Like every Indian, I was overcome with shock and anger after hearing about Pahalgam terror attack. As the emotional dust settled, a darker question emerged: Has Pakistan now become China’s lapdog?

The style of the Pahalgam attack was notably different from earlier terror incidents. As in, it was grotesquely theatrical and seemingly designed to provoke a national crisis. It felt like something larger was at play, a Chinese hand perhaps?

Over the decades, Pakistan’s military establishment has outsourced its sovereignty. First, to the United States, when Washington needed a pawn in its ‘Cold War’ battle with the USSR and now to China, which may want to destabilise India.

Why would China want to provoke a crisis between India and Pakistan? Simple: Distraction and delay to protect its economy.

Trump-era tariffs have cast serious doubts on China’s dominance as the world’s factory floor. This means India, with its massive workforce and stable democracy, has become an attractive alternative for global supply chains. This is an economic threat China cannot risk.

So, how does China buy time? By keeping India entangled in border tensions, internal unrest and cross-border terrorism.

Now they have another lapdog. If Pakistan is Beijing’s pet in the West, Bangladesh is a new one in the East.

Consider the recent suggestion by a senior political voice in Dhaka that Bangladesh should ally with China to seize parts of India’s Northeast if India retaliates against Pakistan. What!

Shocking, coming from a country whose very independence was secured by India, paid for with the blood of Indian soldiers?! How ungrateful…

Where does a small nation like Bangladesh find such audacity and bravado? The answer, again, likely points North — to Beijing.

China may be using our two disgruntled, jealous and fanatic neighbours to keep India militarily alert and economically distracted.

The more India spends on border management, defence procurement and retaliation, the less time and money it has to invest in what truly matters — which is building a domestic manufacturing ecosystem, developing infrastructure to leverage global manufacturing as it shifts away from China.

That said, there will be no peace in India as long as Pakistan and Bangladesh remain lapdogs.

Like it’s done with mad dogs, India will either have to put them down or learn to put up with them or…

Pray they mature as democracies and become humane instead of remaining a geopolitical canine.

Amen.

A Prayer … for our Soldiers

Since the launch of ‘Operation Sindoor,’ as night skies blaze with rocket fire on our TV screens and news anchors deliver breathless, panic-driven reports, one emotion should rise above the noise: Gratitude.

I am reminded of this as I recall a video of V. Lahari, a 5th standard student from the Government Primary School in Airbailu, Kundapur, Udupi district.

This student quietly and swiftly salutes the flex poster of Lance Havildar Anoop Poojary every day on her way to school. Now that is a citizen worth dying for.

Indian soldiers are risking and losing their lives so that you and your family can sleep in peace. But what do we give in return as small acts of our gratefulness?

How many of us have ever let a Jawan move ahead in a queue at a ticket counter?

How many private schools have ever given a donation-free seat to an Army widow’s child?

How many of us have ever offered a smile to a cycle-pedaling Jawan?

We have taken them for granted and, in turn, have become ungrateful.

Most soldiers serve this Nation because they want to.

I have written about him before, my friend Lt. Col. Ashith Appana. I feel I have to mention him again as he is right now serving on the Kashmir border.

Ashith and I, both joined National Cadet Corps (NCC) at the same time. While I saw no reason for a macho stomp session during parades, he stomped till the earth shook and his kneecap popped out.

While I cheated during long-distance runs by hitching a ride on the vegetable vendor’s bicycle, he ran like it was for his life.

Ashith did it because he wanted to be an Army man, a protector. Even if it meant that he might have to give up his life.

Even if he had to disappoint his parents, who wanted their son to be part of the ‘new India’ overflowing with ‘disposable’ income.

Even when he was warned that he would never find a wife if he joined the Army.

My friend was and is still intelligent, tall, dark and handsome. He could have easily become a top corporate man. But he chose the harder path.

Lt. Col. Ashith Appanna is now in his 40s. He has two children — a 16-year-old son and a 12-year-old daughter. While our children are worrying and praying about their board exam results, his children are worried about their father and praying for his safe return.

Ashith has served this Nation better than I ever can. He may not have much, but what he has in abundance is integrity — Unshakeable. Uncompromising. Unfathomable. The kind only a soldier can have.

I know he cannot be corrupted, cannot be negotiated with.

He will safeguard this Nation with his life. He will put his Nation before his children and wife. He is a patriot, as pure as they come.

I know many like him in our Armed Forces, and so I know I will enjoy my freedom for a long time to come.

I am grateful for Ashith and others like him every night who stand guard at the borders so I can sleep in peace and wake up in a free India.

There is an epitaph on a soldier’s grave in Nagaland which says:

  “When you go home, tell them of us,

  For their tomorrow, we gave up our today.”

I hope we remember it, like Lahari from Kundapur does every day.

Jai Hind.

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