By Jaideep Saikia
Alongside the fact that India is one of the most terror afflicted countries in the world, there are a few interesting ailments that are adding to the torture that the common men and women of an otherwise great nation are being forced to endure.
I don’t wish to go back too far into history. An undemanding revisitation of how a joyous group of happy people’s dream transformed into a nightmare in the meadows of Baisaran would suffice for now. It was un-adulterated tragedy. India’s political leadership (I underline political leadership)responded befittingly. Gratefully, there is an unsullied apparatus in India by way of its courageous armed forces which clinically carried out that forceful political mandate. Indeed, as far as I am concerned, it is the only arm in India that not only continues to be efficient and steeled by integrity, but one which puts country and its pride above all else.
It saddens me that the other limbs of this great nation of ours, primarily the internal intelligence set-up, have become mere lotus eaters.
I can go to lengths and write about how Op Sindoor was not a “dissuasion” for our arch enemy. But it had to be undertaken for better or for worse. Indeed, I laud Modi for the intrepid action that he bade the Bravehearts of the Indian armed onto.
A failed cadet who had joined the Rashtriya Indian Military College, Dehradun in 1978 to don the proud olive green uniform (only to be found medically unfit after having successfully passed the requisite written UPSC examination and a rigorous three day Services Selection Board interview in Bhopal), I felt a surge of adrenalin being pumped into my veins when I learnt about my “comrades in arms” destroying the sinister terror nests inside Pakistan. I saluted Narendra Modi and Amit Shah. I felt avenged.
But I knew, having read history anecdotally, that Pakistan would not be deterred or dissuaded by even a robust operation such as Sindoor. The failed state’s sole reason for existence is its anti-India innards. I knew that once the insouciance dust of India’s arrogant internal intelligence had settled, the jackals would return. It is the way of the vulpine. Indeed, I had cautioned against complacency in my myriad articles post Sindoor. But I was not heeded – what does a person who begs for his living know about national security.
In fact, the person who failed his countrymen the most in Pahalgam, and now in Delhi was promoted by way of giving him an extension. One can countenance failure once, but not again and again, especially when innocent lives are lost and families are uprooted.
Lal Bahadur Shastri resigned from his post of Minister of Railways because innocent people had died in two back-to-back train accidents. That was moral uprightness in its Sunday best.What does the present internal intelligence head of India has to say about that lofty ideal and legacy. Has he heard of Lal Bahadur Shastri? Is he bowing his head in shame when he hears the wails of the families that have been destroyed? Does he have even an ounce of conscience in him? Or, is he merely clinging onto a position because of the barefaced, brazen and brash power that it gives him.
(Jaideep Saikia is an internationally recognised and renowned strategist and thinker. He is also a celebrated, bestselling author)
