Airbase attack proves India far from a great power
- By Sumantra Maitra
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E-mail China.org.cn, January 11, 2016
Secondly, everyone in India is aware that this was deliberate attempt to derail the peace talks with Pakistan. Of course, the organization claiming responsibility proudly states its base is in Pakistan, but this was already known anyway.
However, that doesn't stop some serious questions being raised. This attack was a massive internal security and intelligence failure. The fact that this attack was not anticipated in any form shows how woefully lacking are India's HUMINT assets. It would have been logical to deduce that given recent Indo-Pak gestures, there were bound to be external forces and non-State actors seeking to destabilize this process as their very existence depends on Indo-Pakistani rivalry. No precautions were taken to prepare for this.
Secondly, the operation was botched from the start and showed the difference between the agencies and the lack of interoperability. Local police lacked basic body armor, and couldn't even provide with proper road blocks during the assault, much less engage the terrorists. Army Special Forces as well as the Air Force Garuda commandos located within miles of each other, but the establishment waited for National Security Guards to be flown from Delhi for a proper counterattack to begin.
There were over 11,000 people including 3,000 armed forces families nearby and trainee soldiers from Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Afghanistan who are undergoing training with the Indian army in the vicinity. One can only imagine the diplomatic debacle for India if anything would have happened to these trainee soldiers, and the loss of prestige of a great power who cannot secure its own high value strategic air base.
Although the base apparently remained fully operational during the attack, and IAF planes regularly carried out recon sorties across the international border, this was a stern warning.
This kind of incident is unimaginable in any middle-ranging powers like Germany or Japan or Israel much less in any of the five permanent Security Council members. The shocking incompetence, lack of coordination and interoperability and failure of intelligence highlights India has miles to go.
Perhaps Prime Minister Modi would do better, before trying diplomacy and global statesmanship, to attempt an overhaul of the internal security structure, intelligence and policing.
Sumantra Maitra is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit:
http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/SumantraMaitra.htm
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