Heavily armed Pakistani fidayeen sneaked through Salamabad nullah in the wee hours of 18th Sept and carried out a cowardly attack on a rear administrative base of a battalion at Uri, 102 kilometers from Srinagar. The attack took place at about 4 AM when most of the soldiers were sleeping in the tents temporarily set up for the shifting troops. As the firing broke out, the tents caught fire which spread to other barracks. 17 soldiers have lost their lives and 19 others are wounded who have been removed to the base hospital for treatment.
Undoubtedly, the assailants have made reconnaissance of the area before the attack was launched. Support of local subversives cannot be ruled out.
This attack on a rear base of a battalion in the Uri Brigade has come two years after a similar attack of Pakistani fidayeen at Mahora in Uri Sector, in which ten security personnel were killed. Uri is strategically the most vital military station in Kashmir because it controls the road leading straight to Srinagar. It is through this route that Pakistani tribesmen had attacked Kashmir in the third week of October 1947. The present respective position of the troops of two belligerent countries was established as a result of cease fire that took place between the two countries on the midnight of December 31, 1948.
Many observers, military experts and opinion makers have often called it a big mistake on the part of Prime Minister Nehru to have accepted the cease fire along a strategically very ill-advised line when Indian forces were well poised to capture Muzaffarabad and take control of the entire Kishanganga valley which could have secured the defence of the valley and the State. Had the Indian leadership at that time understood the geographical history of Kashmir, they would not have committed the unpardonable blunder. That opportunity is lost. Returning the Haji Pir pass to Pakistan in the aftermath of Tashkent Agreement, after having conquered it at a great price in 1965 war was another Himalayan blunder. Haji Pir was not the right balancing price for Chhamb. Had that not happened, the attack on Uri rear base or on Mahora in 2014 would not have been possible. Again playing un-statesman-like role in Shimla talks in 1972 convinced Pakistan that India may win on the ground but ultimately she loses on the table when talks begin. Pakistan’s success in neutralizing India’s gains on the ground has become possible only because of covert support by the US to that county. In any war with Pakistan in future, this pattern will be repeated. Therefore, what has to be concluded from the attack on Uri battalion rear headquarter or before that on Pathankot Air base and even Gurdaspur, has roots in India’s inability to consolidate the achievements of her army on the ground. In other words we can say without fear of contradiction that the political leadership of our country needs to change its mindset and approach to relations with Pakistan and her close allies. It has to be admitted that Pakistan is a country that does not understand the language in which international community conducts relations with neighbours and others.
Nearly a hundred thousand functional religious seminaries of Pakistan in which millions of Pakistani teenagers are admitted for courses in conservative and dogmatic learning are methodically and persistently brainwashed. Their heads are stuffed with jihad and fidayeen culture as the means and method of accomplishing the religious injunction of destroying kufr. The Israeli leadership speaks their language.
Attacks like these will take place again and again just because the fidayeen are committed to kill and get killed. Parents whose sons get killed in a fidayeen attack vow to send another son on the same mission. As long as Saeeds and Lakhwis and Azhars are there on Pakistani soil receiving the largesse of ISI, India remains the target. Along with this, Pakistan is doing all she can to provoke India to launch a retaliatory attack so that she rushes to her masters and tells them they are under attack from India. This syndrome will come to an end only when India tells Pakistan’s mentors that she means business. Those who want to survive must know how to die for survival.
India has come out of seven decade long slavish reticence when Prime Minister Modi said from the ramparts of the Red Fort that India has a case in Baluchistan and Gilgit and Baltistan. We need to carry the fire and brimstone to the heart of Pakistan.
Our brave soldiers and officers in defence services are doing an excellent job in defending the country’s borders. The army has set up excellent defence wall which cannot be broken or penetrated. They will be plugging the loopholes as and when these come to notice as in Pathankot or now in Uri. The loss of precious lives is a national loss. We mourn the death of our brave soldiers. But we raise our heads in pride that not an inch of Kashmir land will be allowed to go out of our hands. Let Mian Nawaz wait till eternity to expect fulfillment of his dream which he boasted of in Muzaffarabad after winning the rigged elections. Pakistani attacks on our defence establishment should infuse every patriotic Indian with the strong resolution of fighting this menace in an organized but controlled manner. This is not an occasion when we allow ourselves to be carried away by emotions and anger.
We salute our martyr soldiers; we sympathize with their families. The nation will never forget them and their assailants will not escape scot free. This is the message of the Prime Minister and of the entire nation to the survivors of the martyred soldiers. The one word we will say to our soldiers is “keep your powder dry, the nation is behind you.”
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