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COVER STORY: WAR ON TERRORISM
Should India Attack?
The debate is on within the Government whether India
should strike at terrorist training camps across the border
By Prabhu Chawla
War is not poetry.
And it is not the ideal business of leaders who are at an existential
war with themselves. For Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who is not
today an embodiment of either biological or ideological activism, it cannot
be a preferred priority. Here is a politician who is too nice even to
his adversaries. Last week, for instance, when he was struggling with
the idea of striking back at a vulnerable Pakistan, there was another
war raging within his fragile self. For India's passive premier, the task
of going through the entire gamut of pre-war preparation seemed more difficult
than the war itself. Hawks in the Sangh Parivar were asking for a go-and-smoke-them-out
proactivism. But Vajpayee and his spinmeisters didn't have any convincing
explanation for Delhi's meek response to rising cross-border terror.
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ALL FIRED UP:
Is it time to smoke out the terrorists in Pakistan? |
Then entered George Fernandes, the comeback defence
minister, leaving Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh to practice without any
diversion what he has always been good at-diplomacy. And there was a shift
in the tone and tenor at South Block. Though the rehabilitation of the
one-time socialist streetfighter was seen as an act of political expediency,
for the essentially reluctant prime minister it was a decisive step forward
in military preparedness for a possible border war. Fernandes' office
engagements for the next four days were a clear indication of his resolve
to fight back. The day he took over, the Indian Army destroyed at least
12 Pakistani posts in Mendhar and Akhnur sectors and killed 30 terrorists
who were trying to infiltrate into Jammu and Kashmir. Fernandes described
the action as "normal military response to such provocations and
nothing beyond". He told India today, "Till now terrorism was
seen to be India's problem but now the fight against terrorism has become
a global issue." When reminded of Al Qaida's statement that India
too would be a target, he said: "We are very much aware of the nexus
between Pakistan, the Taliban and Al Qaida. This time Satan himself made
it public. Now the world will also come to know about this."
For the next four days, Fernandes was a leader
in a war mood. At the Defence Ministry's Ops Room (the military operations
directorate) he spent long hours looking at the crucial border maps, deployment
of forces and logistics along the Line of Control (LoC). He was given
in-depth briefings by the three chiefs of the armed forces and Military
Intelligence. The immediate task was: assess India's capability to sustain
a long battle against 200-odd terrorist camps operating from across the
border. Admitted a senior Defence Ministry official: "The minister
never gave any indication about his actual intentions. But it was clear,
he was looking at our readiness through a microscope.'' Nothing unusual
for Fernandes, who has been consistent in his advocacy of decisive action
against Pakistan for its open support to jehad against India. He is one
of the most active and controversial defence ministers of India since
Independence. Going by his eventful track record, he is bound to create
some kind of military history before he or his Government bows out of
office.
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ONE WOUND TOO
MANY: The October 1 blast in Srinagar killed 40 and injured many
more; it is the event India took to be the last straw |
But it cannot be the solo performance of the
adventurer. He needs the complete trust and support of not only the boss
but members of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) as well. Ever since
the collapse of the Agra Summit, followed by renewed terrorist attacks
in Kashmir, the national as well as the political mood has been in favour
of stronger military retaliation. There was not a single meeting of the
Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) where the military option was not
discussed. Then happened September 11, one of the most towering, flaming
moments of infamy in the history of America. Then October 1 in Kashmir,
where suicide bombers blasted their way into the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly
complex. Vajpayee the dove could not have gone on chanting the "shanti
mantra". He started discussing the viability of a strikeback. His
October 1 letter to President George W. Bush was a copy of his mind-and
of the limits of patience. Then in Ballia on October 11, he almost declared
a counter-jehad on Pakistan. Vajpayee is not alone. Barring Jaswant Singh,
the incorrigible diplomat of restraint, all members of the CCS are for
a teach-them-a-lesson-India response: Home Minister Lal Krishna Advani,
the hardline nationalist, the so-called hidden saboteur of Agra, is all
for flexing the national muscle; Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha and Deputy
Chairman of the Planning Commission K.C. Pant are obedient followers of
the prime ministerial mind, and Fernandes has always been the sharpshooter.
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