‘India lacks a strategy on Pak’

The January 2 terrorist attack on Pathankot airbase once again points to the lack of not just an immediate but also a long-term strategy to deal with our warring neighbour, Pakistan. Whenever a terror attack occurs, there is an immediate public outcry and media outrage but soon it is business as usual. In recent years, it happened in November 2008 when there were attacks across Mumbai resulting in loss of 166 lives. Then again in July 2015, there was the usual noise when Dinanagar police station was stormed causing seven fatalities. The latest attack on Pathankot airbase, in which a group of six terrorists inflicted seven casualties, has the nation all worked up again.

The question being asked is: how is it that while America has managed to prevent a repeat of 9/11, we are repeatedly caught off-guard This is primarily because unlike the US, we have failed to create a secure environment in our country. We invariably end up tightening security in areas that are attacked. If Parliament is attacked, security check-points spring up there. If a five-star hotel is attacked, all such hotels beef up security. All that the terrorists need to do is to avoid the secured places and target other places, as they have been doing! To avoid this hide and seek, we need to work towards creating a comprehensive security environment in the country.

India has continued to bleed because it has failed to devise a strategy to deal with Pakistan's continuing policy of irregular warfare, both in times of war and peace. Starting with 1947, when it sent tribesmen into Kashmir, and then in 1965, when it launched irregulars before Pakistan launched its main offensive, it has continued with this policy.

That a frontline airbase like Pathankot was penetrated reflects a gross failure. Pakistan has targeted this base since long. During the 1965 War, Pathankot was among the three airbases on which Pakistan's Special Service Group (SSG) commandos were para-dropped to make the runways unfit for aerial missions. Fortunately, the bold plan failed as they were discovered and hunted down by the locals.

The obvious need is to deal with Pakistan at two different levels - immediate and long term. In the short term, we need to work towards having a two- or three-tiered defence of the borders manned by three different outfits - BSF, Army and the state police. Two, ensure that each of the defence and other important installations have not just static security but also quick reaction teams (QRTs) at hand to deal with any eventuality.

Since Pakistan has, at least on the face of it, agreed to carry out fair investigations into Pathankot attack, the two countries must work towards building a mechanism to deal with such incursions. Earlier, in 2003, the two agreed on a ceasefire on the LOC, which has more or less held, with the exception of a few violations. Since we have a live border, such an arrangement will have to be thrashed out by military experts on the two sides. Like in case of Pakistan, India should appoint a retired military officer as its National Security Adviser (NSA) to ensure better understanding of the military issues at hand.

In the light of the recent incidents of infiltration, it is important to identify and plug the gaps on the border. All along the International Border (IB) with Pakistan, there is BSF deployment. However, the 760-km Line of Control (LOC) with Pakistan is primarily manned by the Army. All along the IB and LOC, India has managed to put up a fence, which has proved to be extremely effective in preventing infiltration.

However, the portion of the IB which requires special attention is the 210-km stretch, which Pakistan refers to as the Working Boundary (since it falls in Punjab on the Pak side and in J&K on the Indian side). Parts of the riverine stretch from Madhopur Headworks to Munnawar Tavi are often exploited by terrorists.

Fortunately, unlike in Kashmir, the Pak terrorists are not getting support from the Sikhs in Punjab.

While the respective NSAs grapple with day-to-day issues, it is important that the political leadership of the two nuclear powers work on removing the irritants. For normalisation of relations, issues that must be addressed include the Kashmir dispute, besides Siachen and Sir Creek. It is time, the political leadership of both work towards building a consensus on a peace pact of the kind that two warring states of Egypt and Israel signed 36 years ago. After clashing repeatedly over the Sinai Peninsula and other areas, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin signed the Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty in the presence of the US President in 1979. The two sides agreed to cessation of the state of war and demilitarisation of the disputed areas besides certain other things. The peace accord has held till date, though in the process, Sadat was assassinated.

Obviously for a thaw in Indo-Pak relations, political leaders on both sides will need to stick their necks out and be prepared to make, if need be, the supreme sacrifice. But, clearly, as of now, the leaders on the two sides are content with pushing their soldiers to do so.

The writer is a Chandigarh-based journalist, who is a defence and security analyst