My Opinion

If Masood Azhar, the Chief of Jaish-e-Mohammad has indeed been arrested and his offices sealed, then this will augur well for both India and Pakistan. I use the term ‘if’ because my scepticism stems from the fact that there has been no official confirmation about the arrest from the Pakistan Government or their Police. Till the time their government officially agrees to have apprehended the Jaish Chief and agrees to hand him over to India, it would be difficult to believe Pakistan. But if they have managed to arrest Masood and his brother, then this would certainly be a step forward towards peace between the two neighbouring countries.

The Pakistan government is well aware that the groups like the Lashkar and Jaish-e-Mohammad operate on its soil in order to carry out their terror activities. Even if the government were to take action against these groups, it is unable to do so, since these groups enjoy the active support from the Army and the ISI. Despite the Jaish-e-Mohammad having twice made an attempt on Parvez Musharraf’s life, the government was unable to weed out the terror outfit. However in the aftermath of the terror attack in Pathankot, even Parvez Musharraf was forced to call for strong action after it was identified that Jaish-e-Mohammad was behind these attacks.

Malda is known for its widespread opium farming and the BSF had recently tightened the noose around those growing opium in this area. The opium mafia had used the local Muslim population inorder to escape from the BSF. The Hindu activists in the area felt that this was some kind of a Muslim protest which is why the local police station was burnt and the people were trying to assert their dominance in the name of religion. But it was the Opium Mafia that actually tried to create a religious divide and took advantage of the crowd and burnt all records in the local thana at Kaliachak in Malda.

The terror attack at the Pathankot airbase cannot be taken lightly. There are two options to deal with it – either Pakistan takes strict action or India should prepare itself to attack the perpetrators. The Pakistan Prime Minister has promised action, some of which was visible today and one would have to wait for the outcome. However if the outcome is zero, then the second option can always be resorted to. This was today hinted by Defence Minister, Manohar Parrikar.

From the investigations undertaken by the NIA in the Pathankot attack, it is clear that the terrorists managed to enter the Airbase with the help of the drugs mafia. They took the same drug trafficking route and even used their car and perhaps even nabbed some people linked to these drug cartels to be used as pawns by them. What is crucial now is that stern action must be taken against the existing the drug racket in Punjab.

How the terrorists sneaked into the Pathankot Air Force Base is still a mystery. The airbase is a high security zone surrounded by a boundary wall that is ten feet high with two feet high barbed wires on top of it and yet the terrorists were easily able to scale it! What is baffling is that they sneaked in without being noticed. One can hope that the NIA which is the investigating agency, is soon able to find out the loopholes that caused the attack and also find out who all have had a role to play so that stern action can be taken against them and such blunders can be avoided in the future.

West Bengal goes to polls this year and traditionally Malda has always been a Congress stronghold. However after the last Assembly elections, the Trinamul Congress has gathered good ground in the area and that is why they have alleged that prior to the elections, there is a deliberate attempt to communalise the whole atmosphere in the state. However the perpetrators of the violence in Malda, feel that since Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will give them protection, they can easily get away.

Aamir Khan was made the Ambassador for the Incredible India campaign by the erstwhile UPA government. That he is neither a supporter nor a fan of Narendra Modi is not unknown. Despite having criticised Modi often in the past, he was never removed from the campaign. He is perhaps now being replaced because his recent remarks on intolerance is known to have ruffled many feathers in the government and Amitabh Bachchan is to be the new face of the Incredible India campaign. He is probably being considered because without charging a penny and without courting any controversy, Amitabh Bachchan had successfully campaigned for Gujarat Tourism as its Ambassador.

The passing away of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed is a great loss for the country. A well defined leader whose presence was necessary in the politics of Jammu and Kashmir. He exhibited a great sense of conviction when he decided to join hands with BJP to form the government. He was governing the State judiciously and did not allow anything to come in between him and Narendra Modi. He guided and taught the BJP ministers in his government to join hands and work together. He was acceptable to all – his own party and the BJP. Perhaps the biggest challenge for his daughter Mehbooba Mufti would be to bind the party and the BJP together and govern the State successfully like her father.

In the aftermath of the Pathankot attack, perhaps for the first time there is a visible change in the manner in which Pakistan has responded. This has happened primarily because when Narendra Modi recently visited Lahore, he had asked Nawaz Sharif “what has war yielded? Neither land nor heaven”. Since then Nawaz Sharif and his brother have been reiterating the futility of war and terrorism. Ironically post the 26/11 attack, Pakistan had refused to accept that Ajmal Kasab who was caught alive, was a citizen of its own country but this time they have not refuted India’s claims that the terrorists in the Pathankot attack had entered from Pakistan. And perhaps for the first time they have accepted that the evidences provided to them by India are strong enough. One can hope that our neighbour will strong action before the 15th of January so that there are no brakes in the Foreign Secretary level talks between the two countries.

Gajendra Chauhan finally takes charge as the Chairman of FTII but he would not be able to interfere with the matters of the Academic Council. He would only look into administrative issues. The Academic Council will have 14 members with established names like Raju Hirani as part of it and the Council will decide upon training and academic matters. Gajendra Chauhan will therefore be a mere figure head. The Government decided to come to such a compromise not only to keep its prestige intact but to also placate the protesting students.

The manner in which the terrorists had entered the Pathankot airbase proves that they had been planning out the operation for months. They had undergone training at an Air Force base in Pakistan, they had also undergone weapons training and had come with AK47 rifles fitted with grenade launchers. All this reveals that the fidayeen attackers had crossed the border and entered Punjab some time back. It would therefore be incorrect to link this attack to Prime Minister Modi’s surprise visit to Lahore. And there is no doubt that the handlers who gave instructions to these terrorists are still in Pakistan and Nawaz Sharif has little control over them. Nawaz Sharif wants better bilateral ties between the two countries but his army thinks differently. However the manner in which the Pakistan Prime Minister has responded and promised prompt action in the aftermath of the attack, one can be optimistic that the perpetrators would be dealt with in the strongest manner. It is perhaps for the first time that Pakistan has agreed to investigate the attack based on the evidences provided by India. And incase that does not happen, India would perhaps have to take what Swami Ramdev says, is a more combative stance against Pakistan.