Dear Editor,
We don’t seem to have learnt any lessons from previous incidents of terror. We will continue to face a similar fate when various agencies designated to gather intelligence and those to fight terror continue to work at cross-purposes due to inter-agency rivalry. The intrusion of the terrorists from the same place from where the terrorists who struck at Dinanagar came needs to be answered by the BSF. Then, they were allowed to loaf around the countryside in vehicles till they struck at the Air Force base. Poor security arrangements at the Air Force Base cry for an answer. What was the need to requisition the NSG from the far-off Delhi when special forces to handle such a situation were available closer at Nahan? Even an infantry company out of the thousands of troops at Pathankot would have done a better job. A single point of reference is required to meet such a challenge. There were far too many persons coordinating the operations and an equally large number of spokespersons giving a variety of details of the operation. What is needed to fight terror emanating from across the border is unity of intelligence agencies, a single commander coordinating and overseeing the operations and appointing his media team to inform the ever-obtrusive electronic media. The sooner we learn our lessons then better it will be to save valuable lives and assets by giving a professional response to such adventurism.
Col (Retd) B. S Bhullar,
Via-e-mail