Founder’s Blog

The much awaited event of the whole year is the summer camp of Prahar. I eagerly look forward to these camps as there is no bigger joy than being with kids. Children coming from all different walks of life, having different mentality with different habits are fun to watch. I learn many new things from these kids and some incidents from these camps leave a lasting impression on my mind. On the first day of the camp the parents are asked to drop their children at the camp sight. The whole family comes to see off the child as if the child is going on a big mission! The scene is fun to watch. The ‘Shehensha’ steps out of the car, walks triumphantly towards the camp sight. His parents are seen walking with the luggage of the child behind him. As they approach the parents are asked to watch the list of the name of the students participating in the camp. While the parents are busy doing the same this ‘Shehensha’ throws glances here and there and tries to have a feel of nature of the camp. The parents are very inquisitive to know the arrangements at the camp, the training which is given at the camp, the safety measures, the food quality etc. The answer is simple ‘Watch the difference in your child on the last day of the camp’. Many a times the parents keep standing outside the camp sight for very very long time when at last we have to ask them to go. And the last minute instructions are for us ‘Please take care of our child as this is the first time he is attending a camp away from home’.

The camp begins. On the first day a child comes crying and says ‘Sir, I want to go home. I am missing my mother’. Usually the children attending this camp belong to the age group of 12-18. We try to console him but efforts are always in vain. The child wants to go home and desperately wants to see his mother. And then perforce we have to call up the parents and tell them and to take their child away because he is missing his mother. From the other end of the telephone the father speaks out ‘Doesn’t matter if the child cries you keep him there at the camp only. We know that there is no problem with a child. We want our child to learn an art of adjustment, we ant him to mix with others and become friendly in nature. He is psychologically weak person and we want to make him bold and strong. Please don’t let him talk to us on phone. Let him cry for sometime. As time pass everything will be alright.’ I said Ok and hung up. Immediately after 5 minutes the same parent called up again and said, ‘I have a request. Come what may please keep my child in a camp but please don’t let him know that we have asked you to do so. Just tell him that you could not contact us.’ When I asked him the reason for this he just told me that if the child comes to know that we have asked him to keep at the camp then when he comes home he will show all kinds of tantrums and trouble us! I was surprised. What the father had said was a thing to ponder on. Now a day parenting has become a very difficult job or rather I would call it a different kind of terrorism? Parents now a day are presurrised by the children into this kind of terrorism. When I was in the Army and was posted to various places like Kashmir, Punjab, Manipur, Nagaland, Mizoram, I had dealt with insurgency but this kind of terror that the children created in the minds of their parents was absolutely new to me. It is easy to fight terrorists but it is impossible to fight these kinds of difficult children. Children need to be handled very carefully. Fulfilling every demand of the child does not show love. The parents should develop courage to say no to their children and not bow down before every demand of theirs. The child should be used to fact that everything in a life does not come on a platter. Giving the child all kinds of pleasures and comforts does not show love. In fact it spoils them. But now a day the parents feel that if they can not fulfill every demand of their child they are the culprits. Whatever I couldn’t get when I was small, my child should get it, they feel. To fulfill the needs of their children the parents ignore their own one. Another incident of a camp – a child came crying and said that he wants to go home. He was crying continuously from the morning and I had feared that if the child continues to weep like this then other children might start feeling nostalgic and so I called his mother. On telling her the problem she said let me talk to my child. The conversation between the mother and the child lasted just for half a minute. I asked the child, ‘what did your mother say?’ he replied, ‘Sir, my mother asked me to cry and she very sternly told me to that I am not going to take you home’. This is the manner in which the parents should deal with their child.

