On February 14, a JeM suicide bomber killed 40 CRPF personnel at Pulwama. Thirteen days later, Indian Air Force jets bombed three terrorist camps in Pakistan. Since then, there has been a surplus of ill-informed, mischievous and revolting reactions. You wonder if Indians know how to mourn the dead and celebrate moments of national pride.
Leaders of opposition political parties have been shrieking for proof of number of terrorists killed and camps destroyed. Hopefully, NDA will not get provoked and oblige them. Inappropriately, they did so after the surgical strike in September 2016 and set a terrible precedent. No mature nation ever gives proof of its military and intelligence operations. Instead, it uses the data, mined from such missions, to carry out its future offensives more effectively.
With parliamentary elections barely weeks away, Balakot strike was bound to be politicised. NDA has been counting casualty figures of terrorists to project it as a government that makes no compromises on national security. Pushed on the defensive, opposition leaders are foolishly playing into their hands by trashing the aerial strike as an ill-advised, failed mission. There are numerous other ways in which they could punch holes in NDA’s credibility but by discrediting India’s anti-terror efforts, they sound irresponsible and Pak-friendly. Before it is too late, they need to rewrite the script after weighing the electoral cost which they may have to pay for belittling the aerial strike.
The funniest reaction was reserved for professional commentators. Their worry was that triumphalism, war hysteria and outright suspension of all bilateral ties would inevitably lead India to war against Pakistan. They are certainly not in tune with reality. Wars are not fought by jingoism and no leader risks his power to serve frenzied voices. Modi being a quintessential Gujarati will surely never go for it without evaluating its cost and benefits. Actually, such bouts of war hysteria are necessary for India which abounds with cynics, losers, dynasts and opportunists, whose survival depends on perpetuating corruption, economic inequality and regional, caste and religious animosity. Let sabre-rattling be a new normal to glue us as Indians, albeit temporarily.
For leaders like Mamata Banerjee and security experts, Pulwama happened because intelligence agencies failed again to provide timely intelligence. They must understand that no agency in the world can always pre-empt such attacks. If that were the case, no terror attacks would ever take place anywhere in the world. In fact, our agencies deserve enormous credit for not allowing terrorists to have a free run in the country. Yet others fume that if R&W had run covert operations relentlessly and kept Pakistan dismembering by inciting and arming Baluchs and Sindhis, Kashmir would have been a terror-free state. For R&W, this option is an easy pick. But the question is how will India be then different from Pakistan and whether we are ready to surrender our moral authority as one of the world’s leading crusader against international terrorism.
The writer can be contacted at amarbhushan@hotmail.com.
Amar Bhushan is a former Special Secretary of Research & Analysis Wing.