Attack on CRPF camp: Shinde puts onus on govt to act tough on Pak

Sushilkumar Shinde is finally trying to change his image as a wavering home minister. He stood by Home Secretary RK Singh’s initial statement that the two terrorists in Bemina terror attack appeared to be from across the border. But in the process he has raised fresh questions on the resolve of the UPA government to take on Pakistan. The Home Minister’s statement in Parliament revealed that two diaries, containing numbers suspected to be of Pakistani origin, a tube of Betnovate, a skin ointment with manufacturing mark of Glaxo Smithkline Pak Ltd, at 35 Dockyard, Karachi, were recovered from the bodies of the two slain terrorists. “The name of the tube is mentioned in Urdu and the numbers mentioned in the diaries appear to be of Pakistani origin. Their bodies were shaven, which confirms them to be fidayeens. The killed terrorists are suspected to be of foreign origin,” he said. It is after a long time that such substantive evidence hinting at Pakistan’s involvement has been found. It is also significant that by making that statement he effectively sought to snub Pakistan, which had reacted sharply to his home secretary’s statement. Pakistan foreign ministry had said late on Wednesday, “Pakistan strongly rejects the remarks made by Indian Home Secretary RK Singh….We feel that this trend of making irresponsible statements and knee-jerk reactions by senior Indian government functionaries have the potential of undermining the efforts made by both sides to normalize relation between the two countries.” [caption id=“attachment_661861” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Sushilkumar Shinde outside the Parliament today. PTI[/caption] India is yet to take any substantive visible step after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh famously said, in the aftermath of beheading of Indian soldier by Pakistanis along the LoC, that business could not be as usual with Pakistan. The killing of five CRPF personnel by Pakistan-sponsored terrorists would add fresh pressure on the UPA government to act. It also comes at a time when the Prime Minister and the External Affairs ministry appear to be at a loss on how to deal with Italian government’s defiance of the Indian government and the Supreme Court. It has left the matter to the wisdom of the Supreme Court to take follow up action, but in case of Pakistan, the government should be seen to be acting tough. Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj was not off the mark when she pointed out that the front row of treasury benches were empty while Speaker Meira Kumar called the House to pay homage to the departed CRPF Jawans. Incidentally, even the Home Minister Shinde, who is the Leader of the House in Lok Sabha, was not present. A similar situation in Srinagar had outraged security agencies and popular opinion when leaders of various political parties conspicuously abstained from paying homage to the jawans who died of indiscriminate firing by the terrorists. After the issue was hyped by the media, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah laid a wreath at Srinagar airport and Union Minister of State RPN Singh received bodies at the New Delhi airport. The incident has put focus on two other issues – Omar Abdullah’s demand of repeal of AFSPA (Armed Forces Special Powers Act) from the areas where it’s supposedly not needed in the state. Second, his insistence, as confirmed by CRPF officials, on following a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) that one-third of the jawans of the concerned CRPF company on duty would be armed, one-third would carry the riot gear and one-third would hold only lathis. After the Bemina attack the CRPF officers and jawans are quite agitated at this SOP, which was laid down by Abdullah government as a confidence building measure. The security forces’ resistance on repeal of AFSPA even from some areas in J&K has only grown after the incident. The BJP openly lent its voice in support of the AFSPA. Though Sushma Swaraj did not name anyone but she was critical of the demand to repeal or amend AFSA, questioning how such demands were being made when incidents like these happen there. She also took on Foreign Minister Salman Khursheed for hosting a lunch for the Pakistan Prime Minister who was on a private visit to Ajmer Sharif Dargarh. The Home Minister has named Pakistan in the Bemina attack. The tougher part for the government is how to proceed from there.