One child came to me and told me that he is the son of the very famous doctor of Nagpur. He further said that he had a minor operation two years ago and also that there were some complications after the operation. And from the time I have come to this camp and started doing the obstacles my health is not supporting me. Since he was a child of a doctor couple, he used certain big words in medical language which even I failed to understand and it seemed from its talk that he was quite confident of what he was speaking. I then called up his mother and spoke to her and to my surprise she told me that there was nothing wrong with the child. And he is just making up stories and finding excuses. Let him continue the camp and ask him to participate in every activity and do tell him that I have said so. I like this answer of the mother. There is a need for such strong mothers in today’s society and to this kind of child terrorism, strong parents is the only answer.

There are some attentions seeking students also at the camp. In one such camp a child always used to say that I am missing my home and used to have very depressed face. He always used to try to steal my attention by his gloomy expressions. On the third day of the camp when food was being served to the children with their plates in hand I saw this child standing without a plate and he was continuously looking at me. His aim was that I should ask him the reason for him not having food. I ignored. At last I did ask him about food and he said that I am not hungry. I immediately said its ok. Don’t eat if you are not hungry and observed his face for his expression. I noticed that this answer of mine was totally unexpected by him. He wanted that I should pacify him and ask him the reason for him not having food. But I did not do so. Sometimes this kind of indifferent attitude also solves many problems.

Such incidents are served as an eye opener. And one starts wondering whether we are looking too much beyond parental love. Let us not fall pray to this kind of terror and let us develop the habit of nurturing our child and in the manner we were nurtured when we were young. There is difference between taking care of a child and being over protective. I personally feel that parents are now a days becoming over protective about their children and in the event they are making their child emotionally weak and dependent. I have not studied psychology but I do understand one thing that fulfilling every need of your child is going to make child weak as well as the parents weak. And hence my earnest request to the parents is do no get terrorise by your children and learn to say no to them so that life says yes to them.

The news that the headquarters of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh is going to face terrorist attack in the next 72 hrs was out in the newspapers. And finally at 4 am the terrorist attacked.

When I was in the Army, I have done many operations against the terrorists. Therefore the modus operandi of the terrorist is well known to me. According to me the terrorists who attacked the RSS Headquarters might have camped in the city for at least 2 months before the scheduled time. They might have carried out a detail study of the entire geographical location of the headquarters & on observation might have chosen the way to enter the RSS headquarters. Therefore instead of entering from front, the terrorist chose to enter from the back. One thing was for sure that these terrorists were not from Nagpur & hence they might have required some local support. This means that some locals from Nagpur might have helped these terrorists in gathering intelligence information about the Police, the geographical location of the headquarters etc. Whenever terrorists attack happen, the information regarding their whereabouts is kept top secret. If there was a red alert in Nagpur and the Police was absolutely alert then we could have said that our intelligence did an excellent job. The work of the intelligence department is very important regarding any terrorist movement and hence the right intelligence information should be transferred from the right person to the authenticated receiver. In fact information regarding any alerts should not be flashed in the media also. Here there is a fear of intelligence failure. The terrorists are waiting for this opportunity and their final assault goes where the intelligence fails.

In Nagpur, in spite of the red alert the terrorists dare to attack the RSS headquarters which was favorable to the Police.

The time chosen for the attack was studied properly. The time was early morning 4 o’ clock when people are fast asleep. In the night, the Police are patrolling at various places in the city but at the early hours of the morning the patrolling lessens. Alertness diminishes. The ones who were patrolling in the night look forward to going home and sleeping early. This was the best time that terrorists could choose. They were dressed in the clothes of a Police and arrived at a place in a white VIP ambassador. One of the patrolling Police vehicles doubted this white ambassador and followed it. The RSS headquarter was very near and there was a Police vehicle following, therefore the terrorists probably got confused. In this confusion they broke the Police barricade on the road and tried to go ahead when the Police opened fire. Immediately the Police who were in front of the RSS headquarters blocked the terrorists. The terrorists were thus sandwiched from both the sides and they had no way out.

