Parrikar admits to lapses in Uri camp security
Indicating a hardening of resolve within the
government, defence minister Manohar Parrikar said on Wednesday that PM Narendra Modi's promise to punish those behind the
Uri attack would not remain words. “Sometimes I can have a knee jerk reaction
too. But we are a responsible nation,“ he said.
India
would not be deterred by Pakistan brandishing nuclear weapons, he added.
Parrikar's remarks came after a
meeting of the cabinet committee on security , which was chaired by Modi and
held after a slew of military assessments of options amid a strong consensus in
the BJP leadership that the Uri outrage must not go unpunished.
“...I
don't think the PM's initial words that `those responsible will be punished'
will go as a mere statement.How to punish, that is for us to work out,“ Parrikar said at an event here. The
defence minister ad mitted there were laps es at the Army camp at Uri.
“Obviously , something must have been wrong. I believe in zero-error,“ he said,
adding that the government would find out what went wrong in the camp's
security that led to the death of 18 soldiers, many in the blaze that consumed
the tents they were sleeping in.
Parrikar's comments and meetings of
the CCS and the BJP core group point to intense deliberations in the government
and party and indicate all options, indicating military ones, are open as it is
being felt that inaction will only convince Pakistan that it can inflict deeper
cuts in its proxy war against India. For a de-escalation, Pakistan would have
to offer evidence of some serious and credible course corrections.
The
government will not be averse to a diplomatic outcome if India's intent to use
force results in some clear gains, but the BJP brass is also clear that there
must a demonstrable result in light of public anger running deep. The Uri
incident -a near repeat of the attack on the Pathankot air force base -is seen
as a challenge to Modi's leadership as also BJP's campaign on nationalist
issues after the JNU sedition case and recent “tiranga yatras“.
In view
of the challenges to the government and BJP, the mood in the ruling party has
hardened and Parrikar's comments
indicate that some measures are in the works, even if the timing is not
certain. It is felt that there are options that stop short of all out
hostilities and escalation of conflict is not necessarily inevitable.
The
coming days will see India take on Pakistan at the United Nations. The BJP
national council, scheduled to be held in Kerala over the weekend, will see
Modi address a public rally on Saturday and this might be the first time that
he speaks at length on the Uri attack and the role of Pakistan. The BJP meet is
expected to adopt “tough“ resolutions on terrorism and Pakistan.
Parrikar dismissed Pakistan's
oft-repeated threat of being fully-prepared to use its 60-km Nasr missiles with
subkiloton plutonium warheads as a counter to India's conventional military
superiority .“Empty vessels (like Pakistan) makes bigger noise. This country
(India) is a very responsible power, but that does not mean I will sleep over
this kind of terrorism that is being pushed from across. How do I do it is
entirely for the government under the PM to decide,“ he said. This comes after
the Indian security establishment has provided the government with a variety of
punitive but limited actions possible against Pakistan without actually going
to war, which range from “surgical strikes“ to “cross-border raids“ by special
forces or ghatak platoons of infantry battalions.
Parrikar also expressed concern
over the serious security lapses that allowed the four fidayeen terrorists to
easily storm the Uri camp and kill as many as 18 Indian soldiers and injure
over 20 others before they were gunned down on September 18.
(TOI)
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