One more dastardly attack on our military establishment by the Pakistan backed terrorist organization. The attack coming just after our PM Modi’s sudden and unscheduled visit to the farm house of Mr Nawaz Sharief, PM Pakistan on 25 Dec 2015 to wish him well on his birthday and to bless hisn grand daughter who was getting married, raises certain uncomfortable questions in the minds of average Indian Citizens with regard to the failing internal security situations in border districts in particular and across India in general.
Though no connection can exist between the visit and the terrorist attack, it is not coincidental that since 1947 partition Pakistan has characterized itself by attacking Indian establishments both civil and defence, whenever hopes of normalcy of relations between the neighbors was raised. History is replete with such attacks where our brave soldiers have sacrificed with their precious lives.
The terrorist attack on Pathankot Air Force Station in the early hours of 2 Jan 2016 is very serious and needs to be analyzed threadbare by all security agencies involved as series of lapses and intelligence failures by various departments points fingers that this terrorist attack could have been thwarted if the agencies involved had acted swiftly and efficiently.
It is a matter of concern that despite the area police station having been attacked by terrorists just six months ago, the required alertness by the personnel responsible for internal security including the Punjab Police was found wanting. The country wants to know why SP of Gurdaspur was found in the middle of the night in Pathankot, neighboring border district, that too with a civilian friend and his cook. He should have been taking care of his district, especially when the ADGP Punjab had issued intelligence warnings about terrorist attacks, rather than wandering the night in a border district without his police security detail.
It is for the inquiry committee to find out how the SP, his friend Verma and his cook were let off unharmed by the terrorists who hijacked his vehicle with police blue beacon on top, which was found abandoned barely 500 metres near Air Force Station Pathankot, while the merciless terrorists had hacked to death the driver of innova after hijacking his vehicle.
It is time that instead of only blaming Pakistan for the export of terrorists we have to ponder over strengthening our Internal Security apparatus both in terms of upgraded weapon systems and motivated and skilled men in numbers as well as deployment. It is paramount that the available intelligence inputs must be shared with all agencies involved without any bickering and ego hassles in the interest of the Country. In case we have not learnt any lessons from this misfortune of failure of intelligence sharing and the present ineffective internal security system the country will only be a hapless witness to the ultimate sacrifices of our brave soldiers.
Therefore the question is how many more such sacrifices by the soldiers of the Armed Forces due to the apathy of babudom and ignorance of political leadership fed by the babudom. Mere lip service and little financial packages for the MARTYRED family will not bring much needed succor but will only deepen the feeling of being betrayed as the indifference towards the community of soldiers has only been increasing since the victorious 1971 war.
If the govt of the day is serious about national security it is vital that the National Security Advisor should be from the Armed Forces. It is only a retired soldier who understands the national security better and knows all the nuances of co coordinating efforts of all three services engaged in national security. It is time a paradigm shift in the political mindset starts shaping from now on to see this as a reality in the near future.
The country is still know the truth as to what happened on the new year day in 2015 in the high seas near the Gujarat coast. It is duty of the govt of the day to tell the truth to the people of India as to what exactly led to the attack on Pathankot Air Force Station on the new year day of 2016 including acceptance of failures and measures taken to correct such failures in the future.
Jai Hind
I love my India