Post-Pahalgam
Security lapse questions need clear answers. LoC/border infra needs massive upgrade
Undeniably, Pahalgam has been a huge blow to India's security apparatus in J&K. Now, SOPs must be overhauled, systems reoriented, and coordination between agencies sharpened. But the revamp must begin with some tough questions. Was Baisaran Valley opened up to tourists much earlier than other years? Some reports say the area is usually open to visitors during the Amarnath Yatra, when there are stringent security arrangements. Whether or not local hoteliers and tour operators failed to inform authorities about tourist movement isn't clear. Were arrangements this week different to those in the last tourist season? Local tourism industry is arguing that govt didn't provide them with any alerts ahead of the tourist influx. Clearly, vital coordination between security forces and local businesses fell through the cracks.
Border lacunae: Note also that the terrorists had better eyes on the situation, saw an opportunity and struck. This shows that terrorists are constantly probing for weaknesses. That's why terrorists need to be stopped at the border/LoC itself. But there are multiple lacunae with border infra too. Govt had launched the Comprehensive Integrated Border Management System project after the 2016 Pathankot attack to upgrade border fencing with state-of-the-art surveillance systems. But it remains a work in progress, having missed two deadlines in 2018 and 2023.
Bureaucracy that kills: Plus, routine weather-related challenges with border fencing management remain. Damage to fencing due to winter snow takes months to repair because of both terrain and bureaucratic delays. Battery-operated surveillance equipment such as night-vision devices drain power quickly in the cold and can't be charged due to lack of power at many places along the border. Repairs to sensitive surveillance radar can take weeks. Fuel for generators that run searchlights often runs low. Even electrified fencing has proved to be ineffective in some places due to lack of steady electricity supply and low voltage. These leave gaps in the border fencing that terrorists exploit.
Smuggling-terror nexus: Arms – including weapons for Nato – are being smuggled into Punjab via drones. A similar smuggling route exists via Nepal. Nato-grade weapons have been seized from terrorists in J&K. This is happening under our noses. Why hasn't govt been able to crack down on the influx of smuggled weapons?
Response failure: Former army commanders are calling Pahalgam an intelligence failure. It's a familiar pattern, but the history of terrorist attacks this century shows the charge is misplaced. While the facts of Pahalgam are yet to be established, the Oct 7, 2023 Hamas attack, Pulwama, Uri, 26/11, and 9/11 all point to a different problem – 'response failure'. There were warnings in all these cases that weren't acted upon. America's 9/11 Commission report summed up the problem well: 'No analytic work foresaw the lightning that could connect the thundercloud to the ground.' And 9/11 was a colossal response failure. Leads about a possible attack had been coming in all summer, yet 'as late as Sep 4' govt didn't have an answer to the question, 'Is al Qaeda a big deal?' Before 26/11, India received warnings of a major attack from its own sources and US. As for Pulwama, Frontline found there were at least 11 intelligence inputs between Jan 2 and Feb 13, 2019 – a day before the attack. Israel had been getting warnings of Hamas's invasion plan since 2018. At least, its security agency, Shin Bet, has formally accepted its lapses within 18 months. In India, probes take long, and mea culpas are unheard of.
So, the least we expect after Pahalgam is a timely inquiry, and publication of its findings to restore people's confidence. Govt owes it to the 26 victims of the massacre, and to Kashmir, which needs to return to normalcy.
Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email
This piece appeared as an editorial opinion in the print edition of The Times of India.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Indian Express
an hour ago
- Indian Express
Pakistan's UNSC posts present diplomatic challenge for India's fight against terror
Written by Shivam Shekhawat On June 5, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced Pakistan's appointment as chair and vice chair of two important United Nations Security Council (UNSC) committees: The Taliban Sanctions Committee formed through Resolution 1988 and the Counter-Terrorism Committee, which monitors the implementation of Resolution 1373, formed after 9/11. Islamabad is now also a co-chair of two working groups: One on documentation and procedural issues with Denmark and another, newly formed one with Greece tasked with analysing the effectiveness of UN sanctions. Pakistan is also set to preside over the council next month. In the aftermath of Operation Sindoor and India's efforts to engage with the international community to highlight Pakistan's nefarious role in fomenting terrorism, the appointments have raised concerns about their possible implications for New Delhi. After being elected to the UNSC in June last year, Pakistan started its tenure as a non-permanent member on January 1. Its term will end on December 31, 2026. Marking its eighth stint at the UNSC, Pakistan's Permanent Representative to the UN, Asim Iftikar Ahmad, restated the country's commitment to utilise the platform to highlight the Kashmir issue and work towards preventing the adverse impacts of terrorism. There can be no doubt that Islamabad will leverage its membership to further its anti-India agenda. The statement released by the Security Council condemning the Pahalgam terror attack was relatively watered down from previous iterations of support to India. Then, on May 5, the UNSC held a closed-door consultation on the 'India-Pakistan Question', the first time after 2019. Thus, cognisant of the possible role Pakistan can play in the UNSC, India's post-conflict outreach to the world focused on reaching out to permanent and non-permanent members except Pakistan, China and Somalia. Similar to India's outreach, Pakistan also sent its delegation to the UN headquarters in New York, as well as to Washington DC, Moscow, Brussels and London. These delegations, led by senior current and former ministers, are urging for the immediate resumption of the Indus Waters Treaty. While the all-party delegations sent by New Delhi have made a clear case for India's imperative to target terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and the threat it faces from its western neighbor, the road ahead, to win the narrative war, will not be easy. India has been urging a rethink of the financial support offered to Pakistan by the IMF and the World Bank, and its possible utilisation by Rawalpindi to fund activities against India. India has also decided to revamp its push for Pakistan's re-inclusion in the FATF's grey list after it was removed in 2022. For India, this is important to prevent Pakistan from strengthening its terror-military scaffolding further. While ties between Kabul and Islamabad plummeted in the last few months, they have now decided to elevate their relationship to the ambassadorial level, the agreement for which was reached during the informal meeting between the foreign ministers of Pakistan, Afghanistan and China, further changing the dynamics in the region. Both sides have had continued communications, even when the conflict between India and Pakistan broke out. While the Taliban is trying to play both sides, China's close strategic partnership with Pakistan and its openness to engaging with Kabul makes the situation difficult for India. There has been a close synchronisation between Islamabad and Beijing against India at the UNSC and other international platforms. Pakistan will leverage the platform to propagate false claims of India's support for terrorist attacks in the country, particularly the attacks by Baloch outfits. Islamabad has also tried to pin the blame for the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan's actions on both Afghanistan and India. While the UNSC posts will not offer Pakistan a lot of leeway directly, it will give it more space to bring up issues that align with its own interests and deflect attention from India's concerns. Pakistan will also vehemently oppose India's permanent membership bid at the UNSC. The writer is a junior fellow with ORF's Strategic Studies Programme
