Don't blame Pakistan,We should blame ourselves first
Today, all of us woke up to the news of the terrorist attack on INDIAN AIR-FORCE forward Air-Base Pathankot AFS.I was watching a news channel when one reporter asked Maj Gen G D Bakshi (retd) for his comments,I was surprised to hear that he was shocked that Pakistan has back-stabbed us even after PM Modi's diplomatic masterstroke of visiting Lahore which took the entire world by surprise.
Well, frankly speaking, I think everyone in the government, IB & R&AW were expecting A major terror strike because over the last decade a pattern has emerged whenever India-Pak Peace Talks are initiated, terrorist organizations
across the border send in their fidayeen to disrupt The Peace-Process.News agencies report that after Gurudaspur SP car was hijacked at gun-point Security was beefed up across Punjab,Also there was specific intelligence reports that terrorist will target strategic military installations and a NSG team was deployed in the Pathankot Air-Base.Despite all this,the fact that terrorist managed to enter the Air-Base and killed 3 sentries and a Garud commondo shows that we are lacking somewhere.
The Garud Commando Force is the Special Forces unit of the Indian Air Force. It was formed after an attempt by terrorists to attack two major air bases in Jammu and Kashmir in 2001, Indian Air Force commanders felt the need for a specialized force to protect these critical elements and to have a dedicated Commando Force trained in Special Forces techniques, Combat Search and Rescue, Reconnaissance, Counter Insurgency (COIN) Operations and Emergency in response to terror-threats to airfields.
While the Army provides some Special forces units to the Air Force,its units were always subject to being posted out on rotation to other areas as per the Army's requirements.
It was felt that the specialized training the air force would have provided to such
units would have to be repeated again and again for the replacement Units.As a result,The
Garud Commando Force was formed in September 2004.After Today's attack where terrorist managed to sneak into the base,the base Garud Commando Force officer will have a lot to answer.
Whenever a major terrorist strike occurs,we blame Pakistan.Yes,indeed Pakistan is the culprit,
But before blaming Pakistan,We should blame ourselves.Yes you read it right,we should blame
Ourselves.The reason for that is our lack of retaliation.We did nothing when terrorist
Planted the bombs in Mumbai Local Trains in 2006,we did nothing when Lashkar-E-Toiba's men
Held Mumbai hostage for 3 days during 26/11 attacks.We only prepare dossier on Pakistan involvement in 26/11 attacks.Hafiz Saeed the mastermind of 26/11 attack openly challenges India in his rallies in Lahore which is less than 50 km from Indian Border.Had it been Israel,Hafiz Saeed would have been long dead.Bullet for Bullet is the only strategy that will work against Pakistan.
Yes the Army special forces action in Myanmar in 2015 was indeed a rare instance of Government directing the Army to go after militants after Manipur ambush.We are always at the receiving
end of Pakistan sponsored terrorism.There are many reasons for that.
1-The biggest reason is politics played by IAS lobby in the procurement of new & advanced
War machinery,IAS lobby has managed to keep Military begging for Arms since independence.
2-Equally responsible are the supine military top brass.
3-Import Lobby among the bureaucrats ,corrupt Military officers.Though on this front we are
Progressing,after PM Modi's campaign for Make-In-India,we are seeing lots of positive moves
Which we should have done decades ago.
4-Lack of importance given to the rising casualties.Only Americans & Israel main priority is
Minimizing casualties.They base their all Military operations on having minimum casualties of
Their personnel.India,frankly speaking treats its soldiers as mere cannon fodder.
5-Obsolete Air-Force.In today's warfare,it is the Air-Force which plays the decisive factor
In the final outcome.We have never used our Air-Force to its true potential.Our AIR-FORCE
Squadron strength is presently at 33 squadrons when the sanctioned strength is 42.
6- Considering our dependence on Gulf for Oil,the Navy also plays an equally important role.
Though we have acquired state of the art Boeing P-8 Poseidon anti-submarine aircraft,it has its own limits. Our depleting submarine fleet is a matter of grave concern.One should not forget the role of INDIAN NAVY during Kargil War.INDIAN NAVY had blocked oil supplies of Pakistan resulting in only six days of oil left.Today China can do the same to us in case it decides to support Pakistan in case of INDIA-PAKISTAN war.It can block our Oil supplies and also they can humiliate us at will across LAC.
7-Our lack of learning from past mistakes.Take for eg:-Operation Parakram Disaster
India’s first attempt at military coercion achieved only limited success. Operation Parakram,
Launched in the wake of the December 13, 2001 terrorist attack on Parliament, was the first
sull-Scale mobilisation since the 1971 Indo-Pak war. It began on December 15, 2001 after the
Cabinet Committee for Security’s (CCS) decision and was completed on January 3, 2002. It finally
Ended on October 16, 2002 when CCS belatedly recognized that the law of diminishing returns had been operative for many months already. In a face-saving move, CCS declared that troops
were being “strategically relocated” and constant vigil would be maintained, especially in J&K.While the formations responsible to defend the border – “holding”or “pivot” corps – were ready for battle within 72 to 96 hours of receiving orders, the three“strike corps” (1, 2 and 21 Corps) took almost three weeks to complete their mobilization because their fighting echelons are based at long distances from the border. Hence, it was only in the first week of January 2002 that major offensive action could have been undertaken by the land forces. The most important lesson that emerged from the standoff was the inordinately long time that strike corps needed to mobilize for war. By the time these elite formations were ready to deliver a massive punch, the international community had prevailed upon India to give General Musharraf an opportunity to prove his sincerity in curbing cross-border terrorism.
These strike corps is designed to penetrate deep into Pakistan and run the risk of crossing
Pakistan’s nuclear threshold early during an offensive campaign.The “recurrent political
Controversies on military procurement in the last 25 years” has “crippled the army’s
modernization programme.” Sadly, not much has changed in the last decade despite
Well-intentioned reforms in defense procurement procedures. Inordinate delays in decision-making
and bureaucratic red tape continue to mar acquisitions,A large chunk of the defense budget is
still surrendered year after year, large equipment shortages continue to persist.
Former air chief A. Y. Tipnis said at that time: “We have shown enormous patience,
Inaction is damaging our credibility; people have begun to believe India incapable of taking
any action.
The harsh truth is that the government played a game of bluff not just with Pakistan but also
with its own military When a nation enjoys credibility, it can usually achieve its objectives
with a mere threat to use force.However, when there are serious credibility problems,
even modest objectives are difficult to accomplish.
The only way out is making Pakistan pay for its mischief.The truth is People of Pakistan hate us.
Despite both country's PM remark that the people of both country want peace.The truth is people of
Pakistan hate us.They rejoice when we bleed.It will be interesting to see Modi's next move.We had
a golden opportunity to retaliate post 26/11 but the then government did nothing.What I am writing
may be not practical,but the truth for everlasting peace in the sub-continent can be achieved only
through complete destruction of Pakistan and realizing Veer Savarkar dream of 'Akhand Bharat',which can be achieved only through force.In day's ahead we will face many such terror incidents.If something spectacular attack takes place like 26/11,we should retaliate massively.
Talks should go on but we should not be hesitant for coercive action when some major terror strikes take place in coming days,which in all probability will take place.