In a deadly pre-dawn attack on an army base in Uri, North Kashmir on September 18, Pakistani militants killed 17 Indian jawans in their sleep. This is the worst single attack on the army in 26 years. More than 30 soldiers were injured, many of them critically, leading to fears that the death toll would rise. This attack comes in the wake of Pakistan President Nawaz Sharif’s repeated threat that the deaths of Kashmiri people in the two month-long siege in the valley would be avenged. Trouble first broke out in the valley after militant leader Burhan Wani was killed by Indian security forces in July this year. It is believed that Wani’s funeral procession, where thousands congregated to protest his death was actually orchestrated by terror outfits from Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK), that sent in people by the hordes. Since then Kashmir has been on the boil. This latest attack triggered by cross-border forces puts paid to the Indo-Pak dialogue moving forward. There is now a clamour within India and within the military establishment that the country should not be seen as a ‘soft state,’ and calls for a fierce retaliation against Islamabad which is alleged to be behind the strike, are gaining ground.
Four terrorist have meanwhile been killed in a fierce encounter with Indian army. Today’s strike will also jeopardise any hopes of peace being restored in Kashmir whose people have suffered immensely since trouble started in the valley two months ago leaving 86 people killed and thousands injured or blinded by pellet bullets. Meanwhile Prime Minister Modi has condemned the dastardly attack and stated that the perpetrators would not go unpunished. The dilemma for India is how to deal with a rogue state like Pakistan that uses terror outfits nursed on its soil to constantly rattle India. The question now is whether India needs to use covert operations across the border.
