Monthly Archives: August 2018

AMRITSAR/CHANDIGARH: An alert has been sounded in Punjab’s border districts of Amritsar, Pathankot and Gurdaspur following the terror strike on an army camp at Uri in Jammu and Kashmir that claimed the lives of 17 jawans on Sunday.

HT PHOTOThe Border Security Force is keeping a close eye on any movement from across the fence after the terrorist attack on an army base at Uri in Jammu and Kashmir.

Tight vigil is being maintained near key installations, including the Pathankot Air Force base that had come under attack by militants earlier this year and near Indo-Pak border areas, police said.

The Border Security Force (BSF) has heightened security along the Indo-Pak border and at Attari checkpost, where thousands of tourists come every day to witness the retreat ceremony.

A BSF official told HT: “Troops have been alerted and vigil along the border has been heightened. More troops are being sent to the sensitive areas along the border in the Amritsar sector.” The vigil along the riverine border belt in the Ajnala sector has also been beefed up.

“An alert has been sounded in border districts of Pathankot and Gurdaspur in light of the terror attack in Uri,” Pathankot senior superintendent of police Rakesh Kaushal said. Police patrolling has been strengthened near sensitive areas in and around the city and vehicles coming from and going towards Jammu are being thoroughly checked, police said.

“We have also increased the number of police checkpoints in and outer parts of the city,” he said.

Earlier this year, terrorists who had sneaked in from across the border had attacked the Pathankot airbase on the intervening night of January 1-2 while Dinanagar in Gurdaspur was targeted on July 27 last year.

The Pathankot attack had claimed the lives of seven security personnel while four terrorists were killed.

Three heavily-armed terrorists wearing army fatigues had stormed a police station in Dinanagar town in Gurdaspur district last year killing seven persons, including a superintendent of police, before they were gunned down during a day-long operation.

Arun Joshi

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, September 18

Uri attack in which 17 soldiers were killed by four fidayeen on Sunday has served a lot of uninspiring messages to the country, and Kashmir in particular.The fidayeen who come with a high degree of commitment to die, deeply motivated, are not easy to neutralise. Invariably, they have inflicted more casualties than suffered. It happened on Sunday too.It is no secret that the attack had the familiar soundtrack of Pakistan’s deep involvement in this attack, for it is keen to mount as much pressure on India on Kashmir, internally and externally as it can. The state and the so-called non-state actors work in tandem. Uri was the reconfirmation of Pakistan using such audacious attacks as its foreign policy tool to achieve its targets.Since 1999, it is at predawn hour when attacks are mounted with grenades and gunfire from assault rifles on the bleary-eyed guards and soldiers. The necessary lessons, how to foil such attacks, are forgotten immediately after the alarm bells fade into the background.With the infiltration having gone up, and Pakistan committing more support to Kashmiris in their resistance against India and its non-state actors announcing mayhem, this attack was not unexpected. Militants had rehearsed it in Poonch just a few days ago. Poonch and Uri are border areas close to the Line of Control that divides Jammu and Kashmir between India and Pakistan.The loud noises that there was a full preparation to face any eventuality, despite the recurring images of the wreath-laying ceremonies of soldiers and paramilitaries presented a false sense of everything being hunky-dory.There are severe lapses, both in the intelligence network, counter-infiltration grid and the lack of response to the sudden assaults. That the infiltration was peaking and Uri has been a traditional route of infiltrators since the late 80s, the alert level appeared to be wanting.There are suggestions of the timings and the sabotage, which cannot be ruled out because in all the previous fidayeen attacks, there were more concertina wires on the front and the rear, more height was added to the boundary walls, but till date the human failures were not detected nor an attempt was made to find out what went wrong and how. The attack on the Pathankot airbase in January is just one example. The stress was on rituals rather than in zeroing in on the lapses.Militants were determined to strike in a big way after the big noises were made about the deployment of more troops in south Kashmir, reckoned as the nerve centre of the over two-month-long unrest which has consumed 80 lives and left thousands more injured. The virtue of secrecy was subjugated to the sound bites.The fallout of this attack would be that the agitators who have kept the unrest alive in Kashmir would get emboldened. Militants used guns, the protesters will use stones with furious intensity.The Uri attack, one of the deadliest, targeting the Army in recent decades, will also be a test to how New Delhi deals with this situation. Will its reaction be restricted to issuing usual statements, or will it go for an offensive — diplomatic or otherwise.

