On Monday, terrorists stormed a police station in Gurdaspur, Punjab, resulting in a 12-hour shootout and seven casualties. While the Punjab police eventually overcame the attackers, it came at great cost — they lost four of their own, including a Police Superintendent.

Tragic as it is, the death of SP Baljit Singh is yet another instance of a breakdown of Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) while tackling terror attacks. Had the police followed procedure, they would never have lost such a senior official.