The gruesome and unprovoked killing of two Indian soldiers on 1 May by Pakistani Army has shocked the nation. The Pakistani troops violated ceasefire, entered 250 metres deep into the Indian territory along the Krishna Ghati sector in Jammu & Kashmir, attacked two forward posts with rockets and mortar bombs. Two Indian soldiers – head constable Prem Sagar from the BSF and Naib Subedar Paramjeet Singh of 22 Sikh Regiment of the Army – were killed in the attack and their bodies mutilated. Such an act is extremely barbaric and inhumane to say the least.
The attacks were carried out by Pakistani Army’s Border Action Team (BAT). BAT, a rogue division of Pakistani Army, is primarily tasked for dominating the LoC by carrying out disruptive actions. It basically works in tandem with Pakistani terrorists waiting to sneak into Indian territory. The BAT is known for such notorious acts in the past. It could be recalled that the BAT was responsible for beheading two Indian soldiers – Lance Naik Hemraj and Lance Naik Sudhakar Singh – in a cross-border assault in 2013 along the Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch sector.
Why only BAT, the entire Pakistani Army is well known for such barbaric acts. Remember, the brutal torture and killing of Captain Saurabh Kalia and his team by Pakistani troops during the Kargil war in 1999.
There is not much difference between the Pakistani Army and their terrorist counterparts. The same was discovered when India carried out cross-boarder surgical strikes on Pakistani terror launch pads in September last year. It won’t be wrong to say that the Pakistani Army men are terrorists in their Army uniform. In fact, Pakistan’s ace intelligence agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) works as a facilitator between the Pakistani Army and the terrorists. Further, there is a nexus between the Pakistani Army, the Pakistani terrorists and the separatists back home in Kashmir. Again it is the ISI which works as the facilitator. It is pertinent to mention that the gruesome killing of two Indian soldiers by Pakistani Army’s BAT division came at a time when there is renewed protests by the separatists in the valley, underlining that link. They all, in a unison, follow the strategy to bleed India through a thousand cuts.
It is not just the BAT unit of Pakistani Army a rogue unit, or for that matter the Pakistani Army a rouge Army, it is Pakistan which is nothing but a rouge state. In 2004 SAARC Summit, Pakistan had promised that it won’t allow its territories or territories under its control for any terrorist activity against India. But the country uses terrorism as an instrument of state policy. So there is not to dispute that Pakistan is a terrorist state. So India should be always ready to deal with a terrorist state.
India’s patience is wearing thin. The 1 May attack can’t be go unpunished and the sacrifice of our brave soldiers can’t go in vain. Indian Army has already vowed an appropriate response. Meanwhile, reports suggests that the Indian Army has killed seven Pakistani soldiers and destroyed two Pakistani bunkers as part of its retaliatory action. However, India needs to do more to bend Pakistan.
Though India has shrugged off its “soft state” tag after the September, 2016 surgical strike, our fight against Pakistan and its terror installations must come a full circle. At a time when the international community is looking up to India with renewed respect, we must succeed in isolating Pakistan internationally. In addition, India should immediately scrap the Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan as the PM Modi had rightly said “blood and water can’t flow together.”