New Delhi, September 18

Enraged over the terror attack on an Army battalion in Uri, former Army officers today sought urgent action against Pakistan, including keeping the “military option open” to deal with terror from its soil. “We must have our military option open, if required to strike at certain places,” Lt Gen BS Jaswal (retd) said here.“Bring pickets, which have launch pad, to the ground, raze them to the ground. The reason is that till the time it does not hurt Pakistan physically, they would not understand our decency,” said Lt Gen Jaswal, who was GOC-in-C of the Northern Command.“Pakistan keeps doing it (terror strikes) time and again knowing that we would not take any action,” Major Gaurav Arya (retd), who has expertise in the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir, said.The problems in Kashmir are “systematically manufactured” at the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi, he alleged, adding “We must take immediate action. Stop trade with Pakistan, downgrade (its) Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status. The world must know we are serious.”Questioning the absence of two service chiefs at the meeting chaired by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, former Army Chief General Shankar Roy Chowdhury said these actions were coming from Pakistan. “We have this meeting chaired by No 2 in the government, that is the Home Minister, where the RAW chief and CRPF chief are present. Who is doing these actions (terror attacks)? It is coming from across the border, from Pakistan,” he said.“Is the CRPF chief going to look at Pakistan? Where are the Chief of Army and Chief of Naval Staff? Why they were not available to give (advice on) strategic action to the Government,” he asked. — PTI

EXPERTVIEW

We must have our military option open, if required to strike at certain places. — Lt Gen BS Jaswal (retd) Preventing a suicide attack is difficult, but damage control is always possible. — Lt Gen SA Hasnain (retd)No defences are foolproof, though we aim to make it so but the essence is reaction. — Gen KJ Singh (retd)Pakistan keeps doing it (terror strikes) time and again knowing that we will not take any action. — Major Gaurav Arya (retd)

ribune News Service

Dehradun, September 10

Governor KK Paul and Chief Minister Harish Rawat have expressed grief over the death of Lance Naik Shiv Shanker Chhetri of Gorkha Rifles, who attained martyrdom in a freak accident while patrolling the Kupwara area of Jammu and Kashmir.The Chief Minister laid a floral wreath on the body of Lance Naik Chhetri. He also met his family members and offered his condolences. He said Chhetri has carried forward the legacy of bravery that had been part of the physic of Uttarakhandi people.Similarly, on behalf of the Governor, the protocol officer laid a floral wreath on the martyr’s body.

References to Baluchistan,

Gilgit-Baltistan and Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK)  on Independence Day by the Prime Minister set the cat among the pigeons. It helps prove just how little the strategic community of India and the world had earlier focused on these contentious aspects, especially Baluchistan. It has created a strategic turbulence of sorts in Pakistan itself, has got exiled Baloch people in the US and elsewhere gingered up, and produced strategic analyses in reams. India fully aware of this Achilles heel of Pakistan has desisted from raising the issue to embarrass Pakistan despite all the intimidation the latter has done in and on Jammu & Kashmir (J&K).

Baluchistan is a complex issue with an emotive, political and strategic connection. It has rarely been discussed in India or elsewhere and knowledge on it is largely deficient. The PM’s remarks have got Pakistan so riled that it has booked a couple of Baloch leaders for having supported the Indian Prime Minister’s remarks. The former Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai has come out in support of human rights in Baluchistan. Bangladesh which has an awkward connect to the issue too has supported the call for greater human rights for the Baloch people. However, in India there has been divided opinion with the political opposition questioning the need for raising the issue when India does not even enjoy the benefit of a common boundary with Baluchistan. Others objected to the raising of the issue when India itself had an ongoing internal problem with the turbulence in Kashmir. The Baluchistan issue has also become important because of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) on which China is investing 46 bn USD. A major part of this corridor lies in Baluchistan as does the port of Gwadar which connects the corridor to the sea.

