Manoj Joshi: 'Bordering' on inadequacy

Army personnel stand guard at the 16 Corps headquarters in Jammu during the search operations following the attack on the Nagrota Army camp PicPTIThe attack that killed seven military personnel in Nagrota has been a serious breach At one level it may be dismissed as part of a pattern of attacks we have witnessed since 2013 At another there should be concern that in this case the penetration has taken place in an area that houses the headquarters of one of the biggest corps of Indian Army It is a far more serious than the Uri event and yet we are hearing nothing from the fireeaters who celebrated the surgical strikes to avenge itTo say that this is a wakeup call for the Army would be futile because the wakeup calls have been coming since the strikes on Pathankot and Uri The governments response has been to promote deterrent counter strikes It is necessary but insufficishyent What is also needed is a revision of standard operating proshycshyeshydures for perimeter security in the hundreds of camps pickets cantonments and bases that are strung out along the border in JampK Both the components of Indian countermilitant strategy mdash deterrence and defence mdash must be robust and innovative just as the attackers areThe Mumbai terror attacks of 2008 which claimed 166 civilians caused a wave of revulsion across the world Uncomfortably for Pakistan it also revealed how the tentacles of the jihadis were entangled with the Pakistani deep state Names of various Pak military officials like Sajid Mir surfaced Islamabad brushed it away by arresting some of the LeT functionaries involved and slowtracking their trial The US obtained information through its own channel through Daood Gilani aka David Coleman Headley So the ISI took recourse to a new technique to keep up the pressure on India mdash avoid masscasualty civilian attacks which would bring huge pressure on India to launch a military strike and carry out a succession of low impact attacks on Indian military or police targets and confine them to the JampK areaThese unfolded after 2012 across the International Border termed woshyrshyking boundary in Pakistan in Jamshymu parallel to National Highway 1A The pattern was roughly similar mdash small groups of men would cross the border which is guarded by BSF don military fatigues hijack a passing vehicle and hit a target usually a police station or a military post and die in the process However the attack on Nagrota is more seriousFor one it is further inland and for another it should have been better protected considering it is the location of the headquarters of Indias largest corps On September 26 2013 a few days ahead of the Manmohan SinghNawaz Sharif meeting in New York militants dressed in army fatigues struck a police station at Hiranagar near Kathua killing several policemen Later they attacked an army camp before being gunned downOn November 27 2014 just as PM Modi was meeting his Pak counterpart at Dhulikhel Nepal four gunmen who had come across the border clashed with an army patrol in the Arnia sector of Jammu leaving three soldiers and five civilians deadOn March 28 2014 two days after a Modi election rally near Jammu three militants hijacked a vehicle and attacked an Army camp at Janglore and killed a jawan before getting killed On July 27 2015 three gunmen dressed in army fatigues who crossed the border turned south to Punjab and fired on a bus near Dinanagar near Gurdaspur They hijacked a car and attacked a police station killing three civilians and four policemen For the first time the militants came in from Jammu and deliberatelystrshyuck a target in PunjabThis pattern was repeated on January 13 2016 gunmen crossed the border in Jammu hijacked a police officers vehicle to reach the Pathashynshykot Air Force base to launch an attack Despite advanced intelligence the perimeter was breached and two army personnel were killed The repeated penetrations of the border do raise the question about the efficiency of Indias border managshyement and perimeter security practices even as they roil efforts to normalise relations between the two neighbours Officials usually come up with various explanations and promise hightech solutions like automated machine guns and laser curtains to foil attackers The proshyblem is the serrated nature of the terrain which is cut by rivers and nallahs leading out of the mountains and flowing towards Pakistan They provide several channels of ingress which are familiar to smugglersBut the problem is often with the quality of equipment and the forces namely the BSF being used to guard the border As for perimeter security the government should understand that this involves substantial costs and be ready to provide money to build walls not only around the bases and cantonments but within them to foil easy movement of militants who might get through There is also need to come up with a standardised concrete guardhouse which is sufficienshytly protected and provides easy line of sight for the guarding forces The DRDO which focuses on futuristic projects should consider designing tautwire sensors and physical barriers which are rugged and reliableThe writer is a Distinguished Fellow Observer Research Foundation New Delhi Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycom