It is a national disgrace that Pakistan has been waging low intensity terror war against India since last more than four decades yet we see no Indian leader like late Mrs Indira Gandhi who in 1971 when she had been in power for very short time struck deep inside Pakistan and got it partitioned into Pakistan and Bangladesh. For nearly 20 years we saw Pakistan lying quiet then it started proxy terror war which is continuing till date. But now we don’t have late Mrs Indira Gandhiji with us who can partition Pakistan! Ever since PM Narendra Modi has been in power since last nearly 11 years, we have seen just few surgical strikes which has only emboldened different terror groups to now go ahead and carry out another most ghastly terror attack at a popular tourist destination in Pahalgam district’s scenic Himalayan region Baisaran Valley of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh which is a meadow atop a hill often referred to as “mini Switzerland” and before killing asked to which religion you belong and even after victims telling them then they are asked to open their clothes to check penis of men to identify and verify whether the victim is Muslim or of some other religion! At least 28 have been killed and many are still battling for life! 

Still if Centre is happy with one or two or three surgical strikes then nothing on earth can be more shameful and more disgraceful than this! To hell with two or three surgical strikes deep inside Pakistan by Indian soldiers!  Why can’t Pakistan be cut to pieces? Why can’t Pakistan be reintegrated with India as it existed prior to August 14, 1947? Why can’t India kill so many Pakistanis that the people of Pakistan revolt hugely against Pakistani Army who masterminds such ghastly terror acts? It is because we don’t have leaders like late Mrs Indira Gandhiji with us now!   

In the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack on tourists in Jammu and Kashmir, former GOC of the Indian Army’s 15 Corps, Lt Gen KJS Dhillon (Retd) has come out openly and strongly condemned the act, linking its timing to strategic political developments and alleging deep-state involvement from across the border. In a conversation with Times Now, Lt Gen Dhillon asserted that the terror attack was no coincidence, emphasising that it occurred at a time when the US Vice President is visiting India and PM Modi is visiting Saudi Arabia. “The intention was to overshadow these visits and sending out a loud message,” he said. “The timing of the attack was selected with VIP visits in India and abroad to shift global focus and disrupt growing stability in Jammu and Kashmir,” he added.

It must be borne in mind that the dastardly terror attack, which targeted tourists comes at a time when Kashmir has been experiencing relative peace. Lt Gen Dhillon very rightly pointed out that, “In today’s world, it is for everyone to see Kashmir is going through a period of progress and this incident seeks to challenge that progress,” he said.                                                             

Lt Gen Dhillon attributed the act to Pakistan’s longstanding strategy, asserting most unequivocally that, “Pakistan is practising deep-state terrorism, and this is another page in it.”

Lt Gen Dhillon believes its orchestration goes far beyond routine insurgency. “This is not an attack that could have been planned by a normal terrorist organisation or a front like TRF. This has been planned by the Pakistani military in Pakistan,” he claimed. He went on to make a bold call for action, “We have to hit the Pakistan Army because that’s where it hurts Pakistan the most.” We all know this fully well yet there are some rascals, rogues and scoundrels who are sitting in the corridors of power just like during Kargil war when we lost more than 600 soldiers as per official figures yet no full-fledged attack on Pakistan and again during terror attack on Parliament in 2001 and again during 26/11 terror attack in Mumbai and such instances are endless and still they feel that one or two or three surgical strikes is enough for Pakistan to stop sending terrorists inside India and kill after checking penis to ascertain whether the innocent person is Muslim or of any other religion!

Lt Gen Dhillon also pointed out most explicitly that, “Pakistan has been the sole reason for the terror attacks in our country. We have enough resources to bring them down.” What we lack is bold leadership like Late Mrs Indira Gandhiji who strike deep inside Pakistan and ruthlessly crush Pakistani Army who is responsible for giving India repeated wounds as they lack the courage to fight open war with India! It cannot be glossed over that the terror attack came days after Pakistan Army Chief Gen Asim Munir described Kashmir as Islamabad’s “jugular vein”.

But we have such coward leaders who never say that, “Pakistan is our jugular vein”! While addressing the Overseas Pakistanis Convention in Islamabad on April 16, General Munir spoke about Kashmir and said clearly that, “Our stance is absolutely clear, it was our jugular vein, it will be our jugular vein, we will not forget it. We will not leave our Kashmiri brothers in their heroic struggle.” General Munir told a gathering of Pakistanis who are based abroad that they were the country’s ambassadors and must not forget that they belong to a “superior ideology and culture”. We now learn that even their penis is different from others like Hindus or Christians or Buddhist or Jains or Jews! They have special penis as terrorists identified them from others by looking at the penis of tourists! This is what makes them truly superior as terrorists who carried out the most ghastly terror attack very strongly feel!    

