LoC and IB in J&K State both have become live for some days in the past as incessant firing and shelling is exchanged between the BSF and Pakistani Rangers. This has involved at least five border districts of Rajouri, Poonch, Jammu, Samba and Kathua. Along with making the border live in these districts, several bids of infiltration by the jihadis from Pakistan side were also made but foiled by our alert security forces. Evidently, Pakistani Rangers have been trying to provide cover to the infiltrators who make a bid to sneak in. This is the old strategy of Pakistan and her field commanders.
The border has become live in the aftermath of surgical strike conducted by the Indian army in which reportedly 50 jihadis including 9 Pakistani army personnel were slain and as many as 8 launching pads destroyed. Although Pakistan has refuted the claim of the Indian army that any surgical strike took place, yet the body language of Pakistan army after the strike has shown conspicuous shift. It will never concede the humiliation it had to suffer in the surgical strike because that not only rubbishes the claim of invincibility of Pak army but also demolishes the trust of Pakistani citizens in the ability of its forces to stand before the might of India.. It is normal psychology of a defeated person to become more vengeful and retaliate more furiously and that is the body language of Pakistan in recent days. Pakistani Rangers will indulge in more firing and shelling; target more Indian outposts and border civilian areas; it will take the border clashes to their highest pitch, almost creating war hysteria among the people in that country. She has to do it because she needs to divert the attention of the people from deepening doubts that Pakistan is hiding from them the truth about Indian surgical strike.
In the known surgical strike, our brave troops destroyed eight launching pads and decimated the large group of prospective infiltrators. This is all right but it does not mean that all infiltration bids of the enemy have been plugged. There are numerous launching pads still intact on PoK side and the jihadis are gathering there to continue their agenda. It means that the surgical strike is not something with which we have to remain content. Pakistani incessant firing and shelling across the border has the psychological element behind it; it is the lurking sense of inferiority complex reminiscent of Bangladesh debacle of Pak army.
Our BSF is giving them adequate response, be it Bobiya area in Hiranagar or Savjian in Poonch district or Palanwala in Akhnoor area. Rangers will get the befitting reply. Pakistan’s frequent violation of cease fire agreement of 2003 has become a routine. Pakistan never maintained the sanctity of the agreement. Therefore let us, for the time being, forget about the cease fire agreement and continue to face the situation as is and where is. Border firing and shelling cannot provoke our forces to any major retaliation because that is precisely what the Pakistani plan is. Therefore, we have the experience of handling border firing and our troops will stand by their past experience giving befitting reply to Pakistanis. They are, therefore, prepared for a long drawn border tension. This is what our border dwellers and our administrative machinery shall have to understand and be prepared to meet the exigency.
But what is of much worry and needs immediate attention is the plight of thousands of border dwellers who are directly or indirectly affected by enemy’s action. Though the Government has been providing them some succour yet the issue of affected people has to be discussed and understood in its various dimensions. People living on or close to the border within the firing range of the enemy, are essentially small farmers cultivating farms and raring livestock as their means of subsistence. Firing and shelling from the enemy side forces them to take shelter in bunkers provided for the purposes. But their cattle are left vulnerable to fatal shelling, their houses are targeted and their crops are destroyed either by gun fire or owing to forced shifting. Large population is forced to shift to safer places and many are provided temporary shelter in nearby school buildings. It is important that the entire gamut of the impact of firing on border dwellers is revisited and long range policy is framed that answers their short term as well as long term problems, like the loss of lives, livestock and standing crops, impact on educational career of their children, health trauma and the hassles of frequent shifting to and back. We think that a joint committee of civilian and military officers should be constituted to discuss the matter in its entirety. For the time being, adequate compensation should be provided to the sufferers of on-going border firing and shelling.
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