It was with a sense of horror, disbelief and cold finality that we watched the unfolding news of a terror attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama, J&K on 14th February 2019. When the sheer scale of the attack, the utter brutality of 40 invaluable lives lost and many more injured sank in, there was a terrible, inevitable sense of déjà vu. There was the sheer helplessness in the feeling that this had happened before; we had once again failed to prevent this audacious, meaningless brutality. There is now a quiet desperation that tinges our grief; a wondering… is there no end in sight for this horror?
The sorts of images of the carnage that have beamed into are homes are bone chilling. Indians have spoken in one voice: expressing their grief and their solidarity with the families of those who lost their lives.
A number of people have expressed personal sorrow for the men so brutally killed in the attack. Men who were someone's husband, son, father, brother, friend, neighbour. The sort of personal losses that Indians have suffered cannot be imagined by most of us.
The attack involved an SUV, a suicide bomber and 300 kg of explosives and undoubtedly months of planning by the terrorists. How could an attack on such a massive scale not have been detected by intelligence agencies? Even the Governor of J&K has admitted negligence and intelligence failure.
Many Indians have expressed anguish that security intelligence was either ignored or not given due weightage. We are also asking why this large convoy of about two and a half thousand personnel was moving by road, why they weren’t airlifted or at least provided armoured vehicles for their protection.
20-year-old Adil Ahmad Dar was reportedly the suicide bomber who managed to inflict such damage. He lived just about ten miles from the place of the attack, say reports. He had joined terror outfit Jaish e Mohammed a year ago and left a final video where he talks of his plans to carry out the 14th February terror attack.
We have long questioned why Pakistan was conferred ‘Most favoured nation’ status, why that was not withdrawn even after Uri. This has been withdrawn now. The Ministry of External Affairs will also now seek to isolate Pakistan internationally. Many of us think this is a little like shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted.
This has been the reaction of the simple, decent people all across India: find and bring to justice actual terror masterminds such as Masood Azhar, Jaish e Mohammed chief. The head of the terror outfit still roams free after he was released by Indian authorities in the botched Indian Airlines plane highjack to Kandahar. In 1999, he along with two other militants was released in exchange for the hostages by the Indian government.
In our country we are used to politicians politicizing any tragedy and playing the blame game, pointing fingers for security lapses and intelligence failures and asking for resignations. The fact that the opposition has refrained from this and is pledging support to the government in this difficult time is heartening and the statesmanlike approach is welcome.
Vlogger Akash Banerjee has these suggestions to offer following the attack: to avoid warmongering and refrain from hurling abuse at one or another community; do not politicise a truly tragic situation. He suggests that we all come together to find solutions to the continuing problem of terror in India and meanwhile, not to fall for fake news. All we can say is Amen.
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