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| Image credits- VOA |
"There is no life to be found in violence. Every act of violence brings us closer to death. Whether it's the mundane violence we do to our bodies by overeating toxic food or drink or the extreme violence of child abuse, domestic warfare, life-threatening poverty, addiction, or state terrorism. - Bell Hooks"
Call it by any name, but terrorism has only one language, the language of death. As the dust settles at Pathankot and the anti terror ops enters it's final stages, several uncomfortable questions arise. The most prominent one is " can you trust Pakistan?" It is an undeniable fact that each time India goes all the way with the gestures for peace, Pakistan stabs us in the back. This happened in Kargil and has happened again.
It is a bare fact that such heavenly armed terrorists could not have sneaked into India without the active connivance of the Pakistani military establishment. The Pakistani establishment cannot escape from the blame by stating that non state actors were responsible for this act of terror. Their real intentions are exposed with the mere fact that they have refused to book any of the terrorists leaders who roam around free in Pakistan breathing hatred towards India. Yet despite the best evidence, Pakistan refuses to take any actions these terrorists.
India also is to be blamed for this fiasco. Even after suffering over two decades of Pakistani sponsored terrorism, India still has not devised a coherent policy and strategy to deal with these wanton acts of terror against India. Despite
decades of terror acts in Kashmir, the attack on the Parliament, in Mumbai and now in Pathankot, India always has a defensive strategy that does not give any dividends. On the other hand, it has made Pakistan believe that they can get over with any acts without fearing of an Indian reprisal. It is time such a strategy is revisited.
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| Black Cat Commandos during Republic day celebrations, 2015 ( Image credits- Wikimedia Commons / Soumya S. Das) |
The present terror attack is in a replay of the foiled terrorist attack at the Awantipur AFS some years ago. If the terrorists were successful in sneaking into the technical area and targeted the high value targets like MIG-21 Bison and the Mi-25/35 attack helicopters hosted at Pathankot, the consequences would have been unbearable. But yet the cost we paid is huge with seven brave soldiers loosing their lives in front these cowards.
It is time India revisited our strategy. It is also time for India took the battle to the enemy. The defensive strategy that we follow now is not working. We can learn a thing or two from small country called Israel or the USA. Israel always take the battle to the enemy. Be it the Munich massacre or the Entebbe hijack, Israel has at all times paid back in kind and has made her enemies realize the cost of fiddling with Israel. USA also followed suit and neutralized the man responsible for the 26/11 attacks. India is capable of undertaking such a venture, but due to political will has always refrained from such an endeavor. This has in many ways motivated Pakistan to up the ante against India.
India's options:
For India military is not the only option. There are other ways of doing things. There has to be a multi pronged strategy including aggressive diplomatic policies with intention to isolate Pakistan. India can also opt for covert means to get the terrorists leaders neutralized. It is time India took offensive strategy. The new government was elected with such an over whelming majority with the mandate to take a strong stand against Pakistan and neutralize the threat. The government cannot fail the nation at any cost. They owe as much to our motherland.
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