J K News Today

 

Jammu, December 18

Saturday afternoon’s ambush of an army convoy  by militants at Pampore, near  Srinagar ,  illustrates that there was something amiss  as far as the  vigil was concerned because in the absence of  local support and the  holes in the security system , this attack could not have taken place. Three soldiers would not have lost their lives.

There is a fundamental premise that terrorists  retain the element  of surprise in timing  and the place of their choice in attacking  their targets . Similar thing happened here, except for the fact that the place of their  attack was well known for they had mounted attacks  around this place time and again this year. They  marked the closing days of the year with yet another startling attack.

Losing soldiers like this, after having  the bitter experience  of  Uri and Nagrota , Baramullah, Handwara , some kind of strategy  should have been put in place  to avert such attacks on the convoys. Pampore  is particularly notorious for three major attacks  this year .

The  crucial  missing element was the lack of coordination  and synergy among various wings of the security forces. That the army personnel were  not deployed along the route frequented by the convoys of the security forces  or there was no road opening parties  are not important factors . The “ high-level of synergy and  coordination  among the forces and agencies,” is just a  cliché . The battle of prestige is another factor that has been responsible for such attacks  till yesterday and the  possibility of the same cannot be ruled out in future.

army

Governor  N N Vohra has  told all the security wing officers to enhance the level of vigil and ensure proper coordination . This is the message that  surfaced when he  phoned the army , paramilitary and police officers on November 29, when terrorists struck  at Nagrota camp causing death of the seven soldiers, including two officers of the rank of Majors .

“ The Governor had expressed serious concern  about the repeated terrorist attacks on security forces and Pakistan’s continuing attempts to exacerbate  the situation while  India  was seeking to restore peace and normalcy,” an official spokesman had quoted Vohra having told the senior  army commanders and heads of other forces, including the civil administration in the state. And he had urged all of them to enhance surveillance  on every front.”

It was almost an echo of his message at a security review meeting after terror attack  at  Pathankot air base n the opening days of this year  to have security audit of all the security establishments. He had particularly asked for the  securing of borders and the vital installations .

But as the events unfolded in the subsequent months, the security apparatus was found wanting at the time when it was  supposed to be  highly vigilant . The attacks in Uri, Nagrota and Pampore revealed it all.