Pulwama attack: It’s high time for India to act fast, tough

It was in 2014 that Pakistan trained and sheltered terrorist Masood Azhar, who gave a call to renew 'jihad' against India. He was hibernating till then. Naturally, alarm bells went off in Delhi and Indian security forces were advised to tighten vigil. However, our jawans continue to shed blood due to the policy flip-flops of our governments.

Azhar is responsible for many terrorist acts on Indian soil including the December 13, 2001 attack on India's Parliament as well as the January 2, 2016 attack on Pathankot airbase. Now comes the latest carnage in which about 40 of our jawans have been martyred. If the rulers really need to teach a lesson to Pakistan it should be without any fuss and propaganda over the same. But Pakistan continues its terror warfare against India and we, most undeservingly, keep arguing about the right and wrong of our governance.

To expect something beyond is also illogical in our country. More so, this being an election year. Thank god no one so far has pointed a finger at the BJP and call the attack as an engineered one for political gains. One should clearly understand that fighting terror and fighting Pakistan are slightly different. The second one is easier. But when it comes to the first, the entire nation, should have a rethink on the issue. It means all political parties must also have a rethink setting aside their petty politics.

Many in India’s security and foreign policy establishment haven’t forgotten the ignominy of watching Azhar create the JeM after he was released in 1999 from an Indian prison along with two other terrorists in exchange for the passengers of an Indian airliner hijacked by Pakistan-backed operatives from Kathmandu to Kandahar.

No other country would have so abjectly surrendered to terrorists but our own 'domestic pressure' was such that families mattered most than the overall national security, the reason for which so many more families are being punished now. JeM was banned in Pakistan in 2002 by the then president Pervez Musharraf but it has continued its activities virtually unfettered in recent years and it has continued to publish jihadi literature such as the “Zarb-e-Momin” newspaper.

The group was among terror organisations cited by India and its Western allies when they pressed the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to put Pakistan on a “grey list” for failing to crack down on terror financing. Even more worrying for India has been the blocking by China of efforts by New Delhi and several Western governments to sanction Azhar at the UN Security Council.

China does it because it could use Azhar as leverage without any cost and because India has not done anything in response. The deaths of the CRPF men could be laid at the door of China. As for the video showing a Kashmiri youth holding responsibility for the act, it could just be a diversionary tactic of ISI and Pak Army and LeT.