As tensions increase with Pakistan, a moment of truth for the military of India

The last time the perpetual tensions between India and Pakistan have transformed in a confrontation, Indian officials were forced to face an uncomfortable reality: the huge soldier of the country was swollen, outdated and sub-prepare for imminent threats to its borders.

The humiliation of the drop in an Indian jet by Pakistan in 2019 injected a new emergency into the modernization efforts of India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has poured billions of dollars into the army, asked for new international partners for weapons purchases and has prompted to extend the manufacturing capacity of the defense at home.

The amount of difference that these efforts have made could soon be tested.

India and Pakistan appear on the edge of another military conflict, because India promises reprisals for a deadly terrorist attack on the cashmere which, according to it, was linked to Pakistan. Tensions have increased so strongly that India has promised to disrupt the flow of a large river system to Pakistan, a step that it has never taken before, even during the wars that the two countries fought over the decades.

Pakistan, which denies its participation in the attack on the cashmere, described the water decision a “act of war”.

The massacre on Tuesday more than two dozen tourists in a picturesque valley shocked the Indians and put Mr. Modi under huge interior pressure to hit Pakistan. Analysts warn against the prospect of an prolonged and dangerous dead end, with diplomatic channels between the two countries with nuclear arms years ago and the world powers now distracted by other crises.