On inspection of the ambassador car it was learnt that the vehicle had been very well prepared for the attack. On opening the bonnet of the vehicle one could very easily noticed that all the unwanted parts of the vehicle were removed so that enough so that space could be made available to keep RDX. To blow up the RDX, battery was also available. In short the sole aim of the terrorists was to enter into the headquarters and blow up the vehicle. This means that this was a suicide squad. The ambassador was specially made ready in the garage for this attack.

Who were the people who had helped these terrorists? From where did they acquire all the information? The terrorists had AK 56 rifles and hand grenades. In these attacks the terrorists used rifles where as hand grenades are usually used. When hand grenades are used the destruction is more and chaotic conditions arise very soon. But in this attack the Police reacted very fast and the terrorists could not use the hand grenades.

When the intelligence agencies sound a red alert the Police should react very fast. There should be intense patrolling and constant vigil should be maintained. In case of any terrorists attack again the Police should show the immediate activity. The third point arises during the investigation. Secrecy should be maintained when an investigation is taking place. During the investigation, the Police should also take at most care that the future plans of their department should not be leaked out. The intelligence department also has to keep working at such a time to know the future course of action of the terrorists. Another important thing is that during investigation lot of patience should be observed because any kind of rush might lead to a future tragedy. The media should also be kept under control.

May it be Kashmir or any other part of India the terrorists now a days very openly get dressed up into Army or Police uniforms. Recognizing them at such times is very difficult and therefore now a days a system called as ‘Identification Parade’ is followed in the Army and the Police.

Such type of terrorist activities can take place anywhere and hence we all should maintain a intense vigil because taking care of the terrorists activities is not the work of the Police and the Army only but the onus lies on the every citizen of the country. Time has now come that we should now come out of the shell of  ‘ What do I have to do with this?’ And think about the society as a whole.

An earthquake takes place, call Indian Army for rescue, a flood like situation, call the Army, any communal riots takes place, call the Army to control the situation. Some years back there was stunning news. A small kid named Prince fell into 60 ft well and to rescue him Army was called in!!! Any internal terrorist activity takes place or to fight against anti national elements the Army is called in. A question arises in mind that for how long the Army will be called in for other activities either than securing the borders of the nation. When IC814 aircraft was hijacked by terrorists in fact that was the time when the Army commandoes should have been sent to rescue the passengers. But the government faltered. When there is an ardent need to use the Army in grave situations one can understand but calling the Army time and again for minor issues is harmful to the nation.

The Army has entrusted with securing the borders of the nation from enemy attacks. Besides this whenever the situation regarding the internal security arises, calling the Army is understood to some extent. The matter of internal security of the nation is the sole responsibility of the civil administration. For that the police force, CRPF, home guards and Civil defense groups should be in place. It is a matter of great concern that in our country less importance is given to civil defense and in case if any calamity arises there is zero preparedness. It is the irony of fate that this aspect is ignored totally. Whereas in the western countries disaster management and civil defense teams are always ready for any untoward incident due to which, the loss of lives and material loss is minimal a lot of thinking should be done as regards disaster management in out country. We do have civil defense machinery on place but only on paper. And if some calamity occurs on serious note then we experience inefficiency of the civil administration. And that is why we feel need of calling the Army. When we all are aware that it is going to flood every year then it is the immense responsibility of the authorities to take responsive counter measures and act accordingly. But on the contrary whenever there are floods the Army is called in. in the last couple of years communal riots are increased in our country and to control these riots we need effective machinery. It is a pity that when a small kid named Prince falls in a well in a town named Kurukshetra in Haryana the Army is called for rescue. If this continues then soon there will be a condition where the Army will have to take the entire responsibility for anything that happens in the country which is not in the nation’s interest.

Civil defense comes under the home ministry and for this a DG is appointed by the centre. The activities of the state are controlled by this DG. There is only one college in entire country to impart training for civil defense and that is in Nagpur. Authorities from all part of the country come here and procure training regarding steps to be taken in any natural or manmade calamities. The entire training is given with great thought and on technical basis. But many a times it is seen that government officials who come for this training are on the way to their retirement. Therefore, for how long the services of these people can benefit the society is the matter of thought. Post retirement, the urge to work in the society regarding the same knowledge gained is found in a handful of people. Secondly this college provides accommodation for very few officials at one time.

