Kandahar into a Kargil

In the celebrations that followed, all the hard questions about why the intrusions were allowed to take place were literally swept under the carpet a carpet upon which a group of experts authorised to investigate the affair sat firmly. To this day, seven months after the Kargil intrusions first took place, the nation does not have an answer to the vital question: was there an intelligence failure at Kargil?

The vital signs emanating from the post-Kandahar scenario indicate that similar attempts are being made to bury that unfortunate Christmas eve hijacking in a welter of euphoric images and soundbites. The smarmy self-congratulatory smiles now on vieware not easy to stomach considering that just a short week ago the nation was in agonies over the stand-off at Kandahar. The captain of the ill-fated flight, D.S. Sharan, even let it be known that the authorities had 8220;very little response time in Amritsar8221;.

His words may help bail out the various officials in high places who had collectively botched up a possible rescue mission on Indian soil, but they cannot help the nation evolve effective counter-hijack strategies as it surely must.

The point is that the authorities in charge of the nation8217;s security must get their act together and strike effectively in precisely those situations where there is very little response time. And in order to do so they must first recognise and introspect upon their mistakes, rather than pretend that they did not occur. At this point of time, India requires decisive action, not a comfortable amnesia.

It does not need great political or strategic acumen to discern that acts of terrorism will now increasingly occur in theaftermath of the Kandahar hijack. Monday8217;s powerful bomb blast at the Batmaloo vegetable market in Srinagar comes as an ominous portent. It indicates that the anonymous monkey-caps are more than prepared to destroy the lives of ordinary people with whom they have no real quarrel.

This calls for a great, uncompromising alertness at every level both by security personnel and the populace at large. Pakistan8217;s foreign minister has denied his country8217;s involvement with the hijackers and had accused India of levelling 8220;baseless and false8221; allegations. If there is concrete evidence of Pakistan8217;s involvement in the hijacking with the government Prime Minister Vajpayee has just stated that the hijacking was an integral part of a Pakistan-backed campaign of terrorism this is the time to reveal it.

This ugly, cruel nexus must be revealed it, not just to the people of this country, but to the international community. In other words, there is a need for an offensive against terrorism both within the country andwithout. Indeed, there is a great deal to be done. The photo-ops and congratulations must await a more opportune moment.