India has no claim over the territory of Baluchistan and does not contest Pakistan’s rights over it. So what is Baluchistan all about and how does it enter into the India-Pakistan equation? Without too much detail it is perhaps suffice to know that much like Hyderabad and  Junagadh’s integration with India, Baluchistan also did not have a smooth integration  with Pakistan in 1947. There have been a series of uprisings at intervals of few years. The Baloch people want greater autonomy, increased royalties from provincial revenue  and natural resources which are in abundance in their region and, and an independent nation-state status. It is Pakistan’s largest state (40 percent of the land mass) but also it’s poorest, with a population of 13 million. The Baloch people exist in a region which is across three countries; Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran. The alienation that exists among the people is almost akin to that which existed in East Pakistan, a result of ham handed domination of the Pakistan narrative by the West Punjabis. The one event in recent history which probably raised the Baloch sensitivity by many notches was the killing of their leader Nawab Akbar Bugti by the Pakistan Army on direct orders of Parvez Musharaf.

Pakistan’s geo-strategic importance to nations that matter dictates much of the discourse. It has been a frontline state for the US through much of its history and for China it remains a strategic asset. India’s relationship with Pakistan though thorny has also been about noninterference in its internal affairs. This was especially since the period of former Prime Minister Inder Gujral (1997-8) whose doctrine was all about a benign policy towards the neighbors. Thus, despite Pakistan’s active support for the Punjab terrorists through the Eighties and the switch to even more active interference amounting to proxy war in J&K since 1989, India considered two things as anathema. First was the issue of water; never did it consider using threats relating to Indus Waters Treaty 1960 even when it was subjected to heinous terrorist attacks such as 13/12 and 26/11. Second, it never mentioned a word about Baluchistan even though the potential for exploitation always existed. This strategy placed India on a high horse of morality which has assisted in it attaining much respect in the international community. It is this moral ascendancy which is being referred to by many analysts with the deduction that a carefully crafted international image may receive a hit due to Mr Modi’s sudden turnaround in mentioning the ‘B’ word.

There are other objections from the analyst community which perceives that Iran may be unhappy with India supporting the human rights cause in Baluchistan. Such support is many times taken as backing for separatism. Separatist tendencies of Pakistan’s Baloch province will have its spin off effects on Iran’s people of the same ethnicity. Then there is Kashmir; there is this thought that by raking up Baluchistan we in India were making ourselves vulnerable to international inquisitiveness about our human rights record too.

For many years and more emphatically now, Pakistan has been using every possible propaganda tool to color India black with accusations of our interference in its internal affairs. The home grown terror campaign by the Tehreek e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the high intensity contestation of the Pakistan security forces by smaller groups is once again placed at the door step of India in the blame game. So with the demonization of India at every stage it had become almost routine, a virtual force of habit to castigate it for imaginary intervention in Pakistan’s affairs. Mr Nawaz Sharif’s recent remarks immediately after the suicide attack on the Quetta lawyers and follow up on Pakistan’s Independence Day did not hold back anything.

So, if Mr Modi decides to mention Baluchistan and focus on the human rights situation there how should this be taken by his domestic constituency? The first thought; it is testing the waters, getting the feel by forcing the adversary to respond, bring irrationality in his utterances and just unnerve him and the entire security establishment. Very used to the customary transactional responses from India, this one which is slightly below the belt nevertheless gets a standing count. It riles the Pakistani psyche which for many years has got used to India’s defensive stance.

 Those who perceive that with Kashmir unstable this wasn’t the time to play quid pro quo also say that our moral standing has taken a beating. They need to consider whether one should instigate when one’s house is stable or when the adversary is pressurizing you. You actually have to do it to force the adversary to pull back from his intent.

India’s routine response to Pakistan’s diatribes against it has been outright denial. It obtains no advantage. However, when a single word is spoken at the right time its effect is electric. Pakistan is already worried about India’s second coming in Afghanistan after Ashraf Ghani’s turnaround. The signing of the Trilateral Chahbahar Agreement opens another avenue for strengthening India Afghanistan relations. It is from that direction that Pakistan fears India’s interference since no physical boundary between Baluchistan and India exists. It is not helpful towards building future India Pakistan relations but the probable intent of Mr Modi was only to signal that two can play this game and that India in future would meet Pakistan’s attempts at interference in Kashmir.

