How many of you haven't heard this sentence being said by someone at some point of your life? Sitting in my train compartment I hear two well-educated(looking) stylish gentlemen discussing Pakistan-India, Bin Laden, 9/11 conspiracy theories and likewise. No complaints till now but suddenly the bald gentleman observes,"Give Indian Army 48 hours and they'll clear off Kashmir of all militants". Didn't know what to say.
As a kid, I used to hear my dad quip,"This Veerappan is a mess, give a green signal to Indian Army and they will finish him off in 48 hours". I used to believe him those days, needless to say, I no longer do. For those of you interested in knowing how complicated a task it was to nab him in the dense forests bordering Karnataka and TN, you could read this book.
A cousin of mine once said," you know, after the Kargil war Indian army had the opportunity to march till Islamabad and take over Pakistan! But our bloody bureaucrats and politicians didn't allow them to". He definitely overlooked the possibility of entire India getting nuked before the Indian army can even cross a hundred paces from LOC.
Sometimes I wonder whether I am ignorant.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
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3 comments:
Its one of those many things we are supposed to believe in. Just like: right would always vanquish the wrong, a good deed is always rewarded, our army is the strongest. A little like our bollywood heroes, who always win in the end, never dies and is able to take on the enemies bare handed.
I think it's just a confidence building measure, much like when ur mom told u not to worry, dad's gonna kick all the thugs alone, and u were assured of protection. We know that we are far inferior to our no. 1 enemy china but does it make sense to reveal this truth to the people? There won't be any wars anymore in this nuke world and if bragging about will make people and the army happy, so be it.
Forget the army, believe me, give Punjab police 24 hours.
An insurgency situation such as the one prevailing in Kashmir is multi-dimensional, having political, social, cultural, economic facets besides the military or security angle. Therefore the assertion that the Army can tackle it on its own in a short span is childish. The massive but futile use of force by Israel in Gaza recently is a prime example.
As for the Veerappan case, the Army could have tackled it faster due to better resources, and being free from local influences. However, the Army is best left out of law & order situations.
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