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Government guarded about Pathankot attack, Congress lashes out

Intelligence officials say after the high risk visit undertaken by Modi to Lahore, they were expecting such an incident aimed at derailing the peace process

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Security forces during their operation against the militants who attacked the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot on Saturday
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While the opposition Congress launched a scathing attack, in the wake of a terrorist strike on the Indian Air Force (IAF) base in Punjab's Pathankot, the government's response was guarded, after the day-long gunbattle in which three security men and all the five infiltrators were killed.

While it appears for the time-being, that the government has sidestepped its previous stand of 'terror and talks can't go together' and favours insulating the India-Pakistan dialogue from such incidents, experts here say, it cannot go forever. "The Pakistan army and the ISI do not appear to realise that a major terrorist strike could lead to military retaliation from India. Even though such retaliation would be carefully calibrated to avoid escalation, it would carry the risk of snowballing out of control," said Brigadier (retd) Gurmeet Kanwal, who in past has commanded forces in the Kashmir Valley.

The government's previous stance of going hammer and tongs against Pakistan and other sponsors of terrorism seems to be more moderated in the latest instance. The impression here is that the Modi government wants to give some more time to Pakistan, to show its commitment to stamp out India-centric terrorism despite the recent terrorist strikes at Gurdaspur in Punjab and Udhampur in Jammu and Kashmir.

Intelligence officials said in light of the visit undertaken by PM Modi to Pakistan, this incident, which aims at derailing the peace process, is not unexpected. Officials at the home ministry, concede that specific intelligence inputs were available, suggesting attempts by terrorists to infiltrate the military installation in Pathankot area. "In response, preparatory actions had been taken by the Indian Air Force (IAF) to thwart any such attempt," they said.

Officials further claimed that effective preparation and coordinated efforts by all the security agencies and the detection of the terrorists by the aerial surveillance platforms as soon as they entered the Air Force Station at Pathankot helped prevent a possibly worse situation. The home ministry took the credit that terrorists were prevented from entering the technical zone, where the high value assets were parked. "Through timely and prompt action by all agencies, the likely plan of the terrorists to destroy valuable assets of the Air Force has been foiled," the officials said.

The ministry of external affairs, however, remained guarded while reacting to the attack, planned and launched from across the border. The MEA spokesperson Vikas Swaroop said it was 'premature' to say anything at this point. Not taking any chance, Pakistan's foreign ministry in a statement also condemned the attack, lest it affects the scheduled meeting of foreign secetaries on Jan 15. "We extend heartfelt condolences to the government and people of India and the bereaved families and wish the wounded speedy and full recovery," the statement said.

The main opposition Congress, however, lashed out at the government, calling the attack a serious issue of internal security. The party's chief spokesman Randeep Singh Surjiwala said Modi's Lahore visit has not yielded any dividends.

We will give a fitting reply: Rajnath 
Home Minister Rajnath Singh said while India wants good relations with not just Pakistan but with all its neighbours, terror attacks will not be tolerated. "We also want peace but if there is any terror attack on India, we will give a befitting reply. The country is proud of our security forces and our jawans," said Rajnath. Former J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah described it a first major challenge to the PM's bold gambit. "The BJP now has to sidestep its previous 'terror and talks can't go together' and insulate the Indo-Pak dialogue from such attacks," he said.

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