Guest Column | Saluting the Brave

Somesh Goyal

Punjab Police deserves kudos for the resolve they exhibited in taking on the three militants who laid siege on a vacant building adjacent to the police station in Dinanagar town in Indian Punjab close to the international border (IB) with Pakistan. All available information suggests that the militants managed to cross the international border and were tasked for this attack by Inter Services Intelligence (ISI). It remains to be seen whether any of the militant outfits takes the responsibility for this dastardly act in the early hours of the fateful Monday. Pakistan, as is expected, will wash its hands off their involvement and pass the buck to the homegrown militant outfits of India.

The motive behind this insertion and place opted for infiltration, are being investigated by the Punjab Police and the central sleuths. Some suspect the militants’ original intent was to target the Amarnath Yatra to fan communal hatred and violence. It is also suspected in some quarters that the battery of GPS carried by the militants lost its juice, making them stray into an unintended destination. It is also not known whether any ground support was also lined up for these emissaries of death by their akas in Islamabad. KPS Gill, the mastermind of Punjab operations in his heydays, called this attack a “visiting card of ISIS”. The veteran’s words need to be taken seriously.

It is very rare in today’s security scenario to see a state police owning the responsibility in such situations and assume leadership. Police being a state subject, this kind of leadership should be a given. But the experience of yesteryears shows that states are very happy demanding central forces and elite counter terrorist units at the drop of the hat without marshalling their own resources. There may be no state that does not claim to have a special unit or group trained to handle such situations. But when the occasion arises all tend to look towards the centre for assistance. Punjab Police and Jammu and Kashmir police are the only police forces that have carefully developed, nurtured and deployed their special elements in these roles on regular basis. Those who have operated