Why in India we don’t treat terror act as act of war rather worst than war because here we don’t know when the attack will take place and where will it take place and killers don’t fight with soldiers but kill innocents yet we see neither Supreme Court taking suo motu cognizance on such a most serious issue directly affecting our nation nor Centre deciding to do anything and even in new revised penal laws we see no mandatory death term for terrorists nor mercy petition for terrorists being abolished nor mandatory life term for terrorists in jail without any remission? We saw how terrorists who killed Rajiv Gandhi our former PM in 1991 were released from prison some time back! Can this happen ever in USA or UK or any self respecting nation?

Do terrorists deserve mercy? Are terrorists ordinary criminals that they can claim mercy petition as of birthright? Are the human rights of terrorists more important or an ordinary citizen whom they kill indiscriminately? How long will mercy petition drama for terrorists continue? How long will our courts including the Apex court open for them to be heard in night?

In my college days, I always mistook dacoits for terrorists but my very best friend Sageer Khan clarified all my doubts. He said that, “An ordinary criminal like a dacoit or rapist or robber or murderer or any other ordinary criminal never goes to Pakistan or any other foreign country for getting training on how to commit dacoity or rape or robbery or murder but a terrorist always goes there and get all such training to commit terror acts. Not stopping here, he gets all type of financial, weapons and other kind of aid from abroad to perpetrate direct attack on the very identity of our nation as a whole. Ordinary criminals attack and affect adversely either one or few persons but in case of terrorists things are quite different because terrorists don’t attack just one or few individuals rather they attack and affect adversely our nation as a whole whom they want to destroy completely . A terrorist always declares war against the nation but an ordinary criminal never does so. An ordinary criminal like a rapist or a dacoit will never attack our nuclear installations by which our entire nation can be wiped away but terrorists always place our nuclear installations on their hit list as they are a part of a proxy war waged by some of our neighbouring countries like Pakistan and it is a fact that if they are able to execute their evil design , our entire nation can be eliminated in one go !”

It also cannot be denied that a terrorist always gets all types of aid from foreign countries but an ordinary criminal gets no such help. An ordinary criminal will never attack national symbols like Parliament, Red Fort, Supreme Court but terrorists always dream of attacking such places and sometimes have been able to partially attack them also. What is however most intriguing is that our Indian politicians overlook everything and find nothing wrong in holding regular talks with them only and in passing time and again resolutions in their favour and not for ordinary criminals. An enemy soldier during war attack our army soldiers but terrorists are worse than them as they rarely attack men in uniform and always enjoy attacking innocent people especially pilgrims to holy shrines and still many of our leaders plead mercy for them . Do they still deserve mercy?

How long will terrorists keep getting special preference as we saw in Yakub Memon case? Why do we treat terrorists not as ordinary criminals but as VVIPs? Why our government succumbs in front of their demands but never succumb in front of an ordinary criminal?

Why does our government declare ceasefire like Ramzan ceasefire many times in past even after Kargil war only for terrorists and not for a rapist, murderer or any other criminal who have no association nor get any help from any foreign country? It must be asked: If rapists and other criminals also form associations, will the government start talking with them also? Will our government declare ceasefire for them also?

We just recently also witnessed how in a most blistering indictment of India’s counterterrorism posture, Maj Gen (retd) GD Bakshi lamented taking potshots at Centre  that the recent Pahalgam massacre which claimed 28 Indian lives was enabled by complacency, troops drawdowns and a dangerous misreading of the ground situation in Jammu and Kashmir. It is good to note that while speaking hours after PM Narendra Modi’s emergency security meetings, Gen Bakshi called for a very decisive military response – not symbolic airstrikes or covert tit-for-tat tactics. This has not worked at all and Centre must stop fooling people on this count! Just like my very best friend Sageer Khan, we see that Gen GD Bakshi also very strongly feel that, “The Pakistani military is the prime terrorist organization in that country.” He too urged New Delhi to abandon illusions and prepare for full-spectrum retaliation. 

While drawing upon his extensive experience in counterinsurgency and command in Kashmir, Gen Bakshi also highlighted the potential intelligence failures and the consequences of troop reductions in critical areas. In the ultimate analysis, we see that Gen Bakshi while striking the right chord issued a powerful call to action and urged the political leadership to abandon hesitant approaches and deliver a decisive and impactful response that deters further adventurism and reassures the nation of its security. He also underscored that this moment demands a clear message: India will not tolerate such acts without inflicting severe consequences on Pakistan. To put it differently, Gen GD Bakshi just like my very best friend Sageer Khan when I was doing BSc in Sagar in Madhya Pradesh wonders:  Who is the most powerful vested lobby who does not want Pakistan to crumble, to be cut to pieces and to be given such wounds that it never dares to ever speak out against India? Why we inspite of defeating them badly as in 1971 don’t crush them completely and did not merge Pakistan and Bangladesh with India as my very best friend Sageer Khan also wanted?

SANJEEV SIROHI (Advocate)

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