Mint
an hour ago
- Mint
Canada plans to hit NATO spending target early, reduce US defence reliance, Carney says
Toronto, Canada will meet NATO's military spending guideline by early next year and diversify defence spending away from the United States, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Monday. Carney said Canada will achieve NATO's spending target of 2 per cent of gross domestic product five years earlier than it had previously planned. 'Our military infrastructure and equipment have aged, hindering our military preparedness," Carney said. "Only one of our four submarines is seaworthy. Less than half of our maritime fleet and land vehicles are operational. More broadly we are too reliant on the United States." According to NATO figures, Canada was estimated to be spending 1.33 per cent of GDP on its military budget in 2023, below the 2 per cent target that NATO countries have set for themselves. Canada previously said it was on track to meet NATO's spending target by the end of the decade. 'Our goal is to protect Canadians, not to satisfy NATO accountants,' Carney said. The announcement of increased spending came as Canada is about to host a summit of the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations in Alberta on June 15-17, and before the NATO summit in Europe. It also comes as NATO allies are poised to increase the commitment well beyond the 2 per cent target. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said last week that most US allies at NATO endorse US President Donald Trump's demand that they invest 5 per cent of gross domestic product on their defence needs and are ready to ramp up security spending even more. Carney has said that he intends to diversify Canada's procurement and enhance the country's relationship with the EU. 'We should no longer send three quarters of our defence capital spending to America,' Carney said in a speech at the University of Toronto. 'We will invest in new submarines, aircraft, ships, armed vehicles and artillery, as well as new radar, drones and sensors to monitor the seafloor and the Arctic.' Canada has been in discussions with the European Union to join an EU drive to break its security dependency on the United States, with a focus on buying more defence equipment, including fighter jets, in Europe. Carney's government is reviewing the purchase of U.S. F-35 fighter jets to see if there are other options. Carney said that the US 'is beginning to monetize its hegemony: charging for access to its markets and reducing its contributions to our collective security.' 'Middle powers compete for interests and attention, knowing that if they are not at the table, they will be on the menu," Carney said. Trump's calls to make Canada the 51st US state have infuriated Canadians, and Carney won the job of prime minister after promising to confront the increased aggression shown by Trump. Carney said that the long-held view that Canada's geographic location will protect Canadians is becoming increasingly archaic. European allies and Canada have already been investing heavily in their armed forces, as well as on weapons and ammunition, since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. GRS GRS This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
Tension between India, China has eased significantly: Russian FM Sergei Lavrov
The tension between India and China has eased "significantly" and the stalled work of the RIC troika could be restarted, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday. Speaking at the "Forum of the Future-2050" here, he said the resumption of joint work in RIC format could be the first step towards pan-Eurasian processes, including the formation of a multi-polar architecture . "I really hope that we will be able to restore the work of the Russia-India-China trio. We have not met at the level of foreign ministers for the last couple of years, but we are discussing this issue with my Chinese colleague and with the Indian head of the External Affairs department. "I really hope that now that the tension has eased, in my opinion, has eased significantly on the border between India and China, and the situation is stabilising, there is a dialogue between New Delhi and Beijing, we will be able to resume the work of this Russia-India-China trio," Lavrov was reported as saying by Russia's state-run TASS news agency. Lavrov said that Russia and China can and should play a leading and proactive role in the pan-continental process, including in the formation of a multi-polar architecture, and added that the restoration of the RIC format could act as the first step towards this. Live Events "This will also be a very important step forward in the movement of continental processes," Lavrov added. The two-day forum inspired by Russian philosopher Alexander Dugin, often dubbed as President Vladimir Putin's 'guru', has attracted young participants. Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk's father Erol Musk is also attending the forum. Last week, a Pakistani delegation met Lavrov in Moscow and handed over a letter from Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for Russian President Vladimir Putin. Lavrov said that a direct dialogue between Pakistan and India is needed to build mutual trust between the two countries, TASS news agency reported, citing the Russian Foreign Ministry. On Friday, top diplomats from India and China discussed bilateral relations to implement the consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries last year, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said. The meeting between Indian Ambassador to China Pradeep Kumar Rawat and China's Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong on Thursday is the first diplomatic engagement between the two countries post the Operation Sindoor that India launched in response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that left 26 people dead. Tensions between India and Pakistan, Beijing's all-weather ally, escalated after the Pahalgam terror attack, with India carrying out precision strikes on terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in the early hours of May 7. The four days of on-ground hostilities from both sides ended with an understanding of stopping the military actions following talks between the directors general of military operations of both sides on May 10.
