Cross-border smogism

A former associate editor with the Times of India, Jug Suraiya writes two regular columns for the print edition, Jugular Vein, which appears every Friday, and Second Opinion, which appears on Wednesdays. MORE Thanks to its ISI, Pakistan’s smoking can be made injurious to India’s health Islamabad has yet to address New Delhi’s concerns about cross-border terrorism emanating from its domain. But Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence, known for its ingenuity in sponsoring cross-border terrorism against India, might add cross-border smogism to the bag of its literally dirty tricks department. Flipping the Indian imposition of fines for stubble burning, the agency might offer inducements for such combustion, the smoke of which, with the aid of large extrusion fans, could be blown across the border to get into the eyes – or better still the lungs – of India’s body politic as well as its body anatomical. From exporting cross-border terrorism Islamabad could export cross-border smogism, a charge difficult if not impossible to prove, in that Pakistani smog would be indistinguishable from Indian smog.