Misdirection has been the strategy of the Congress while the Indian government has been taking measures to deal with the threat to national security on priority
New Delhi: Rahul Gandhi was at it once again playing politics with national security. On a day when the nation mourned the supreme sacrifice made by 40 CRPF jawans at Pulwama, a year ago, the Congress with 52 MPs in Lok Sabha sought to know who benefited from the attack.
Rahul Gandhi also questioned the security lapse and asked who in the government allowed the attack. One must note here that out security forces who are on vigil 24/7 have to get it right all the time. However, for a terrorist, he needs to get it right just once.
Pakistan’s proxies:
National security is no joke and it is a well-known fact that India has a neighbour in Pakistan, which has a single point agenda and that is to bleed our nation. India has for long been fighting the threat from Pakistan, which has a good number of proxies to fight against India.
The proxies such as the Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Tayiba were created by Pakistan with a specific intent to keep India on the boil.
The Indian Army deals with cease fire violations by Pakistan on a daily basis. These acts by Pakistan are carried out to provide cover fire for the terrorists looking to infiltrate. Even in the run up to the Pulwama attack, there were several such violations undertaken with the specific intent to distract the forces.
What Rahul Gandhi would need to understand is that this problem by Pakistan is not new. It is in fact a result of the flawed policies of his grandfather, which created Pakistan and made it into a monster.
A terror attack on a daily basis:
Between the years 2007 and 2013, India witnessed the highest number of terror attacks. All the attacks were in crowded cities, which claimed scores of lives. The Congress which was in power during these years was accused of having a weak policy towards terrorism as a result of which the Indian Mujahideen (IM) created havoc.
There was a sense of panic and fear among every Indian, who had found it unsafe to walk the streets. The IM was striking at will and it was a well-known fact that this was the home-grown outfit nurtured by Pakistan.
In 2007, the IM struck at Uttar Pradesh. In 2008, we witnessed the deadly Jaipur bombings and in the same year, Bangalore was also bombed. In 2008, the Ahmedabad bombings took place and in the same year, the IM bombed Delhi as well.
In 2010, there was a bombing at Pune and the very same year another blast took place at the Jama Masjid. The year 2010 also witnessed the bombing at Varanasi. In 2011, there were serial blasts in Mumbai. In the year 2013, there were blasts at Dilsukhnagar, Hyderabad and later at Bodhgaya.
The attacks of 26/11:
The 26/11 attack at Mumbai was probably one of the darkest days in the history of India. The attack was a brazen one and launched from Pakistan and the probe that followed showed how flawed the policies of the UPA were.
The then home minister, Shivraj Patil said that he would accompany the NSG team from Delhi to Mumbai. He took almost two hours to join the unit. Patil also did not give consent to post the CISF and CRPF in Mumbai until the NSG arrived. After a two-hour delay, the NSG landed in Mumbai, but Patil insisted on protocol and led to further delay.
One of the most shocking aspects of this attack was that the NSG charter had been changed. Officials who probed the case tell MyNation that at least 100 lives could have been saved had the NSG reached on time. The NSG charter says that a plane would be stationed at the Palam airport 24/7 all through the year. However, on the day of the attack, an aircraft was not available. The question is who in the UPA changed this charter?
The UPA was also opposed to probing any local link. The Ram Pradhan Committee had learnt that the terrorists had landed days before the attack and were helped by some locals. The government was told about this, but then no action was taken. The government also told the committee informally that it would not take part in the inquiry and will also not give copies of the intelligence reports.
Politics over Pulwama:
If the Congress has the time to read the case files, it will find out that a great deal of planning by the Jaish-e-Mohammad had gone into the attack. One of the key conspirators, Mohammad Umair was trained in Afghanistan.
Umair is the nephew of JeM chief Maulana Masood Azhar. Umair was trained in Afghanistan and specialised in vehicle ramming. Such attacks are carried out mainly in Syria and Afghanistan.
For the NIA the case was an extremely challenging one. There was nothing available from the vehicle that carried a cocktail of ammonium nitrate, nitro glycerine and RDF. However, with the help of forensics, the NIA managed to establish who the car belonged to. The last owner of the car, Sajjad Bhat had disappeared hours before the attack and joined the JeM. He was later killed in an encounter.
Further the NIA also learnt about the other conspirators like Mudassir Ahmed Khan, Qari Mufti and Kamran. But all of them were killed in encounters. One of the biggest breakthroughs for the NIA was to establish the identity of the bomber, Adil Ahmed Dar. The agency painstakingly collected the flesh strewn around the field, high tension electric wires and shreds of a human that were clung to metal parts. Due to this, the NIA managed to get a DNA match to the parents of the suicide bomber.
NIA officials say that the Pakistan link is evident. However, they would need a live link to connect the terrorist to Pakistan. All those involved in the attack have been killed by the security forces. A spokesperson of the JeM had released a video claiming responsibility for the attack. The NIA has managed to trace this back to Pakistan. It is not a dead end as is being claimed by many, but it is a difficult case and it would take some more time before we finalise all the details, the officer also said.
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