DC Debate: Raising doubts on terror incursion puts national security in jeopardy

DC Debate: Inadequate or overblown?

R.P. Singh Vs Mukesh Sharma

=================================================

Let’s not undermine terror fight - R P Singh

It will do us good to recall accusations after the Batla House encounter. Or have we forgotten how even after the 26/11 tragedy, the same forces made references to the Sangh Parivar being behind the attacks?

Although a senior government minister finds a certain Opposition party’s questioning the recent Coast Guard action against a boat infiltrating into our waters weird, the moot point is, is it really unexpected? Or is it symptomatic of a defeated mindset squirming after its recent electoral decimation. Or, worse still, a continuation of an insidious ideology that has a long history of minority appeasement and bashing of nationalistic forces in action against Pakistanis as its favourite pursuit?

First things first. The fact is: “The boat was 9-10 nautical miles inside the International Maritime Boundary Line and was in touch with the Pakistani maritime agency. There was a possibility that it would cross over to the Pakistani side, which meant that we would not be able to nab it. With so many resources, we had to nab it under any circumstances,” the Coast Guard official said. It tracked the Pakistani boat for 18 hours, warning it by LMG fire, before its ship closed in with 23 personnel on board, one of whom shot video and photos of the drama that unfolded 365 km off Porbandar on New Year’s eve as it finally went up in flames, sinking without a trace.

Another pertinent fact is that very close to the place of action a convergence of NRIs was slated for Pravasi Bharatiya Divas with the Prime Minister and many global dignitaries to be in attendance. It’s been only six years when a similar incursion played havoc with the lives of hundreds in Mumbai.

Amidst this backdrop whether “the boat was laden with explosives and was being manned by terrorists or it was carrying nefarious elements and drug smugglers”, isn’t questioning the timely act of the state forces (hitherto unknown to the cynics given to a pseudo-secular mindset) furthering the cause of the enemies of India? Drug smugglers’ sympathisers need to be reminded that the 1993 blast perpetrators are none other than the global dons of the drug mafia.

Could India afford not to destroy the enemy vessel and give it safe passage to inflict upon us the devastation that the neighbour routinely has been responsible for? It will do us good to recall similar accusations by the same voices after the Batla House encounter. Or have we forgotten how even after the tragedy of 26/11, the same forces made pointed references to the Sangh Parivar being behind the attacks? Isn’t this the same despicable mindset, represented by a politician who with the professed consent of his party president went to Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh, offering sympathies to the arrested terrorists’ families?

With the change in regime representing the aspirations of 1.2 billion Indians, significantly, matters of national pride are at the core. Pride in an Indian nationhood that is desperate to surface and find its place at the helm in the global pedestal. Any cynical reaction of the kind witnessed by the familiar sections tantamount to propagating the cause of the enemy.

Indeed, it jeopardises our national security. The best repartee to this baffled force sulking at the massive electoral defeat came from the ruling party spokesperson: “Are they planning to contest elections in Pakistan along with (Taliban leader) Mullah Omar, (mastermind of Mumbai terror attack Zaki ur Rehman) Lakhvi or (Lashkar-e-Tayyaba founder) Hafiz Saeed.”

R.P. Singh is national secretary, BJP

=================================================

We have a right to seek clarification - Mukesh Sharma

When there seems to be no evidence in the Porbandar incident, how can one blatantly claim that a terrorist attack has been prevented? We can’t come to childish conclusions on such sensitive issues.

For effective national security, every responsible citizen of this country has every right to seek clarification on any major terror incursion. As a responsible national party, the Congress is doing its job by seeking clarification and raising questions on the “terror boat” incident. All reports that have come up about the Porbandar incident are contradictory. We do not doubt the integrity and competence of our security forces. But we are raising bonafide questions as national security is the topmost priority of our party.

We are worried about the nation’s security and that’s precisely why we are raising questions. In any healthy democracy, every one has a right to raise questions about national security. As a responsible Opposition, we have every right to seek clarification on issues concerning the nation. At the time of the Kargil incident, it was the Congress in Opposition which supported the then Vajpayee government on the military operation. Raising questions on the terror boat incident does not mean we are siding with Pakistan.

It is high time the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government at the Centre comes clean on this sensitive issue. There are encounters where our policemen get injured. That does not mean one should not question the role of policemen in such encounters. At the end of the day, all one wants to know is the truth.

Raising questions about policemen in cases related to encounters does not mean that one is against the khaki establishment. The policemen are also part and parcel of the same system. But the men in uniform are expected to maintain the highest standards of decorum while discharging their day-to-day duties. When there seems to be no evidence in the Porbandar incident, how can one blatantly claim that a terrorist attack has been prevented? We can’t come to childish conclusions on such sensitive issues.

Our country has been a victim of Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. But we have dealt with terror outfits firmly in the past. And we need to effectively deal with all terror outfits in future as well. It is high time that all parties rise above politics and work for the welfare of the country. We need not score brownie goals for political mileage on issues concerning our national security. At present, the country needs to know how the saffron government came to the conclusion that it was a terrorist boat. We need answers for such strange reasoning.

No one has so far explained which terrorist organisation was behind it. The Congress-led government at the Centre had caught a 26/11 terrorist (Ajmal Kasab) alive during the operation. It would have been better if at least one of the occupants of the terror boat had been taken alive. That would have helped us to tell the world that their handlers belonged to Pakistan. The government must go deep into this incident.

The investigating agencies must literally get to the bottom of the incident by tracing the remnants of the boat or the sea bed to find out its origin, who sent it, why it was sent, and its purpose.

(As told to Sanjay Kaw)
Mukesh Sharma is Delhi Congress chief spokesperson