Date: 8/24/2001
AN IGNORANT AIR VICE-MARSHAL. HE IS INDIAN.
Please read the following newspaper article and the Comment at the end to make up your own mind.
(Courtesy: INDIAN EXPRESS, AUGUST 16, 2001)
COUNTER-SHOCK TACTICS
Narendra Gupta
Group of terrorists spray a couple of clips of AK47 fire on villagers rounded up in Doda, or shoots at harmless passengers at Jammu railway station or on religious pilgrims on their way to Amarnath.
There is a common thread. The initiative is with the terrorist. He picks the time, place and target for his attack. He generally selects an undefended target which has no capability of defending itself. 'Therefore, the victims fall prey to the attackers' depredations. The terrorist only, wants to create shock and fear among the populace and thereby spread terror in the minds of the people and show that he has total control and that local governance is non-effective.
This modus operandi is therefore, to be kept in mind when tackling the killers from across the border or the LOC. There is no doubt that terrorism by Pakistani proxy killers is aided, abetted and controlled by the Pakistani establishment. The home minister must remember that with the available number of army, paramilitary and police personnel, it is not possible to guard adequately all vulnerable areas (VAs) and vulnerable points (VPs). Therefore, there can be only a proactive solution to the problem.
If all our VAs and VPs cannot be defended, the same applies to his VAs and VPs, west of the LoC in PoK. For this purpose, like the Pakistanis, we can also recruit mercenaries from across the world, arm them and train them to take out the terrorist leaders, training camps and headquarters. We have very friendly ties with Israel.
Israeli expertise, specially the methods used by the Mossad, their elite secret service could be learnt and adopted. There is no reason why we should not create SWAT teams to target and liquidate the leaders of terrorist organizations.
It is time that these warlords were made to feel insecure in their own lairs so that they realise that they cannot carry on their heinous activities with impunity the governments' response has been to promulgate the provisions of the disturbed Area Act in the districts of Jammu also. This gives wide-ranging powers to the army and to the police. This is a defensive measure. It needs to be enforced very strictly. People found with unlicenced arms or explosives or timers or communication sets must be treated as spies and shown no quarter. They need to be charged with acts against the state and be dealt with summarily under the Army Act. There should be no question of housing them indefinitely in our jails and tempting their organizations to hijack our airliners to set them free.
Some members of the BJP and others have been propagating a more aggressive role for the Indian security forces. Some of these politicians have even suggested air strikes on the terrorist training camps and their logistic and training bases across the Line of Control or across the international border between the two countries. In view of the number of Indians being killed daily, positive steps have to be taken by India lest the people in our country and abroad perceive that the government is weak-kneed and India is a soft state.
Indian attacks on terrorist bases in PoK and in Pakistan would be under the principle of "hot pursuit". This principle is accepted in international Law. The Israeli government uses it whenever they retaliate in Lebanon against Hamas terrorist attacks within Israel. We could even term our military action against the terrorists and those sponsoring them as punitive measures for harming our people. However, the political and military environment in the Israeli-Lebanon scenario is different from the one existing between India and Pakistan. Israel is militarily very strong, is backed by the USA and needs to take firm action for its very survival. As against this, Lebanon has no capability for any kind of military response against Israeli air action.
Compared to that situation, in our sub-continent, both India and Pakistan are major military as well as nuclear powers. Under these circumstances, it needs to be evaluated as to what action Indian forces can bring home on to Pakistani terrorists in PoK. It is essential that the Pakistani response to any Indian cross-border action against the terrorists be carefully thought out, planned for and built into whatever tactical action we take. A core group consisting of experienced officials from the MEA, chiefs of Staff Committee and the MHA could work out the details of the strike plans as well as the contingency plans for the containment of Pakistani or international response. The immediate action by India has to be a diplomatic offensive. We need to get detailed photographs of the Pakistani terrorist camps. The Indian high-flying reconnaissance plane, the MiG-25, can take these snaps. Otherwise, the pictures can be obtained commercially from the French SPOT satellite or from a Russians surveillance satellite.
These photographs should be given wide publicity in the world media. Also, the MEA would need to hand over copies to the embassies of all friendly countries in Delhi. Appropriate briefing will need to be provided to our missions abroad. Such action will put international political pressure on Pakistan. It would also set the stage for any military action that may have to be taken by India subsequently and which we should definitely not rule out at this point of time. The first option is to carry out a barrage of artillery attacks on any of the Pakistani terrorist bases or routes of ingress within Indian army artillery range. This action would be effective and unlikely to invite any large-scale response. Similarly, like the terrorist attacks on Indian security establishments in J&K attacks by Indian mercenaries or commandos on Pakistani terrorist camps with a focus on military hardware and key personnel could be very effective. These too may not be responded to strongly by Pakistan.
However, if our commandos are not in Indian uniform they may be treated as spies and, if captured, will not be entitled to POW status. In any case, the history of Pakistan's holing of our POWs is dismal. Therefore, the two army actions are the more viable ones in term of results possible along with the likelihood of limited Pakistani response. Air action could be kept on stand by, if and when needed.
