Dr Sudershan Kumar
The 14th of February witnesseda gruesome and heinous act where 40 CRPF jawans were martyred by a suicide bomber in Pulwama, leaving
the whole nation in despairand shock. This act of cowardice
was executed by a terrorist organisation who later even took the responsibility of it. Subsequently, on the 26th February,2019 twelve Mirage 2000 fighter planes of Indian Air Force crossed the line of control along the Pakistani side and destroyed the camps located at Balakot, Muzaffarabad and Chakoti inflicting heavy damage to terrorists’ assets by dropping 1000kg laser guided bombs thus avenging the deaths of our valiant jawans. This act of the Indian air force is said to have decimated the massive infrastructure of the Jaish-e-Mohammad(JeM) at Balakote razing it to ground and eliminating nearly 300 terrorists, Jaish’s commanders, trainers and large number of fedayeen trainee.
Besides a large amount of ition dump, hand grenades, detonators and AK 47 Rifles were
also destroyed. These air which took place between 3.45 am
to 4.02am of 26th were so intense, precise and accurate that it could rattle any enemy. Theaftermath and impact of these strikes was colossal inflicting heavy causalities beyond imagination. It eliminated nearly 350 terrorists including Moulana Yousuf Azhar, alias Gauri Ustaad brother-in-law of Masood Azhar and Incharge of the camp, Ibrahim Azhar, elder brother of Masood Azhar who was also involved in IC-814 hijacking in Kandhar. In this air assault, which was the largest after 1971 war, the Indian air force planes entered deep inside Pakistani territory and destroyed terror infrastructure of Jaish- e-Mohammad. This attack by Indian air force reciprocates a paradigm shift in Indian policy in dealing with terrorism and shift is imperative as is a well acquainted fact that India has to fight its own battle both on military and diplomatic front and depending on foreign powers help and support in tackling terrorism has proven to be a futile exercise over the years. This preemptive strike was absolutely essential especially when dynamics of South Asia is changing after America’s sudden withdrawal from Afghanistan. Donald Trump’s sudden announcement of withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan without accomplishing their task has baffled the American Secretary of state and the think tank including the strategy planners, and also left the Pentagon bewildered. In fact Donald Trump’s policy of “America First” has started to show its effects. The withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan and Syria is a first step in this direction. Donald Trump very well comprehends the dynamics and the mood of Americans. His this move would be instrumental in saving huge costs and multiple lives. It is a known fact that merica has spent nearly 1 Trillion US dollars over the past seventeen years and loss of nearly 2500 American soldiers is inconsolable. All these efforts turned out to be in vain in bringing peace and stability in Afghanistan. Even now seventy percent area of Afghanistan is under Taliban control. Afghanistan armed forces seem to be amateurish and are not fully professional to take on heavily armed Taliban, which enjoys tacticalm support from Pakistani and its spy agency ISI. Besides, Pakistan is also a hub for terror emanations. Therefore, sudden withdrawal of the American ntroops from Afghanistan i viewed as tactical victory by Taliban Mujahideen/other terror out fits and their perpetrators in Pakistan. This has further convinced Pakistan that their policy of guerilla war fare by aiding and abetting terrorists has worked. In fact this situation has also created false illusion in the minds of Pak policy makers especially Pak army and Inter Service Intelligence (ISI) that their policy of waging guerilla are has compelled one of the most powerful American army to retreat from Afghanistan leaving presen Afghanistan Government in high and dry state. As a result, terrorists like Maulana Masood Azhar and Hafiz Sayed have become audacious enough in threatening India for more terrors attacks not only in Kashmir valley but throughout the country. Jaish-e- Mohammad’s fidayeen attack on convoy of CRPF on 14th February 2019 near Awantipora at the behest of their masters across the border is a glaring example of this. In this attack, the fidayeen was able to smash a car loaded with nearly 100 kg RDX with one of the CRPF bus carrying nearly 45 personnel which resulted in to 44 CRPF personnel causalities. These CRPF Jawans were returning to their duty station after spending their leaves with thei families. Although NIA with ful dedication thoroughly took the investigation on various aspects including the cause, type of explosives material used, modusm operandi and outcome but the fact remains that this has posed many challenges for Indian Securit forces to tackle militancy in Kashmir valley. This attack should further be an eye for dialogue seekers ith Pakistan, those who still believe that the radicalization at the instance of ISI, and Pak based terror output, is a political problem. These advocates of dialogue still favour Pakistan who is deeply involved in pushing Kashmiri society towards Wahhabism Islam for its own benefit. Therefore in the face of all the present circumstances, the above air strikes carry immense significance as it is for first time, that the Indian government has shown some spine and hit hard on the Pak terrorist outfits, hitting them deep inside the Pakistani territory through air assault. These daring steps of the present Indian Government has not only rattled Pakistani leadership but also put Pak army in catch 22 situation. Moreover, subsequent misadventure by Pak.Air Force F-16 planes violating Indian air space has cost them heavily in terms of losing one F16 fighter aircraft. Even though in this war game Indian air force displayed complete dominance in sky but in the process India also lost its one MIG 21 aircraft. Till date Pak military generals have adopted low cost option for creating problem in Jammu and Kashmir and keeping Indian forces on toes. Besides Pakistani army generals every time invoke the possession of nuclear war heads as deterrence against India. They often threaten to nuke India in case of conventional war eruption between the two countries with out realising its implications. The author, who himself is an expert wants to make one thing absolutely clear to those, who are getting carried away by illusive and imaginative and unviable threat from Pakistani military authorities. They must realize that Pak military is in no position to use nuclear war heads against India. It is an established fact that none of the countries around theglobe have ever used nuclear nweapons in conventional war against adversary after World War II.Even Amercian experts did not consider this a viable option in Afghanistan even though they are in possession of over thousand nuclear warheads. As per unconfirmed reports Pakistan is having around 110 to 140 war heads with varying nuclear yield. The use of these weapons is not viable against India due to the following reason. First, the tactical nuclear weapon is a low yield weapon, in which thermal and shock wave effect are minimal but the radiation
effect tends to be localized and predominant. This depends on the yield of weapon. The area covered by these radiation is much concise so the effect is confined to a very small place depending upon the wind speed and direction. Moreover nuclear radiations follow 7/10 law ie in seven hours the radiation level/dose will reduce to one tenth of its original value. Pakistan has nearly 2900 kilometres border with India. In case the insane leader ship decides to drop nuclear weapon with a yield of more than 20 kilo tonnes then it should be prepared to face the brunt of massive nuclear retaliation from India. The destruction caused by this would
be so intense capable of wiping out Pakistan from the world map. Therefore they must understand the geoeconomic, geopolitial and global inter dependence dynamics of the whole world which will never allow them to do the miss adventure. Looking into all these aspects, the author is of the view that stand taken by Indian Govt. is laudable, appropriate and essential. The
need of the hour is to deal with a rogue nation Pak with aggressive posture with more pre-emptive strikes on their terror camps so that the backbone of militancy is broken. Also within the country especially in Kashmir valley while conducting anti terror operations, forces must employ drones with high resolution surveillance system and other technologies to minimise the loss of brave jawans and officers. (The author is former Director General and Special Secretary DRDO, MoD GoI)
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