B.RAMAN
There have been two very serious incidents across the Line of Control (LOC) in
Jammu and Kashmir.
· PAKISTANI
STATEMENT: One Pakistani soldier was killed on January 6,2013, in an alleged
Indian raid on a Pakistani Army post. On January 7, the Pakistani Foreign
Office in Islamabad protested over the incident to the Indian Deputy High
Commissioner. According to the Indian version of this incident, on January
6,Pakistani troops fired mortar shells at Indian Army posts in the Uri sector
to help insurgents infiltrate into India. The Indian Army had retaliated.
· INDIAN
STATEMENT: Two Indian soldiers were killed and two others injured on the
morning of January 8, when Pakistani army troops entered Indian territory near
Mendhar, about 220 KMs north of Jammu, and attacked an Indian post. The body of
one of the Indian soldiers was found decapitated and the severed head was
missing. The Pakistani Army has denied the allegations and described them as
Indian propaganda to divert attention from the incident of Jan.6.
2.There was a similar incident
of decapitation when Gen.Pervez Musharraf was the Chief of the Army Staf (COAS)
under then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in 1999.Ilyas Kashmiri,a former member
of the Special Services Group (SSG) of the Pakistan Army, and his men entered
Indian territory, killed an Indian soldier, decapitated him and carried his
head as a trophy to Pakistan. He allegedly presented the head to Musharraf who
congratulated him and his men and rewarded them. The incident was reported in
sections of the Pakistan-Occupied
Kashmir media.
3.Musharraf’s action in
receiving Ilyas Kashmiri and rewarding him indicated the Pakistan Army’s
complicity in the incident. The Indian Army reportedly believes strongly that there was Pakistan Army’s
complicity in the latest incident too.
4.The two incidents
indicate the continuing fragile and sensitive nature of the trans-LOC ground
realities. The incidents appear to have been handled till now at the Army-Army
level through the existing hotline between the Directors-General of Military
Operations of the two countries.
5.The serious nature
of the latest incidents underline the need for a political hotline between the
Prime Minister of India and the President of Pakistan to supplement the
existing hotline between the DGMOs to ensure prompt political handling of such
trans-LOC incidents amenable to escalation detrimental to peace in the area. (
9-1-13)
( The writer is
Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt of India, New Delhi,
and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai, and Associate
of the Chennai Centre For China Studies. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com . Twitter: @SORBONNE75 )
5 comments:
What are the next steps for the current episode? Forget it?
Sir,
Having hotlines between the DGMOs and PMs of the two nations is good but I believe that we should retaliate with controlled and limited incursions into Pak territory and raze one post to the ground.Preferably the post which offered covering fire to the infiltrators. This will be a sort of signal to Pak troops that retaliation is something to be expected after each infiltration. Besides, this will also give our troops on the border (and lower level officers) some valuable experience in real time fighting , however small the skirmishes may be.It will also keep our forces fighting fit and keep them alert.Our fighting units need real time combat experience in addition to the classroom training which is usually forgotten very fast.A few casualties in a million strong army is to be expected and not to be shied away from.
Very much interested to hear your opinion on my comments,Sir.
Raman
sir
these are ominous signs, on one hand they kill our soldiers, next they ask for 3rd party check if this happened and also HM chief says full blown jehad in kashmir from 2014, right when US will withdraw from Afganistan. what else can we have to go through, when it be enough i dont know
thanks
joydeep ghosh
I am sure the blogger knows about the Karachi killing of the French Engineers. There was no recrimination nothing. They just broke the knees of the persons who did it. No claim nothing. Everyone knew who did it. Same way when we make it clear that we will take it ever higher witn no fanfare they will stop. Remember the Beg Doctorine? Similarly any attack anywhere by any one State or non-state the pain will be felt by the senior controllers. Initially they will try to retaliate. Yes. When they see we are determined they will stop. My personal view. Rough skeleton comment. The plan has to be gamed on viability and acceptable level of damage and practicality has to be completly gamed.
i had commented in two parts. The first part somehow disappeared so i will try to recreate that
Political hotline is of no use. Unacceptable damage at the highest level alone will be of use as pakis will understand only power. we all know wha that level of unacceptable damage is just as the blogger.
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