After a continued exchange of fire from both Indian and Pakistani military forces in Kashmir, officials from both countries are exchanging an equal amount of criticism and rhetoric to supplement the shelling that started over a week ago.

While media sources from both countries continuously contradict one another, quoting politicians and military personnel who point their fingers toward the other side, the routine of Line of Control (LOC) fighting despite ceasefire agreements made over 11 years ago has cemented itself in the Modi administration. The stark contrast of this instance in particular is the revved up and aggressive Indian response which is presumably the architecture of Ajit Doval, Modi’s current National Security Advisor.

The Indian response is a sound strategy that aims not to damage Pakistan’s position in the Line-of-Control but to force Pakistan’s key decision-makers to re-evaluate any possible benefit to retaliation after starting the skirmish with Indian Border Patrol Forces who allege unprovoked fire from the Pakistani side, a charge notorious with the Pakistan military in Kashmir. While Pakistan has yet to offer a ceasefire agreement directly with India, it has appealed its concerns of Indian aggression to outside international bodies, like the United Nations, which India has successfully repelled from intervening in what might be among the most complex and violent border issues in the world today.

As for the Indian Government’s response, an exchange of personas by India’s two most paramount leaders took place, with Narendra Modi’s calming assurance of a future solution contradicting his quieter colleague Arun Jaitley, who as India’s newest Minister of Defense, issued a stern warning to Pakistan that the Indian military will not stand down and will engage the Pakistani military on multiple fronts, a maneuver that Pakistan allots to the bloodshed of casualties that has entered double-digits since the fighting began.

The skirmishes along the LOC is not news, but it is a key benchmark for Narendra Modi to apply his strict policies against Pakistani aggression in Kashmir, both by their military and by proxy in a region that has seen its fair share of military engagements, of both small and large scales. His recent jet setting around the world and continued policy focus on the economic affairs of India is a mission that desperately needs to remain a priority for the country. Nevertheless, the anticipation of Modi’s ascension to the top of India’s leadership was unfortunately bound to an aggressive and suspicious Pakistan government, which viewed Modi as a major threat to the several initiatives and ventures the country has tried to facilitate to disrupt India, with the most noteworthy being the continued funding and training of the extremist groups that are pawns in Pakistan’s “proxy war” in Kashmir and other conflict-entangled areas in India.

Perhaps the most alarming part of Pakistan’s decision to reinvigorate a border clash is the fact that this is not the only conflict their military and government is involved in. Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is facing issues in Northwest Pakistan in addition to a growing resistance movement that is calling for changes in the Pakistan, a movement spearheaded by cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan. Pakistan’s internal disputes has only complicated the reasons behind the sudden unprovoked attacks and entrenching into India’s territory, which it has solidified and continued to maintain for several decades. Modi has already shown exemplary leadership, contrary to the politically-motivated and illogical criticism launched at him by opposition parties, and for once, finger-wagging has turned into a tangible response from the government, this time in the form of mortar shells, to remind India’s foreign adversaries that its newest leadership is resilient in the effort to curtail any efforts to cause damage to the solidarity of India. State University.