As civil defense is the matter of concern and comes under the government, it should moot an idea to start such training centers elsewhere in the country. And also there should be separate civil defense machinery for every state whose responsibility should be taken by the respective state. Further the states can impart this training to various districts where small groups can be made ready to fight against disasters. Such groups can be called as civil defense battalions who can take care of thousand people at one time. This battalion should be well equipped with all the requirements necessary for use in such disasters. These units should also possess some vehicles which can be handy for transportation of man and material. The entire finance of such battalions should be taken care of by the government.

In any kind of disaster, may it be manmade or natural disaster if help reaches in time it is useful. It is usually observed that when any kind of situation goes out of control of police, home guards then the administration immediately calls in the Army. The request that the administration sends to the Army should be in written form and to act on such a request, it requires some time. After Army receives such requests, the Army also requires some time for preparations according to the type of the disasters. On an average in this process nearly 6 hours are wasted. In these 6 hours lot of destruction takes place at the spot. Therefore if in each district we have civil defense battalion as stated earlier the help arrives at the incident place within an hour. There is a lack of will in our country, will to take care of such situation and the will of preparedness. Any lives lost and some of 1-2 lakhs is declared as the compensation and the government feels that their responsibility ends here. At least now when our country has seen so many disasters right from the earthquake in Bhuj, Tsunami in South, the devastating floods of J&K and cloudburst in Uttarakhand to the cyclonic storms in Orrisa, the government should take strong steps towards streamlining the disaster relief operations. After independence we had adopted many policies of the Britishers but have left out the good ones. And we did make some good policies but they remained confined to black and white. Swantantra Veer Sawarkar had said that our country will surely get independence but we should be able to bare fruits of our independence. Are we really doing it? If you understand today’s scenario it seems very difficult situation to believe that our government is well prepared to take control of any kind of disaster that is why call the Army? In the second most populous country of the world we can not expect the government machinery to change overnight. Since independence we have been relying on the government for every small change and now it has become our habit. If any calamity arises then only thing left for us to hold our head in despair and wait for the government to do something about it. Expectations start growing, police will come in, home guards will save us and if that is not enough the Army will of course come as the saviors. In the recent Kashmir floods there was a group of youth which made a raft and rescued many people. But just imagine if they had proper training they could have done wonders. Many a times injured people in such disasters need immediate first aid, require immediate medical help but the irony is that the people are totally indifferent to the knowledge of the first aid. Along with the training of the civil defense basic first aid knowledge is also given and therefore it is a firm belief that every citizen should be well trained at least in first aid. Just imagine a situation where a serious accident has taken place, many lives are in danger and a group of young enthusiasts rush immediately to the spot, rescue those alive, give medical assistance to those seriously injured, rush them immediately to the nearest  health center, take control of the situation and thus be successful in saving many a lives. Therefore in every locality in every colony the knowledge and training of the civil defense should reach. Today Prahar has more than 100 young boys and girls trained in civil defense with a strong desire to train people but the irony is such that people are not willing to because of the same tendency- How does it affect me? I will see to it when my turn comes. The government should make civil defense a compulsory subject in the school curriculum. There are many good policies of the government regarding education and training but like said earlier it remains confined only on paper. For how long are we going to remain same? Doesn’t the onus of our own safety lie with us or are we waiting for another disaster to take place where many lives will be lost and devastation cost will be heavy. I remember many many years ago when there was a flood in a place called Mowad, the Army was called in for the rescue help of the local people was also sought but nobody took the role of removing the dead bodies and finally this work was done by the Army. Couldn’t the others do the same work? I had observed the very funny side then that some NGOs went with their banners, clicked photographs and on the next day the newspapers saw a big report of the help that these NGOs had provided. But the real work was done only by the Army. That is why I very strongly feel that the mentality of our people should change. We should come out of the philosophy of I me and myself and think about the nation as a whole.