In India’s security domain one of its weakest links is Information Warfare; the ability to play mind games, keeping the adversary on tenterhooks about the next move and taking the battle into the domain of smart warfare. Since for the umpteenth time Pakistan could raise the temperatures in Kashmir, after the recent killing of Burhan Wani, perhaps a little experiment is what the Modi mind is attempting. Remember Pakistan’s chaotic internal security situation and obsession with seeking its space in Afghanistan leaves it little time for Kashmir. Cornering it by imposing caution and giving enough signals about the future intent being in the same domain as that of Pakistan in Kashmir, could force a rethink. However, a one off smart move which has had strategic overtones needs sustenance for continuing effectiveness. We will have to wait and watch how Mr Modi takes this game forward.

(Adapted by the author from his article in Governance Now)

General DS Suhag (centre) during a visit to Kashmir on Friday.

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, September 9

Amid the ongoing unrest, Army Chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag reviewed the security situation in the Kashmir valley today.A defence spokesman said the Army Chief visited defence formations in the north and south of the Valley.“The Army Chief reviewed the security situation and collaborative measures of security forces towards ensuring peace and calm in the region,”  the spokesman said.The Army Chief was briefed by Lt Gen Satish Dua, General Officer Commanding (GOC), Chinar Corps, on the various initiatives undertaken by the Army all across the Valley to bring about peace.“General Suhag reinforced the need to synergise efforts with all other stakeholders and assured all support for bringing normalcy, particularly in south Kashmir,” the spokesman said.General Suhag landed in Srinagar this morning and visited various forward areas on the Line of Control in Kupwara district to review the preparedness of the Army in dealing with infiltration from across the border.The Army Chief was accompanied by Lt Gen DS Hooda, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Northern Command, and the Chinar Corps GOC.This was the Army Chief’s fourth visit to the state since the unrest erupted in July. He commended all ranks of Chinar Corps for their operational preparedness and commitment to the cause of national security. “He directed everyone to ensure strict vigil along the Line of Control,” the spokesman said. 

THE Kargil Army Chief, Gen VP Malik, in his book ‘Kargil: From Surprise to Victory’ says it best when he says that Capt Vikram Batra, after killing four Pakistani soldiers in a hand-to-hand fight and subsequent capture of Point 5140 called his CO exuberantly giving out his pre-arranged success code: Yeh Dil Mange More…This heart seeks more (victory). The recall of a handsome young man (later posthumously awarded PVC) repeating the tag line of a cola campaign became “the stuff of legends” as the General elegantly puts it.This is what a resurgent Army, certainly a resurgent India — a late comer to live drawing room TV coverage — badly needed after the initial setbacks; the ugliness born out of being surprised by a treacherous enemy who had professed peace at Lahore even as Pakistani troops configured as militants were climbing up to cross the LOC into India. Yeh Dil Mange More expressed this resurgence wonderfully and aptly; setting the national mood on fire; certainly it’s young across gender.Militarily, however, it is educative to understand the complexities that go into the formulation of greatness by taking the example of the capture of Point 5140; one of many critical successes that led us to victory during the Kargil War.At 1930 hours on 19 June 1999, tension was perceptible at the base of Point 5140. CO 13 JAK Rif, Lt Col (now Gen) Yogesh Joshi was giving his final briefing to Capts Vikram Batra and Sanjiv Jamwal. His orders were comprehensive, yet terse: The battle cry Durga Mata Ki Jai must be heard before dawn and the success signals fired and narrated on radio. Yeh Dil Mange More… Better orders which left the young officers otherwise free to improvise while conducting their mission could not have been given. Joshi was doubtlessly inspirational, succinct and pithy. At 2030 hrs even as darkness fell, the Gunners opened up, ‘shooting in’ the two attacking companies up to 200 metres short of the objective. The courageous troops, however, came up under murderous automatic fire immediately thereafter and asked to have the artillery fire resumed till they were just a 100m short of the objective. This implied that fratricide losses were acceptable; not failure…An amazing orientation. This is when Durga Mata Ki Jai was yelled out, chilling the shocked enemy. As the fierce close quarter battle progressed at 16,900 feet, many sub tales of heroism came up (a soldier/quality Basketballer continuing to attack with just the stump of his hand left…) Capt Jamwal gave out his success signal shortly thereafter: O Ya Ya Ya…Col Joshi had to wait however for the success of Vikram Batra who was tasked to capture the  daunting peak and before first light at 0430 hours, it did…The radio suddenly crackled with Batra’s euphoric Yeh Dil Mange More one-line narration…Pt 5140 had been taken at 17000 feet and without loss of life. India celebrated; the Army celebrated. Yeh Dil Mange More should be seen as the magic alchemy that converted startup losses into stunning, unprecedented victory…Not just for the resurgent Indian Army but for India as a whole. It was euphoria for our Alpine bravehearts and for India.

