thing about coercive diplomacy is that the threat of force should be credible which means that not just the adversary but you should believe yourself that you are going to use it now, whether or not it would have been used is a question that can be debated. But the point is that the use of force to get an outcome was successfully done."

Ajay Bisaria said he was in India right after the Pulwama attack. The former diplomat said he was part of the team in India that was monitoring the situation and dealing with it.

Asked about PM Modi's message to him, he stated, "Well, I was at that point in India right after the Pubama attack. I came to India so I was part of the team in India which was monitoring the situation and dealing with it. So the message I think that was going to Pakistan at that point was very clear that India was going to escalate the situation in case the pilot was not returned."

He said India was confident that the pilot would be returned as the consequences would have been serious and the message was sent loud and clear to Pakistan.

"We were confident that the pilot would be returned because the consequences would have been serious and this was a message that went loud and clear to Pakistan's system and Pakistan then reacted. So we were fairly sure that the pilot would be returned unharmed," he added. Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, the IAF pilot was captured after his plane went down in Pakistani territory.

These events unfolded a day after the Balakot airstrikes conducted by the Indian Air Force on terror hideouts in Pakistan on February 26, 2019. The strikes were in retaliation for a terrorist attack on Indian forces in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama on February 14, 2019.