‘The Pulwama strike is extreme provocation’

PUNE: Intelligence and former Army officials who have extensively served in Jammu and Kashmir have called for a long-term policy to deal with Pakistan’s consistent support to terrorists. Thursday’s Pulwama strike in which 40 CRPF jawans lost their lives is an extreme level of provocation. 

Jayadev Ranade, former Joint Secretary, Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), India’s external intelligence agency, said that there is a need to give a clear message to Pakistan. “We will need to do something which will be understood by the Pakistani establishment, as well as the people,” he said.

Lt Gen DS Hooda, who was Northern Army Commander during the surgical strike by India in September 2016 in the wake of a terrorist strike in Uri, termed the Pulwama strike as ‘extreme provocation’. “We have been seeing this over the past few years, there has been no let-up in support from Pakistan. There is a need of a consistent and long-term policy to deal with Pakistan’s current calibrated war. Such a policy should not depend on the vagaries of domestic politics. We need to keep constant pressure on Pakistan army,”” Hooda said.

Former GOC-in-C Southern Command, Lt Gen AK Singh, tweeted, “The government has taken the first step by withdrawing MFN status. We should demand Pak hand over JEM chief, they will not, reopen it In UN again, put pressure on China, USA & Saudi Arabia, downgrade diplomatic relations, simultaneously ask Armed Forces to prepare for a hard option. There are number of response options from diplomatic to economic & finally the hard military option. Our response should be comprehensive & well thought out, it should give us operational & strategic pay offs. It’s also time to empower our Armed Forces with requisite capabilities. It’s also an opportune time to revamp our higher security & defence apparatus. Get people who have the clarity & vision to forsee challenges & threats before they hit us. There is a large merit pool available in the country, draw on it to put a high quality team in place.’

Lt Gen Syed Ata Hasanain (Retd), former GOC of Srinagar-based 15 Corps, in his message said, “Only flaw was parked vehicle on roadside but then it can be mistaken for voluntary stoppage to give way to convoy. A car bomb of this type, would have taken minimum a week to assemble in some house in a city. Intelligence usually does pick up info on this but time and place of activation near impossible. The intent should be to stop the fabrication in its tracks through source info.”