Sharif chaired the meeting. PTI

Islamabad, September 30

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawz Sharif condemned what it called “cross-border firing” and “Indian aggression” on Friday and warned of retaliation, even though it continued to deny claims of it having been a “surgical strike”.

At a Cabinet review meeting he chaired, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawz Sharid said the government would do all it could to protect its people and territorial integrity against “any act of aggression from across the Line of Control”.

He claimed that “Indian agression” posed a threat to the region, The Express Tribune reported.

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“No one will be allowed to cast an evil eye on Pakistan,” Sharif said, adding that it was also “fully capable of executing surgical strikes”. “The nation is standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the valiant armed forces to defend the motherland.”

Sharif also called Kashmir “unfinished agenda of the partition” and said India “atrocities” in the state were “unacceptable”.

Sharif also demanded investigation into September 18’s terrorist strike at Kashmir’s Uri in which 19 Indian soldiers were killed and said India’s blaming Pakistan for “engineering” it was beyond comprehension.

‘Befitting response’

Pakistan’s Army chief General Raheel Sharif has warned that any “misadventure” by India will be met with the “most befitting response”.

Expressing operational preparedness of the Pakistan Army, Gen Sharif said: “Any misadventure by our adversary will meet the most befitting response from Pakistan. Pakistan can’t be coerced through any amount of malicious propaganda.”  According to an Inter-Services Public Relations statement, Gen Sharif while talking to troops exhorted all commanders to lay more emphasis on combat readiness. He emphasised that training in peacetime is the only guarantor of averting war and winning it if imposed.

Gen Sharif also said that “highest” state of vigil was being maintained along the LoC and all along the International Border.

Indian Army said on Thursday it conducted military strikes across the border on seven terrorist launch pads on Thursday, claiming there were “significant casualties”.

Pakistan however dismisses the claims, calling it “cross-border firing”, “a fabrication of the truth” and India’s “quest” for media hype.

The strikes by India came in the wake of the Uri militant attack. —  Agencies

Anand Kumar
India has still not decided whether Pakistan is an enemy state. It’s clear that the country has no consistent policy towards Pakistan. We look for options when we are attacked but yearn for peace after a few days. We must create options beyond uninterrupted talks.

Hostile Neighbour: Pakistan”s High Commissioner Abdul Basit speaking at a programme on “India-Pakistan Relations,” organised by the Delhi Study Group in New Delhi. PTI

