Why blame Pakistan for acts of terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir as it is always on denial and is bent upon bleeding India until the Kashmir problem is resolved or till India gives a befitting reply through fierce retaliation. Surgical strike is not enough but it has to be isolated economically, militarily and diplomatically at the international level.
The Indian patrol of about 10 soldiers could not defend themselves because they were not equipped with the latest sophisticated weapons and equipment.
In an unprovoked action, Pakistan carried out an attack by the Border Action Team (BAT)along the Line of Control (LoC) under the cover of heavy mortar shelling on two forward posts in Krishna Ghati sector of Poonch district on May 1.Government said that the Indian Army has been now given free hand in responding to what is termed as ‘cowardly and barbaric act’ when a Pakistani BAT sneaked 200 meters into Indian territory under cover of heavy shelling and mutilated two Indian soldiers’ bodies who were on patrolling duty.
Following the barbaric act, defence minister Arun Jaitley held that the sacrifice of the two soldiers would not go in vain and also assured that an “appropriate action” would be taken by the armed forces in response to the mutilation. “This is a reprehensible and an inhuman act by our neighbour. Such acts don’t take place even during war, let alone peace. Bodies of soldiers being mutilated is an extreme form of barbarism,” said Jaitley.
“The Indian government strongly condemns this act and the whole country has full confidence and faith in our armed forces, which will react appropriately to this inhuman act. The Indian Army promised “appropriate” retribution for the “despicable act”. The local separatists guides always help the Pak soldiers for guidance on to our patrol parties that need to be identified.
The Indian patrol of about 10 soldiers could not defend themselves because they were not equipped with the latest sophisticated weapons and equipment. They neither had night firing light weight rifles nor bulletproof jackets/helmets with them. Who is responsible for this shortage of war equipment for the soldiers who are deployed along the LoC?
Why don’t we learn from Israel, which is surrounded by 17 hostile countries, the art of dealing with terrorists/insurgents?
Instead of blaming Pakistan why the Indian Army is not made strong enough to thwart such attacks on Indian soldiers in Indian territory? Why don’t we learn from Israel, which is surrounded by 17 hostile countries, the art of dealing with terrorists/insurgents?
How can you face the onslaught of Pakistan, which has full support of China and partial support of Russia besides having procured tactical nuclear weapons which are highly morale raising for the Pak Army?
How can you fight terrorism and carry out counterinsurgency operations when there is a deficiency of more than 13,000 officers in Army alone, deficient of small arms and ammunition, howitzers, bullet proof jackets, bullet proof helmets, night vision/night firing weapons, surveillance equipment (light radars) to face terrorists’ high calibre automatic sophisticated weapons despite bringing it to the notice of the Parliament by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence?
A parliamentary panel has expressed concern over “large-scale vintage equipment” with the Indian Army and pulled up the government on the tardy modernisation of the armed forces. The parliamentary standing committee on defence, headed by Major General BC Khanduri (retd) of the ruling BJP, in a report tabled in the two houses or Parliament in 2016 said:
The committee is concerned to note that the army is operating with large-scale vintage equipment. Furthermore, there is deficiency in number of vehicles, small arms, infantry specialist weapons, sight and surveillance equipment, signal and communication equipment, radars and power equipment and generators, etc.
Pak Army basically rules Pakistan where civil government has very little role in decision-making concerning defence and national security issues. Whereas in India the Army is not even involved in the decision making process...
The government, in its response to the panel’s query on defence preparedness, said that the “ideal mix” of state-of-the-art, current and vintage weapons and equipment was 30:40:30 and efforts were made to achieve this.
Modernisation and capability development of the armed forces is a dynamic and continuous process based on operational requirements and threat perception. The committee, however, termed the response “bureaucratic in nature”, adding that it “does not convey anything about specific action taken or proposed.”The committee is not satisfied with the information provided by the ministry on defence preparedness. The panel added that it found the response to be of a “routine nature” and that “it appears that the ministry has tried to conceal the information”.
Pulling up the government, the panel said the facts relating to issues like, Accretion of manpower, procurement of right mix of modern and conventional weapons and equipment, ammunition and infrastructure development are perennial problems and no concrete action seems to have been initiated to resolve them. The panel noted that though the government has taken a number of steps, the shortage of officers is “perennial”.
This shows that the current measures are not sufficient to draw the youth to join armed forces. Therefore, additional steps need to be taken in consultation with Defence Institute of Psychological Research (DIPR) or other agencies concerned so as to make the armed forces more attractive.
Mere allotment of Defence Budget with a 1.7 per cent of GDP for the last three years will further bring down the operational efficiency of the defence forces...
Unless the Indian Armed Forces are made strong enough with the modern sophisticated weapons and equipment, it will not be able to face two pronged attacks from Pakistan and China and also terrorism.
Pak Army basically rules Pakistan where civil government has very little role in decision-making concerning defence and national security issues. Whereas in India the Army is not even involved in the decision making process concerning and defence and national security issues. It is essential to induct Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) as recommended by Subramaniam Committee in 2001 and Naresh Chandra Committee reports in 2011.
Mere allotment of Defence Budget with a 1.7 per cent of GDP for the last three years will further bring down the operational efficiency of the defence forces what to talk about its modernisation. Moreover Defence Minister is not a part time job; hence a mature and experienced full time Defence Minister is the need of the hour. It is high time that Modi government wakes up to fulfill dire needs of the defence forces and save the lives of highly dedicated soldiers.