(The writer is a retired air vice-marshal)
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COMMENT
The write is a retired Air Vice Marshal, so his solution is BOMBING the target. That he mentions Israel shows his ignorance of the POLITICAL set up in that country and its integration with the Armed Forces. If Israel is a young race horse, then India is a senile lame pony, close to death.
The views of the Vice Air Marshal will have NO effect or impact at all on Pakistan or the Militants operating in South Kashmir. They will carry on as before. They know the CORRUPTION in India. They have seen the website ‘tehelka.com’. Most of them are in the pay of the enemy any way.
Pakistani High Command, like the governments all over the world, understand India better than this Air Marshal.
Strange, ironic, amazing, preposterous? YES, but TRUE.
The Air Marshal’s views are just for reading pleasure of the impoverished Indians like their films from Mumbai, and like the news of Hindu massacres in South Kashmir that come in with BORING regularity.
The Indians quickly turn over the page where they see the word Kashmir printed.
Kashmir was once a tourists’ paradise. Now it is Hell, as per design. The violence there is not Godsend nor accidental, but man made.
For the Genetically Reduced Indian (GRI), much clobbered by his “Hindu bashing Sarkar”, the above item in the “Indian Express” on August 16 last, was read and forgotten. There are other pressing chores of life that need attention and action, for example, ensuring candles on hand when electricity fails, filling up buckets of water at 4 a.m. before the taps go dry at 7 a.m., standing in the queue to fetch a pint of milk from the cowherd, removing the rubbish tipped by neighbours at the doorstep, keeping the children in when some Pathans pass by on their money-collection round, taking the child to school, fearing abduction and ransom demand, writing a complaint to the phone company for overcharging, writing the 10th reminder to the car dealer enquiring about the date of delivery of the long ordered car, fetching medicine for the ailing wife, and so on.
The Air Marshal also does not know that what he has said is not some mystery unknown to mankind. American bombers did it in Korea and Vietnam and are doing it in Northern Irak, British soldiers have landed in Macedonia and the US actually attacked Ben Laden’s hideout with missiles a couple of years ago. Israel does it all the time. Does the Air Marshal deserve a medal for his great ideas on countering Pakistani and Islamic militancy?
The Indian Air Marshal does not know that in other countries it is the POLITICIANS, that is the GOVERNMENT, which send off the troops on a mission while in his Bharat, the Government is hell bent on BETRAYING the Army, bleeding the Jawans to death in a long drawn out stalemate as in South Kashmir, and also in getting the armed forces a “bloody nose” in every conflict. How many "Victory Days" does the nation celebrate as statutory holidays each year?
Does the Air Marshal not know of the conquest of EAST Bengal, only to be returned to Islam? Did anyone in uniform deserve a medal for that?
Does he not know of Pandit Nehru’s urgent pleas to UNO for ceasefire when his own troops were advancing and the political solution was in sight?
The Air Marshal also shows IGNORANCE of another factor: Crippling TERROR of Islam and numbing FEAR of Pakistani retaliation in India’s Parliament.
Besides this GENETIC fear, deeply embedded in the Hindu’s bone marrow OVER CENTURIES, there is the presence of Muslim Fifth Column, not only in Parliament but also across the country.
The whole weight and might of Parliament in India, therefore, cannot do certain things, e.g.,
ABOLISH Article 370 of Constitution.
SETTLE Hindu and Sikh ex-servicemen and their families along the border in Kashmir.
Change the name of “Indira Gandhi International Airport” in New Delhi.
Give approval for the construction of Sri Ram Temple in Ayodhya.
Declare the Muslims “persona non grata” since, and because of, PARTITION in 1947.
Stop the lavish Hajj subsidies to the Fifth Column going to Hajj every year to renew their pledge to demolish the Hindu world around them.
Honour Rajiv-Longowal Accord by putting Chandigarh in EAST Punjab.
Try the murderers of innocent Sikhs in Delhi in 1984.
Pay full compensation for all the damage and destruction wrought by the Indian Army in Amritsar in 1984.
Hold enquiry into all the “fake” encounters killing young people in EAST Punjab during 1980’s and 1990’s.
Ensure that the post of PRESIDENT is with a committed HINDU and the man’s wife is born in India. (The present incumbent is a CHRISTIAN and his evangelist brat is an import from Myanmar!)
Sanction funds and grants for a native HINDU ashram or charity instead of projecting only Teresa’s Ashram as the most shining example of good charity work in India.
And so on. The List is long. The native in India is so far deep DOWN!
The Air Marshal does not know (poor ignorant bloke!) that when the news of massacre of Hindus or killing of service personnel comes in from South Kashmir, the Rashtrapati and the Leader of Opposition are actually quite happy at heart. To them all the Hindus are doomed any way, praying to devils and demons, and heading for Hell.
Come, come, Mr. INDIAN Air Vice-Marshal, we have consigned your views to the wastepaper basket just like the President and the Defence Minister of your India have done. Now relax, and go for a game of golf. Let Kashmir bleed to death. It is just as Bandit Nehru wanted. It is just as his legacy wills. It is just as the AXIS Powers** in India wish.
The Air Vice-Marshal is also forgetting that the HINDU BLOOD IS VERY CHEAP- DIRT CHEAP.
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(**ITALY, ISLAM and the Intimidated Ignorant Secular HINDU.)
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