India seems to be desperately searching for an option to adequately respond to Pakistan in the aftermath of the attack on the security forces in Uri in Jammu and Kashmir by the Pakistani-sponsored terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammad. This time the search for options against Pakistan is intense because the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) now in power has been talking of tough action against Pakistan to prevent the recurrence of such incidents. The real options, however, still seem  elusive. Talking to Pakistan pacifies that country temporarily but it is not a permanent solution. It has been noticed in the past that while such peace initiatives have been going on, a section in that country always tries to scuttle such endeavours. Pakistan raises the temperature at regular intervals by launching terror attacks and during the Kargil conflict even went for a mini war. India has to realise that we are faced with a rogue state in our neighbourhood. What is worse, this rogue state considers India as an existential threat. India may not have hostile intentions towards Pakistan but this is what Pakistan believes in. It still believes in bleeding India through a thousand cuts. If Pakistan considers India as an existential threat, then there is no point talking to it. It will not lead to the solution of any of the bilateral problems, and this is what has been happening. Pakistan uses issues like Kashmir to rationalise its hostile behaviour. Kashmir became an issue simply because the Indian State has not handled it properly. On the other hand, countries like China successfully turned critical issues like Tibet into a non-issue. Even Pakistan plans to incorporate Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) by going for the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). However, Pakistan has managed to keep the pot boiling in the Kashmir Valley and to bring undue international attention. India does not seem to have a plan to deal with the Kashmir turmoil. The very rational of Pakistan army, the most important functioning institution of Pakistan, is to wage war against India. Often, it is suggested that this army does not want amicable relations between these two countries. If relations between these two countries become normal then how would Pakistan army justify its existence and the massive resources it corners in Pakistan? The Pakistan army at present decides all important foreign policy issues, including  towards India. It’s hardly surprising that this policy is full of hostility. Of late, democracy in Pakistan has been on the backfoot and the control of Pakistan army is increasing. In fact, some Pakistani scholars go as far as to suggest that Pakistan has actually never seen democracy. It has only seen military rule of various kinds and extent. The way the Pakistani State is structured at present and the way it functions, it is impossible to expect any responsible behaviour from them. The presence of nuclear weapons in the hand of this rogue state has further complicated the situation. In the past, it was suggested by some that if India responds militarily then it would be walking into the trap laid by Pakistan. The fear of war escalating into nuclear conflict is also cited. But then it would mean that India should prepare itself to take terror blows from Pakistan at regular intervals. This would be a policy of pusillanimity. A section in India has argued that India should do much more for its neighbours, without expecting any reciprocation. Possibly, following this policy India gave the one-way most-favoured nation (MFN_ status to Pakistan. Unfortunately, Pakistan construed it India’s desperation to buy peace. In Pakistan, the debate is still  on about how it can give the MFN status to India, a preferred enemy state.India on its part has still not decided whether Pakistan is an enemy state or not. In fact, one of the Indian Prime Ministers is known to have weakened the covert capability of the country against Pakistan. It’s quite clear that the country has no consistent policy towards Pakistan. We look for options when attacked but start yearning for peace after a few days. But it seems Pakistan has decided that it will not let us live in peace. No knee-jerk reaction is warranted in the aftermath of the Uri attack, but a well-thought-out reaction is needed to tell Pakistan that its proxy war would no longer be tolerated. It’s quite ironical that the Rafale agreement that has been hanging fire for 16 years was finalised after the Uri attack. Similarly, this attack should also act as a trigger to expedite Modi’s Make in India programme in modern weapon systems. It has been argued that India is no Israel or the US to take action in such cases. However, both these countries are able to act against their adversaries because they enjoy overwhelming military superiority. Hence, now onwards India should also work to create this overwhelming conventional military superiority vis-à-vis Pakistan, if not China. Only this will deter Pakistan from its regular terror incursions and not so-called “diplomatic isolation”. Diplomacy often gives only legal cover to military actions and this is where India needs to improve its capability. The much-talked-about manipulation of the Indus Water Treaty also seems to be no option at present in the absence of suitable infrastructure to control the water flow. However, this is also one area where India can start doing the needful so that it can tighten screws as and when required. Last but not the least, India should also be ready with a post-Pakistan strategy in case this happens either because of the domestic situation in that country or because of a war. It’s foolish to think that a long-standing problem like Pakistan would have a quick-fix just because a BJP-led government is in power. India will have to create overwhelming asymmetry in conventional power, use the Indus Water Treaty as a pressure point and keep a post-Pakistan plan ready for effective solution of Pakistan-engendered security problems. It may take some time, but the Indian government should start working towards it and there should be a consensus on this issue across the political divide. It should not necessarily be the agenda only of any one political party. The writer is an Associate Fellow, Institute for Defence Studies & Analyses, New Delhi