With the fast changing world, the environmental changes are being felt drastically therefore to face disaster like situation preparedness is the need of the hour.  And if this is done along with assured training then material loss and human loss will be saved.

“Congratulations my brave soldiers. The day for which each soldier awaits with baited breathe has finally arrived. The war is on. Congratulations once again. I am very sure that your valor will shine in the battlefield and victory will be at your feet. Fight with all your useful zest and zeal and let the enemy know that they are fighting a lost battle. This victory will be engraved in golden letters in the history.

The motherland needs you today and for her every breath and every drop of blood will ensure victory. The Junior Command Course that you are undergoing right now comes to an end here and you are immediately recalled back to your units. Catch the next train and report to the unit immediately. The battlefield is waiting for you. Let the loud thunder of your battle cry break the enemy into pieces. May victory be yours. My best wishes are with you and may God be with you!”

At the College of Combat, Mhow near Indore Maj Gen Kalkat, the Commandant gave this farewell speech in October 1971. At Mhow, in the College of Combat we all young Capt and Maj were doing the Junior Command Course of three months. In the Army we keep doing many courses on war strategies and modern warfare. From early April 1971, one could feel the tension between India and Pakistan and the clouds of war were looming low. Due to the tensions at the borders our course was wrapped up in 6 weeks and was asked to immediately report back to our units. I rushed to my quarter and told my wife “Come on pack up. I will drop you at Nagpur and immediately move towards borders.” In no time the packing was done and we immediately took a taxi from Bhopal to Nagpur. We started from Bhopal in the evening at 6. I did not speak word in the taxi. Silence was probably eating my wife when she broke it and asked, “Why are you so quiet? Are you worried about me and your daughter? If that is the reason then please be rest assured. In your absence I will take care of the entire family, our daughter, my in-laws, your brother and sister as well. You go to the war with free mind and come back with a huge victory. I still remember what you have told me after marriage that you are not just a wife but soldier’s wife.”

I was engrossed in some other thoughts when I suddenly realized that my wife was talking to me. I replied “I am not worried about you or my 1 year daughter nor am I worried about my parents and brother and sister. I know you will take care of them very well but I am thinking about what might be happening there. I don’t know where my unit is at the borders, what all war preparations might be going on there; all the other soldiers who were on leave might have joined back to the unit, what all precautions will I have to take for deployment of the troops, who all should be there in the rear party, what bare minimum luggage should my company carry, who all should be sent in the recce patrol to procure information about the deployment of the enemy etc. all these thoughts are coming to my mind.”

Time flew and I didn’t come to know when we reach Nagpur. Immediately I gathered my necessary luggage, took blessings of my parents and by the evening flight left for Kolkata.

