How long will we accept attacks by Pakistan ?

V Shanmuganathan

It is really thrilling to see that  our uneducated, mothers and sisters living in villages display a tremendous amount of strength and determination than the people in power.

On August 6th, 2013 five of our jawans  were killed at the LoC by  the Pakistan Army soldiers.

As the news of the death of four jawans from Bihar spread, protestors marched through the streets, raising anti-Pakistan slogans. BJP workers burnt Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s effigy at Dak Bungalow road in the heart of Patna.

Of the four, Vijay Kumar Rai belongs to Bithor in rural Patna, Shambhu Sharan Singh hailed from Bhojpur district and Premnath Singh and Raghunandan Prasad were natives of Saran district.

Bhim Singh, Bihar’s Rural Works Minister, made an insensitive remark in a TV news channel that jawans who joined the army “were there to be martyred”.

Immediately Janata Dal (united) president Sharad Yadav said show cause notices have been issued to the two for making  such statements. They had “hurt the people at large and deeply embarrassed the party, he said.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has announced compensation of Rs. 10 lakh to the next of kin and State funeral to the four army men from Bihar.

Pushpa Rai, wife of jawan Vijay Rai was crying and weeping over the dead body of her husband. She was feeling all round gloom and darkness about the future. At that time, she was informed about the government’s decision of  Rs. 10 lakh to offset her sorrow. She reacted sharply and said, “Can Rs lakh bring back my husband? I don’t want compensation, I want a strong military reply to Pakistan for killing my husband and other Indian soldiers.”

Villagers and friends of Premnath Singh, who was among the four martyrs demanded that the Centre should take direct action against Pakistan. How long will we accept attacks by Pakistan? Our soldiers  have been killed and beheaded. We will not accept anything less than a military action against Pakistan which is perpetrating attacks on our soldiers,  they said.

Pushpa Rai of rural Patna and the villagers of the Saran district of Bihar showed the greatest strength while undergoing greatest pain. The nation should always remember the courage shown by Pushpa Rai and others. This is the voice of an Indian village.

MK Antony, Defence Minister gave a statement in the Parliament, that terrorists dressed in Pakistan Army uniform attacked in Poonch while Army’s official press release stated that five of our jawans   were killed at the LoC by Pakistan soldiers and Pakistan trained terrorists.

Smt Sushma Swaraj  said in  the Lok Sabha, “They (Pakistan Army)  came intentionally to kill our jawans and Defence Minister says Pakistan Army is not involved.” She said that Antony’s statement had created confusion by trying to absolve the Pakistan Army in the attack and it was a serious situation. Antony cannot give a clean chit to the Pakistan Army to please that country, she said.

BJP had moved a privilege motion in both the Houses. Political storm over Defence Minister A K Anotony’s statement on LoC killing paralysed Parliament on August 7, 2013, with an aggressive Opposition accusing him of giving a ‘clean chit’ to Pakistan Army and demanding his apology. BJP leaders said, it impinges upon national security. We would like the Defence Minister to explain, after all the first statement is issued from Jammu, from the Armed forces. BJP raised a question “whether it is an attempt to do something with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s proposed visit to the United Nations and hold talks with Pakistan there?.”

Due to  the sustained pressure from the BJP, Defence Minister A K Antony gave a fresh statement, he retracted from his earlier statement and squarely blamed the Pakistan Army for the brutal attack.

“It is now clear that the specialist troops of Pakistan Army were involved in this attack where a group from Pakistan – occupied Kashmir (PoK) crossed the LoC and killed our brave jawans” he said. This statement was mainly to control the damage done by his previous statement.

Shri LK Advani complimented the Army chief for having made the Defence Minister not just confirm what the Army press had said, but specifically to add about the, “specialist troops of the Pakistan Army were involved in this attack”. Then finally Defence Minister A K Antony adopted a tough stance. He said that the “brutal and unprovoked” attack on the Indian side of the LoC in Poonch Sector of Jammu and Kashmir outraged us all.

Sending out a message to Pakistan,  Antony said, “our restraint should not be taken for granted; nor should the capacity of our armed forces and resolve of the Government to uphold the sanctity of LoC ever be doubted.”

“Those in Pakistan who are responsible for this tragedy and the brutal killing of two soldiers earlier this year should not go unpunished,” he said.

“Pakistan should also show determined action to dismantle terrorists networks, organisations and infrastructure and show tangible movement on bringing those responsible for the Mumbai terrorist attack in November 2008 to justice quickly,” the Minister  emphasised.

Many times we don’t realise that our own strength until we come face to face with our greatest weakness. In this whole event, Pushpa Rai emerges as the example of strength while Congress and Antony became the example of weakness.Why Congress government has become so weak is an important point for people to analyse and decide.