Terrorists, disguised in police uniforms, barged into an army field regiment camp at Balian Pul, near the HQs of the 16 Corps in Nagrota of Jammu and Kashmir, on 29 Nov. The terrorists had forced their way into the officers' mess - killing an officer and three soldiers - before proceeding to two buildings occupied by officers and their families, creating a hostage-like situation. Thankfully, all 14 people including women and children, were rescued but another officer and two more soldiers died in the operation.
Yet another terrorist attack! The reasons:-
(a) It was Gen Raheel Sharif's last day in office. He'd to inflict pain upon India because the
blighter will never get another chance to spew venom in any official capacity in his life!
(b) Lt Gen Hooda, the northern army commander and my course mate from Foxtrot Squadron
of the NDA was to hang his uniform the next day.
Was the security around the 166 Field Regiment slack, as people are making it out to be? I can't swallow that angle completely. In this context, I remember a poser from one of the terrorist outfits to the standing armies/security forces and I quote, "How long can you remain on continuous alert? 24 hrs, 48 hrs or even 72 hrs? But a time will come when a chink would appear and we look for that opening to send in our ammunition. Period!" This is the stark fact and no, I ain't justifying any letdown in security on the part of the armed forces because they're fully aware of the alarming consequences of such a situation.
I've also been hearing explanations about how the terror tap was brought under control during the times of the previous regime. One heard about terror attacks rarely, giving a false sense of 'everything being fine on the borders'. But was it so, I wonder? With most of the media being in support of that political dispensation for the simple fact that every media house was owned by the loyalists of the regime, why can't we now look back in retrospect and see that the news was doctored to suit those in power?
I'm also alarmed by the increasing number of apologists of the recent surgical strikes carried out on terror camps in Pakistani territory, by our army. I shudder to hear their argument, "We shouldn't have fingered the issue. Now they'll retaliate in revenge". In other words we should have continued to maintain the status quo and let the Pakis do whatever they wanted as and when they liked. What a preposterous argument? We need to take the Pakistani bluff because it's clear that they're shaken by the strikes and will adopt all sorts of cowardly means to inflict damage upon us and we need to safeguard ourselves.
And maybe, in the process, carry out another surgical strike to inflict further damage to prevent it from doing anything silly!
Tailpiece.
The coconuts were being plucked from the trees in the Warriath compound across and around our house over the last three days, for the first time, after Chettan's passing away. Missed the patriarch's presence, when he used to stand under the shade and make an account of all the fruits, being brought down, on his scrapbook till the buyer came and took away the entire share in a few pick up trucks.
Yet another terrorist attack! The reasons:-
(a) It was Gen Raheel Sharif's last day in office. He'd to inflict pain upon India because the
blighter will never get another chance to spew venom in any official capacity in his life!
(b) Lt Gen Hooda, the northern army commander and my course mate from Foxtrot Squadron
of the NDA was to hang his uniform the next day.
Was the security around the 166 Field Regiment slack, as people are making it out to be? I can't swallow that angle completely. In this context, I remember a poser from one of the terrorist outfits to the standing armies/security forces and I quote, "How long can you remain on continuous alert? 24 hrs, 48 hrs or even 72 hrs? But a time will come when a chink would appear and we look for that opening to send in our ammunition. Period!" This is the stark fact and no, I ain't justifying any letdown in security on the part of the armed forces because they're fully aware of the alarming consequences of such a situation.
I've also been hearing explanations about how the terror tap was brought under control during the times of the previous regime. One heard about terror attacks rarely, giving a false sense of 'everything being fine on the borders'. But was it so, I wonder? With most of the media being in support of that political dispensation for the simple fact that every media house was owned by the loyalists of the regime, why can't we now look back in retrospect and see that the news was doctored to suit those in power?
I'm also alarmed by the increasing number of apologists of the recent surgical strikes carried out on terror camps in Pakistani territory, by our army. I shudder to hear their argument, "We shouldn't have fingered the issue. Now they'll retaliate in revenge". In other words we should have continued to maintain the status quo and let the Pakis do whatever they wanted as and when they liked. What a preposterous argument? We need to take the Pakistani bluff because it's clear that they're shaken by the strikes and will adopt all sorts of cowardly means to inflict damage upon us and we need to safeguard ourselves.
And maybe, in the process, carry out another surgical strike to inflict further damage to prevent it from doing anything silly!
Tailpiece.
The coconuts were being plucked from the trees in the Warriath compound across and around our house over the last three days, for the first time, after Chettan's passing away. Missed the patriarch's presence, when he used to stand under the shade and make an account of all the fruits, being brought down, on his scrapbook till the buyer came and took away the entire share in a few pick up trucks.
No comments:
Post a Comment