Armed forces: Fighting terror
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It was the famous English poet Rudyard Kipling who, in his celebrated 1895 poem If said ‘:
If you can keep your head when all about you,
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you……..
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it
The gruesome incident in Pahalgam two days ago in which 26 Indian nationals were brutally murdered by Pakistani terrorists reminds me of these lines from Kipling, a favourite of many of my generation, because every Indian is incensed over the senseless killing and is baying for immediate action. It is at stressful times like these we need to hold our senses and concentrate on action.
There is no point in crying for revenge against another religion or country. We have merely to assure our leaders that we stand by them and support their further moves. None of us needs to display our patriotism, something that is taken for granted. We have a determined and resourceful leadership that will take care of the rest.
In the sequence of action that the government must be now considering, top priority could be to build strong international opinion that endorses it does in response to the terrorist attack. Fortunately, Prime Minister Modi and Foreign Minister Jaishankar have been hyperactive in meeting foreign heads of state in the latter’s soil or at international forums. This should ensure solid support for our possible action on the Pahalgam attack, however strong it may be.
Global reaction
A few Islamic nations could be wishy-washy in their stance. Bangladesh’s response could be lukewarm or even downright hostile. China could be another; it may not take a decisive stand but cleverly stop with appealing for a settlement of India-Pakistan disputes through diplomatic channels. We can afford to ignore them in the context of a likely solid support from the US and Europe.
There has been some criticism during post-Pahalgam media discussions over the government’s inability to contain Pakistan-sponsored terrorism.
According to one observer, India has been somewhat lackadaisical in its engagement with Pakistan. This school of thought demands that our diatribe against that country should be incessant and not sporadic. The suggestion is that we spring into action only after an incident had taken place, instead of constant action to keep Pakistan under pressure. This exhortation to ceaseless belligerence ignores several realities, including restraints imposed by international law.
Then there is the vexatious question of intelligence failure. Every act of terror is basically a failure of intelligence. Several conspiracies to hit an enemy are nipped in the bud. Intelligence agencies do not however publicise every one of them for tactical reasons. There are no doubt a few intelligence outfits in our country that are not so alert. Perched on a sensitive border which affords no quarter for complacence I am sure J&K intelligence is not one of them.
Security gaps
In the recent Pahalgam incident there were possibly a few gaps. Some extra manpower in the region in view of the ensuing tourist season and the Vaishno Devi festival could have helped. But not really, because the aggressors were either from a single or two heavily indoctrinated groups (such as Jaish-e- Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba) who were heavily armed and who had the advantage of a surprise element packed into their plan.
While many intelligence successes are a result of painstaking work done over years, a few are the result of a chance stumbling upon 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 type attack will not repeat itself, however strong our response is. We have to help the government to protect us, instead of entering into a slanging match with it on inane issues.
The writer is a former Joint Director of the Intelligence Bureau and a former CBI Director
Published on April 24, 2025
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