  My unit was preparing to go into the battle field. The Chief of Army Staff of Pakistan Gen Yaya Khan had ordered Marshal Law from 1969 and had sent a huge deployment under Gen Tikka Khan to East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). The Bengali people in East Pakistan were tortured badly by the Pakistani soldiers, due to which many Bengali refugees from East Pakistan started infiltrating into India from all sides. This incurred an expenditure of nearly 10cr everyday for the welfare of the refugees and hence India raised this issue at the UN. This was not liked by Pakistan and hence warened India very sternly. The then Indian PM Late Mrs. Indira Gandhi had asked the Indian Army to be prepared and to remain on high alert from March 1971. The 1971 Indo-Pak war was an excellent example of preparedness that Army should undergo for future war. The units which were deployed at different forward posts were asked undergo various practice exercises before it went into the actual war zone. On 3^rd Dec 1971 in the early hours of the day the Pakistan fighter aircrafts bombarded on the Indian airfields, on the western front. The war had begun. The strategy of the Indian Army was excellent- to hold the Pakistani on the western front and at the same time to launch the counter offensive on the eastern front. Problems were more and obstacles were grave on the eastern border for the Indian Army. This was because the Army had to cross numerous small rivers to enter into Bangladesh and then to launch an attack. But the engineers of the Army did an excellent job of quickly constructing bridges across the rivers. In the first three days the Indian Air Force destroyed the entire Pakistani air fleet on eastern border. And thus established the Indian supremacy over the Bangladesh air space by 8 Dec later on the Indian Air Force provided an excellent air support to the Indian Infantry and facilitated their attack which brought victory closer. On 10 Dec 1971 when the situation on the eastern front came under control, our entire brigade was air lifted on the western front. We were all busy in getting our bare minimum luggage because the very fact that we had to travel by air required us to carry less. All our Company Commanders sat in AN- 12 Indian Air Force aircraft and as we headed towards Hindon air field we found ourselves in very merry mood singing hindi songs. We then sat in the train and moved towards Pathankot. We got down at Gurdaspur from where we reached Thakurpur. From Thankurpur we crossed the border and captured a very important place in Pakistan called Nainakot. While retreating from this place the Pakistani Army destroyed the bridge over river Ravi. The engineers of the Indain Army constructed this bridge in just 36 hours and made way for our battletanks.

The mood of the people on the western front was extremely vibrant. In Punjab in every city, on every street, ladies were seen making puri-bhaji and small children were making packets of food. When our convoys used to pass, these small children use to request to take these packets. Replying to a request of one of the ladies I said, “ Maaji, we are getting late, let us go!” in no time she was in tears. I saw my mother in her. All these incidents prove very inspirational for us, because here we experience that whole country is standing with us.

During one of the mission we were supposed to attack the enemy at 2:30 at night. Besides my company was Maj Nizamuddin’s company. The time that we chose was apt as far as any commando mission was concerned. We were very sure that enemy must be fast asleep. As we were approaching forward suddenly there was heavy bombardment from the enemy side. The surprise was lost. Now was the time to launch strong offensive. We shouted our battle cry, “ Bol Chattrapati Shivaji Maharaj ki jay” and attacked on the enemy. Fierce battle took place and the enemy fled away. We captured the enemy bunkers. “The enemy might counter attack us”, we told our troops, “And that is why we all should remain alert.” While I was going from left to right telling my troops to be alert, Nizam was also doing the same thing. We met at one place, the time was 4:30 in the morning, when the Sun was about to rise. I suddenly noticed that there was something red on Nizam’s cheeks, I asked him, “From where did u get paan in the middle of the battlefield?” he was amazed and said, “ Are you joking, in the middle of the battle field from where will I get the paan?”. “Look at your mouth and cheek, they are red in color.” When Nizam touched his cheeks, his fingers went in. What had happened was that when Nizam was motivating his soldiers with the battle cry “Bol Chattrapati….Bol” one Pakistani bullet hit his right cheek and came out through he left cheek! All his teeth were absolutely intact. On the heat of the war Nizam did not even understand that he was hurt. Luckily there was an Army chopper which had come there, he was immediately sent to the Military Hospital. Surgery was done on him and when Nizam returned back to the unit he was looking extremely handsome because on both his cheeks a lovely dimple was carved out!

To capture Dhaka was the main aim of the Indian Army. And to do this two big rivers Meghna and Pabna had to be crossed. Here 7000 troops were air droped by the Indian Air Force. On 12^th and 13^th Dec, thousands of leaflets were airdropped in East Pakistan. There was a message for Pakistani soldiers on these leaflets- ‘You are well aware that the Indian Army is in control of the entire war and that you are surrounded. Your Air Force is destroyed completely. Your defeat is sure. But we wish that there should be no more bloodshed because far away in homes, your wives, your parents, your children are waiting for you. Surrender to us with your entire weaponry. This is in your interest.’ This is an excellent example of the psychological warfare that General Manikshaw, then Chief of the Army Staff had thought of. On 16 Dec 1971, Gen Niyazi of the Pakistan Army along with 93000 Pakistani soldiers surrendered to the Indian Army, in the history of warfare this was a marked big victory. This was a big insult to our neighbour and hence with revengeful attitude Pakistan sought to a proxy war with India. And plus Pakistan kept the agenda of J&K on top of their list. To free J&K from India Pakistan indulged itself into infiltration bids into the borders of India but this dream will remain a dream because the Indian Army is always there upright and ready to face any eventualities and save our Motherland.

