| Corps Commander 15th Corps has issued warning for the second time that PoK-based ultras to the tune of a thousand well-armed and equipped are concentrated along the LoC waiting for a suitable opportunity to infiltrate into our side of LoC for perpetuating terrorist attacks. Nobody should take the warning of the General lightly especially when he is an important member of high powered security committee. He has assured the nation that the army is well prepared to meet the challenge as it has been doing in the past. We have no doubts, whatsoever, that the Indian army will rise to the occasion and give a befitting reply to the enemy who is trying to raise his ugly head time and again. There has been a heavy snowfall this late winter over the passes and hills and that has delayed the infiltration of the ultras for some time. Now that the weather has stabilized and the melting of snow has begun, it renders passage through clandestine routes and passes easier for the terrorists. This time the entire continuum of infiltration that has been going on since 1990, needs to be visited from different angles. First, Pakistan Prime Minister assured our PM in Kathmandu, Moscow and in Mohali, besides at other occasions, that his government would not allow terrorists to use Pakistani soil for attacks on India. The Indian Prime Minister took him on face value and agreed to continue composite talks for resolution of all outstanding issues between the two countries. But the ground situation does not support the contention of Pakistan, and Islamabad is not only unwilling to translate its commitment into practice but has not halted supply of arms and provision of training in terror to the ultras either from Kashmir valley or from PoK or from other parts of Pakistan. The simple inference once can draw from this double speak is that either the civilian government in Islamabad is playing to the galleries or that the Army there would not allow the civilian government interfere with its agenda on Kashmir or Afghanistan. In this backdrop the question arises does it boot that India should continue comprehensive talks with a party that is uncertain if its word has any weight back home? Secondly, India must apprise the world community that despite repeated promises Pakistan continues her overt and covert support to terrorism on its soil. This has twin purpose. One is to cut Pakistan to its size on international fora, and the second is to pave the way for any retaliatory action our policy planners might contemplate. Along with this, there is the need of speeding up the disposal of the cases of such terrorists as have been arrested by our security troops and are facing prosecution under law. The law of the land must be given free flow so that the terrorists do not think that they can make light of things. Unless we have deterrents, the miscreants may take us for a ride. Afzal Guru, Kasab and others have not an iota of concern that the law will take its course. They know that the week-kneed governments in New Delhi do very often succumb to intimidation and threats. They are also aware of political constraints of some of the mainstream political parties in the country and their negative role that helps them find reprieve. As long as this syndrome is in place, infiltration and terrorist activities within the State or in other places of the country cannot be stopped. This also should open up the issue of return and rehabilitation of Kashmir militants from PoK and other parts of Pakistan where they had gone for training in arms and terrorism to return to the valley and let loose a reign of terror and mayhem. Nobody rejects the humanitarian element in this sordid affair but at the same time security concerns of the nation have also to be taken into account. We have innumerable examples of renegades returning to militancy. We have also many examples of some of our police personnel abandoning their posts and joining the rank and file of militants and becoming their guides and informers. As such, the decision of welcoming the returning militants and rehabilitating them as a blanket rule may not work. It has to be revisited and careful scrutiny has to be made on the basis of established criteria about who should be entitled to return and rehabilitate and who should not. The political alliance in power may want to widen and strengthen their vote constituencies by adopting a blanket formula of rehabilitation of the militants, but in the long run it is going to do more harm than good to the state and the nation. |
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