The Pathankot terrorist attack has shocked the
nation. No one had expected such an incident to take place while Narendra Modi
is at the helm of affairs. Many started searching history on Pakistan's
previous responses to India's outreach, justifying that this attack happened
due to Narendra Modi's surprise visit to Lahore on December 25. This is really
a test for Modi-Doval, as what will be their next step! Time will tell how
India under Modi responds to this act of cowardice.
However the aim of this article is not to
discuss how Modi's foreign policy towards Pakistan is or how untrustworthy
Pakistan is. The primary question is, whether only Pakistani terrorists are
responsible for this attack or there is an Indian angle to it too?
As per reports, Gurudaspur SP Salwinder Singh
was briefly kidnapped by terrorists. The terrorist moved for around 31
kilometers along with the kidnapped SP, crossing a number of check-posts
without being stopped because the SP's vehicle, a Mahendra XUV had a blue
beacon light on top. The SP after being released informed the police at 3.30 am
on December 31 regarding entry of terrorists and the possibility of an attack
on the air force station. On early morning of January 1, the attack took place
and six terrorists killed seven Jawans during the three-day long encounter.
This raises a few pertinent questions which are as follows:
1) Why wasn't the SP's specific information
taken seriously and why wasn't the area around the air force station cordoned
off?
2) There are around 50,000 Army men present in
Pathankot who are expert in countering terrorists. Why weren't they pressed
into action? NSG reached the airbase just an hour before the attack took place.
Why did the NSG reach so late?
3) NSG's expertise is in specific cases of encounters
where a few terrorist are holed up, but the Pathankot case was very different
and could have been handled with the Army men's expertise. For example an NSG
commando was killed while recovering a terrorist's body, because of a bomb
explosion. Army is more careful while recovering such bodies and checking
whether any bomb is planted or not. They do such jobs in Jammu and Kashmir
every day.
4) It is also mysterious why the terrorists
released SP Salwinder Singh alive after a few hours. Why wasn't the SP
interrogated to find out whether he was part of the conspiracy or not? The
story unfolded till now suggests that the SP might have shown the road leading
to the air force station to the terrorists. Instead of being arrested, the SP
is being openly allowed to give interviews to media.
5) How did an SP's vehicle with people in Army
uniforms cross so many checkpoints without being checked or stopped
particularly when there is a terrorist alert? Was the vehicle not searched
because it’s common in Punjab to let top official's vehicles pass without any
checking? Many reports say that Punjab Police is involved in drug trafficking
in the state. The question here is, whether the system of alleged drug
trafficking by Punjab Police is giving an advantage to terrorists?
6) Punjab Police got specific information 26
hours before the attack, yet seven soldiers were martyred. Who is responsible,
the terrorists or Punjab Police?
There are many more questions which need proper
answers. The threat from terrorists will always be there, but if our security
system especially the police remain casual and irresponsible, how can we blame
the terrorists only? The intelligence and security system in Jammu and Kashmir
is very strict now, due to which terrorists are not succeeding in carrying out
any spectacular attacks over there. And that's why they have now chosen Punjab,
especially north Punjab, taking advantage of police lapses. Punjab Police needs
to answer all these questions. The government of Punjab too needs to come clean
on this.
That's why I think that for the Pathankot
terrorist attack, Punjab Police and Indian intelligence are bigger culprits
than the Pakistani terrorists. You can't blame a thief for stealing, if you
leave open your valuables without watch and guard.
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