Gallantry with amazing grace vs Pakistan’s ‘napaak’ plans

Sharing his birth date October 2 with Mahatma Gandhi, Havildar Hangpan Dada, born in 1979 in village Boduria, in a far-flung area of Tirap, Arunachal Pradesh, was 18 years old when he was enrolled in the Assam Regiment in 1997. Posted to 35 Rashtriya Rifles (RR of the Assam Regiment), since late 2015, Havildar Dada was deployed in the tough terrain adjoining Eagle Pass and Jatti Bowl, on the 13,000-feet high Shamsabari range in Jammu and Kashmir.

As part of this year’s series of infiltration attempts by Pakistani terrorists supported by the Pakistan Army, at least five of them heavily armed and later identified as those of Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT), were spotted by 35 RR on May 25, 2016. Havildar Dada, who has been described by Colonel of Assam Regiment, Lt. Gen. Subrata Saha, UYSM, YSM, VSM**, deputy chief of Army staff (planning and systems) and his former commanding officer, Col. Kulwant Manta as a cool, calm and courageous soldier and an ideal choice for leading challenging missions, quite typically, volunteered to engage the five LeT terrorists, who were well-holed, heavily armed and who brought down lot of fire on Dada and his team over the next 48 hours. With sheer grit and determination, Dada charged at the terrorists, killing the first two on the spot. Despite being hit by a burst of bullets, Dada effectively guided and motivated his teammates, and killed the third terrorist after a scuffle and finally the fourth. His presence of mind saved lives of his team members.

Dada’s body was taken to his native village where the last rites were conducted with military honours in the presence of his wife, Chasen Lowang, daughter Roukhin who will turn 10 on June 30 and six-year-old son Senwang, as well as a large gathering of the villagers and Army personnel. Receiving the folded tricolour, which draped the coffin, Chasen was a picture of solemnity and poise in sorrow.

However, pity and irony is that the sacrifices of bravehearts like Dada, Col. Santosh Mahadik and so many other soldiers/security forces/police personnel merely make them statistics in this asymmetric warfare that Pak Army/Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) have been perpetrating with raised intensity since the BJP assumed power at the Centre and formed a coalition with the PDP.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s November 2015 meeting with his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif in Paris, followed by a secret meeting between the national security advisers of India and Pakistan in Bangkok, in which a gamut of issues, including peace and security, terrorism and J&K were discussed, was considered to be a dramatic turn in ties. But Mr Modi’s gesture of a surprise visit to Pakistan on Mr Sharif’s birthday on Christmas Day being closely followed by the Pak terrorists’ attack on Pathankot air base, followed by many attacks in J&K, left no doubt about the Pak Army/ISI’s intentions. India’s offer of Pak officials, including an ISI officer coming to Pathankot too was eventually made an absolute mockery of by them. Since then in the 2016 series of acts in Pakistan’s theatre of absurd, its military and foreign office have been going through all kinds of calisthenics and convulsions which have serious implications not only for India and Afghanistan, but other countries too.

On February 8, 2016, this newspaper cited the New York Times’ South Africa correspondent Carlotta Gall stating that experts have found a lot of evidence that Pakistan facilitated the Taliban offensive. “This behaviour is not just an issue for Afghanistan. Pakistan is intervening in a number of foreign conflicts. Its intelligence service has long acted as the manager of international mujahideen forces, many of them Sunni extremists, and there is even speculation that it may have been involved in the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria Pakistan regards Afghanistan as its backyard. Determined not to let its archrival, India, gain influence there, and to ensure that Afghanistan remains in the Sunni Islamist camp, Pakistan has used the Taliban selectively, promoting those who further its agenda and cracking down on those who don’t. The same goes for Al Qaeda and other foreign fighters It said there are reports that Pakistan had a role in the rise of the ISIS... It might come as a surprise that the region’s triumvirate of violent jihad is living openly in Pakistan First, there’s Sirajuddin Haqqani, the leader of the Haqqani network. Then there is the new leader of the Taliban, Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour. Finally, Al Qaeda’s leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, enjoys sanctuary in Pakistan.”

In October 2014, Lt. Gen. Saha, then GOC of 15 Corps headquartered in Srinagar had cautioned: “The emergence of the ISIS flags (during protests) merits concern and deserves the highest attention of the security agencies to prevent the youth of Kashmir from getting lured (into ISIS).” While former chief minister of J&K, Omar Abdullah had dismissively stated: “The flag was waved by some idiots, which does not mean that ISIS has any presence in Kashmir.” In April 2015, there were reports of not only protesters raising anti-India slogans and waving ISIS and Pakistani flags after Friday prayers at the Jama Masjid, but also of protesters setting ablaze flags of the PDP. The waving of ISIS and Pakistani flags has become a routine affair outside the Jama Masjid on Fridays.

There have been at least 25 attacks by the Pak Army/ISI supported terrorists in Kashmir Valley till mid June 2016, with over 30 terrorists killed and umpteen incidents of incitement of local populace, particularly youth to disturb peace.

Pakistan’s next absurd theatre act is a sinister mix of piling up a nuclear arsenal by devious means, being a dangerous global liability as a nuclear-armed nation ruled by a rogue Army connected with/supporting mad-dog-minded terrorists, its irresponsibility/gung-ho bravado of threatening to use its nukes against India, and the lies and irony of its other related statements.

A day after India’s March 2016 successful test firing of an indigenously developed supersonic interceptor missile capable of destroying any incoming ballistic missile, Pakistan claimed that this test will “disturb the balance of power in the region”. Sartaj Aziz, adviser on foreign affairs to Pakistani Prime Minister said that Pakistan will raise its voice at the international level against these developments and will upgrade its defensive capabilities by acquiring advanced technology to improve its defence. This is but a classic example of Pakistan’s irresponsibility mentioned as it involves its declared use of “tactical nuclear weapons” against the Indian Army if it enters Pakistani soil. Hafiz Saeed also ranted about using nukes against India. Does that mean that apprehensions about terrorists already possessing nukes are true Such kind of sabre-rattling must be taken serious note of by not only India, but other major powers, particularly the US and China-repeat China-and not to forget, the Pakistani public.

India urgently needs to make it unaffordable to Pakistan to continue its proxy war by terror. For achieving this aim, the BJP government must work towards developing the capacity and capability to strike effectively against Pakistan’s terrorist assets. Simultaneously, its ideologues must reign in their fringe liabilities and meaningfully change not merely the uniform of baggy shorts but the negative baggage and effect a total makeover of its training/conditioning in the socio-psychological sphere. And it is very important for Kashmir Valley to separate the separatists-read traitors-from Kashmiris. Till then, the Indian Army is unfortunately destined to lose many more good soldiers.