"If India's Retaliation Was Directed Against...": Ex US NSA John Bolton Exclusive

India is "entitled to retaliate and try to eliminate terrorist threats" to its sovereignty and people, ex-US national security advisor John Bolton told NDTV Monday evening, nearly two weeks after a terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam left 26 people, mostly civilians, dead.

Mr Bolton, who was NSA to President Donald Trump in his first term, acknowledged to NDTV that India had a "legitimate right to self-defence" when faced with the threat of terrorism, but also urged Delhi to exhaust all diplomatic avenues before launching a military counterstrike.

It is imperative, he said India set a record for the rest of the world - that it had tried to everything to ensure a peaceful resolution to this long-standing problem. This, he suggested, could include Pakistan being pressured by its all-weather ally, China, to act against terror groups on its soil.

"I think Prime Minister Narendra Modi exercised a great deal of restraint having been through a similar episode in 2019," he said, referring to the attack in J&K's Pulwama, weeks before a general election, in which 40 soldiers were killed by Pak-based Jaish-e-Mohammed.

The response then was swift - air strikes on Jaish terror camps in Pakistan's Balakot.

A military response to the Pahalgam attack - claimed by The Resistance Front, a proxy of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, another Pak-based terror group - has been expected since Mr Modi reportedly gave the armed forces a 'free hand' in assessing targets and planning and executing strikes.

"... 2019 wasn't the first time a terror attack happened in India. It (the Kashmir issue) is a continuing source of tension and risk between two nuclear powers. But, and I hate to call it an 'opportunity', there is a moment we, i.e., the US and others, can urge both parties to say, once again, 'let us try and find a way to prevent this from happening in the future'," Mr Bolton said.

"This is a very difficult problem... there is no doubt about," he said as he offered two solutions for diplomatic pressure on Pakistan to do what it should do - "establish control over its territory and make sure terror attacks are not launched from there against India or any other country".

"I think there are two possible approaches to take and am sure the Indian government has already thought of this. No 1. I'd be concerned about the growing Chinese influence on Pakistan. This needs to be put on the table between India and Pak... India should tell Pak, 'we should resolve this and not let others influence it. Pak should be concerned about this too."

"And, No 2. India should go to China and say 'we expect you, as a bordering country with us, to press Pakistan to control these terror groups. If both these fail then India can say we tried to do everything from a diplomatic perspective and avoid significant escalation."

Mr Bolton also stressed that should the Indian government calculate that it had, in fact, exhausted all diplomatic options, any military response needs to "precise".

"I think if India's retaliation was directed against the group that carried out the attack... if it were precise... then it would demonstrate India has no larger ambition (and) it would give Pakistan a face-saver opportunity... to step back and restart diplomatic negotiations.."

"Even neighbours can disagree... and disagree strongly... but resorting to terrorism is never an acceptable way of expressing disagreement," Mr Bolton said.