Armed Forces: Fight Terror | Photo credit: –
It was the famous English poet Rudyard Kipling who, in his famous 1895 poem if he said ‘:
If you can keep your head when everything is you,
They are losing their own and blame you ……..
Yours is the earth and everything in it
The horrible incident in Pahalgam two days ago in which 26 Indian nationals were brutally murdered by Pakistani terrorists reminds me of these Kipling lines, a favorite of my generation, because each Indian is an unable action. It is in stressful moments such as the thesis, we need to keep our senses and concentrate on action.
It makes no sense to cry for avengeing another religion or country. We simply have to assure our leaders to support them and support their additional movements. None or we need to show our patriotism, something that is tasks for granted. We have a certain and ingenious leadership that will take care of the rest.
In the sequence of action that the government must be considering now, the highest priority could be to develop a strong international opinion that supports in response to the terrorist attack. Fortunately, Prime Minister Modi and Foreign Minister, Jaishankar, have been hyperactive at the meeting of foreign state leaders on the ground or international forums of the letter. This should guarantee solid support for our possible action on the attack of the pahalgama, however strong.
Global reaction
Some Islamic nations could be disturbing in their position. Bangladesh’s response could be warm or simply frankly hostile. China could be another; It may not take a decisive position, but stop intelligently to appeal to an India-Pakistan dispute agreement through diplomatic channels. We can allow ourselves to ignore them in the context of probable support from the United States and Europe.
There has been a bone of a critique duration, the discussions of the media after pahalgama on the government’s inability to contain terrorism sponsored by Pakistan.
According to an observer, India has been somewhat expensive of lack of fires in its commitment to Pakistan. This school of thought demands that our diatribe against that country be incessant and not sporadic. The suggestion is that we jump to an action only after an incident had tasks, instead of a constant action to keep Pakistan under pressure. This exhortation to incessant Beligence ignores several realities, including the restrictions imposed by international law.
Then there is the vexatious issue of intelligence failure. Each horror act is basically a failure of intelligence. Several conspiracies to hit an enemy are trapped in the outbreak. Intelligence agencies do not publish each of them for tactical reasons. Without a doubt, there are some intelligence outfits in our country that are not so alert. Perched on a sensitive border that does not offer a complacency room. I am sure that J & K Intelligence is not one of them.
Security gaps
In the Pahalgam incident, some gaps were recently possible. An additional labor in the region in view of the posterior tourist season and the VAishno Devi festival could have helped. But in reality not really, because the aggressors were one or two heavy indoctrinated slads (like yes-eeeeee-taiba) that were armed and that had the advantage of a full-packed surprise element.
While many intelligence successes are the result of the thorough work done for years, some are the result of an opportunity that runs into the participants or witnesses. The point is that an average citizen believes that an IB or RAW is omnipotent and omniscient. This is far from the truth.
There is no guarantee that a pahalgam attack is not repeated, however strong our response is. We have to help the government protect ourselves, instead of finding out in a swan party with problems.
The writer is a former joint director of the Intelligence Agency and former director of CBI
Posted on April 24, 2025