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Pulwama Attack: Those asking 'How’s the Jaish', here is your answer

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Vandana
VandanaFeb 15, 2019 | 16:58

Pulwama Attack: Those asking 'How’s the Jaish', here is your answer

All that remains of the bus that was carrying Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel from Jammu to Srinagar is a mangled frame of wires, hurled up and across a road divider in Pulwama.

Thirty eight of the over 40 soldiers the bus was carrying are now confirmed martyred.

There is honour in martyrdom, and yet, the manner in which a soldier dies often compounds the extreme tragedy that martyrdom is for the nation the soldier lays down his life for.

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Pulwama: Security officials at the site of the attack. (Source: Reuters)

On that count, this is India’s moment of grief like no other.

CRPF sources have told Indian Express, “This attack was so massive that we have not been able to count the number of bodies yet. Some bodies are totally disfigured; we may have to depend on DNA tests to identify them. We are still trying to figure out which limb belongs to which body,” an officer said.

At a time the CRPF is trying to put the bodies of its soldiers together, so that they can be laid to rest in peace, many in India are busy doing exactly what Pakistan wants us to do at this precise hour.

In the name of region and religion, party and ideology, Pakistan wants India to fight — and in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack, many Indians have walked straight into that trap, some unknowingly, others, knowingly.

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Reminding the Prime Minister of the country of the size of his chest, in a snide reference to his honour is a sign of just how far we have come in the battle of ideologies and parties.

When a nation comes under attack, it is the nation’s honour that finds itself assailed. The Prime Minister is the nation’s representative, like it or not, his honour is the nation’s honour, the honour of each Indian.

In the aftermath of the 9/11 attack, when Geroge Bush declared to the world, “You are either with us or with the terrorists,” all American stood behind Bush rock-solid. It was not like they had no differences with Bush, but they knew they were faced with a danger so grave that internal differences could be kept aside for the time.

The threat was to America, and not to Bush alone.

We are now talking of the loss, the memory and the honour of the 38-plus bravehearts whom India lost in the dastardly attack carried out by the Jaish-e-Mohammed.

In response to a party’s recent use of ‘How’s the josh?’, many now want to know ‘How’s the Jaish?’

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Well, here’s the answer.

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The Jaish is as it was always was. Lunatic beyond belief. (Source: India Today)

Jaish is just as it always was — a United Nations-designated terrorist group that believes in killing people to separate Kashmir from India and merge it into Pakistan.

When it comes to choosing its target, Jaish is unforgiving. Its bombs kill children, they kill the elderly, they kill leaders, they kill soldiers.

Those trying to look smart by asking ‘How’s the Jaish?’ look not just foolish but also incredibly insensitive to the magnitude of the tragedy that India faces today.

Those 38 (and still counting) soldiers did not belong to a party.

They were a group of soldiers who came from across India to protect the country’s borders because, no matter which party gets to govern a country, it needs its borders to be protected.

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Once, there were people. (Source: Reuters)

This is no time for chest-thumping jingoism and war-mongering. But this is no time to settle political scores either.

The ruling party should not use this as an occasion to stoke nationalistic fervour — but the nation should rally behind its Prime Minister in this hour of crisis.

The UN has condemned the Pulwama attack but the organisation is such a toothless institution that if its own arms were to come under attack today, it could probably do little beyond condemning. The US has condemned too, but of late, the Americans have been showing a marked propensity to mind their own business and refrain from meddling in the affairs of any other country.

India is clearly on its own.

The need to stand united is graver than ever.

Elections will come and go, but these brave soldiers will never return to their homes. How we choose to honour their martyrdom is for us to decide.

Last updated: February 15, 2019 | 20:18
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