Pakistan Army Chief makes a point to Narendra Modi

What was the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, thinking when he went to Lahore abruptly and "impulsively' as the Opposition put it the other day to meet and greet Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif? That Sharif is in command of the entire Pakistan including his army and its ISI wing? Was he under the impression that Sharif's moves would herald peace in the sub-continent? Within a week the Pakistani establishment has given him an answer – that its General Raheel Sharif does not like any Indian PM stepping into Pakistan without his knowledge and clearance

In Pakistan what matters, it is said, is not one's general knowledge but one's 'General's knowledge' for survival. To understand the happenings in Pakistan, knowing the General's mind better is the essence of it.

What was the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, thinking when he went to Lahore abruptly and "impulsively' as the Opposition put it the other day to meet and greet Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif? That Sharif is in command of the entire Pakistan including his army and its ISI wing? Was he under the impression that Sharif's moves would herald peace in the sub-continent? Within a week the Pakistani establishment has given him an answer – that its General Raheel Sharif does not like any Indian PM stepping into Pakistan without his knowledge and clearance.

The second attack on Gurudaspur should not be misread as a simple terror attack of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) as it was fully coordinated and scripted by the Joint Intelligence North of the ISI and at least 30 of its top officials are involved in the latest attack. Intelligence had compiled dossiers on the same over a period and alerted the Centre to the dangers. Following these alerts, the IB issued warnings to some States and cities in the country.

Tasked with directing anti-Indian activities, these handlers of terror were in touch with the terror networks spread across key cities in Jammu and Kashmir, New Delhi and Mumbai, it is now being said. They are using satellite phones, mobiles, social media and emails to correspond with and pass instructions to the terrorists. Though the investigation is in its initial stages now over the latest attack, it is becoming clear to the officials that there are sleeper cells operating within Punjab and with their help, Pathankot operation was planned well in advance.

The arrest of three youth in Mohali not only establishes the nexus between the covert agents operating in India, smugglers and terror modules. If the Indian forces and authorities failed to nail the terror plan ahead of its execution, it goes to prove that there was a lacunae somewhere. Several questions are making rounds here over the preparedness of our intelligence agencies and armed forces in coordinating their moves.

A frontline Air Force base like Pathankot which is key to the defence of the country could not have been breached without a major failure, authorities here admit. What happened and how it would come out in the postmortem remains to be seen. The role of the Gurudaspur SP whose vehicle was hijacked is bound to come under the scanner as there are several loose ends to it.

What happened between the hijack and the actual attack after terrorists breached the base is going to be key to the investigation. Another worrisome factor, a real worrisome factor at that, is the level of training of these terrorists. They came prepared not only to kill and destroy but also take away lives after getting killed too.
Later comes the political question, of course. Should the government hold talks with Pakistan or not? More importantly, if both the countries agree that terror is centric to peace here, then would the Pak army and its ISI allow the talks to go ahead? The answer to the latter question could be a big NO.

So what does Modi plan to do now? No doubt, Union Home Minister, Rajnath Singh had said that though India was keen on good ties with Pakistan, it would give a “fitting reply to terror attacks,” though it rarely happened. Going by the meetings happening at various levels it could be predicted that the Centre is preparing a wider plan.

Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj met a group of former envoys to Islamabad and ex-foreign secretaries for what the ministry described as “diplomatic consultations on Pakistan strategy.” The meeting was attended, among others, by S.K. Lambah, G Parthasarathy, Shyam Saran, Shivshankar Menon, Satyabrata Paul, Sharad Sabharwal and TCA Raghavan. Prime Minister Narendra Modi continued to be closeted with his National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Foreign Secretary S Jaishanker to consider a response to the crisis.