“Our Pakistani Army can beat any Army in the world provided that we are lead by Indian Officers.” These were the words from the Pakistani soldier during one of the many flag meetings which were held after 1965 war. This war witnessed many incidents where our young Indian Officers displayed tremendous valor and courage. They followed the principle of leading from the front and many a times they said to the troops, ‘follow me, don’t worry I am ahead of you.’ thus leading by personal example. Keeping self at the altar, displaying immense patriotism, the Indian Officer is always ready to face most fearful odds.

China attacked India in 1962. This was a sudden attack because India had already signed ‘The Panchashil’ pact with China. “Hindi Chini Bhai Bhai” was famous slogan then. In this war the Indian Army suffered many casualties and it had to retreat back. When this war was on there was a tremendous atmosphere in the country. Every youth wanted to join the Armed Forces. A special type of commission called as Emergency Commission was started. In this officers were selected for 5 years of special duty. I still remember during that time many young boys quit their handsome salaried jobs and joined Indian Army as the officers. On a large scale such officers were selected. And then after 3 years in 1965, Indo-Pak war broke out. The fire that was kindling in these young officers from 1962 lit up when the Indo-Pak war broke out. Leading examples of exceeding leadership traits were shown by these young officers in the 1965 Indo-Pak war.

The tradition is followed even today. 15 years back, in the Kargil conflict the young officers of the Indian Army exhibited an excellent example of a never say die attitude. There are numerous examples to prove this. The valor displayed by Capt Vikram Batra by capturing one of the most difficult peaks and then immediately after four days his battalion was given the same task of capturing another peak. Capt Batra was unwell. He was running high fever. His Commanding Officer said that he will not take part in this mission. On hearing this Vikram immediately rushed to his Commanding Officer and pleaded to him to allow him to take part in this mission. With a heavy heart his Commanding Officer allowed him. In this mission, the valor displayed by Capt Vikram Batra is beyond words and will be written in history with golden words. In this mission, Vikram was killed. The President of our country awarded the highest war time gallantry award ‘The Param Vir Chakra’ to Vikram Batra posthumously.

Col Vishwanathan had to launch an offensive on the Tololing peak. He gathered his soldiers and chalked out a plan and explained it to them. It was a very difficult task. The Brigade Commander told Vishwanathan, “Before you set of to your mission for sometime the satellite phone will be working. Talk to your family and children.” Col Vishwanthan immediately told his troops who were set to go for a mission to talk to their families one by one. By the time Col Vishwanathan’s turn came, the satellite phone’s battery had packed and he couldn’t speak to his family. In this mission Col Vishwanathan lost his life. He sacrificed for his troops. As he was the leader of this mission, he led a very important virtue called as selfless service by giving personal example. When an officer passes out from Indian Military Academy at the ‘Antim Pagh’ there are some words written by Field Marshall Chetwood which  reads-

“The honour and safety of your country comes first always and every time.

 The safety and welfare of men under your command comes next and every time.

Your own safety and welfare comes last always and every time.”

Col Vishwanathan could have spoken to his family first but he let his troops talk to their families first

Not only the young officers of the Indian Army lead from the front but the senior officers have a history to tell.  When Lt Gen Mohammad Ahmed Zaki was GOC-in-C Northern Command an incident took place where the entire country stood up to salute him. This physically absolutely fit officer was extremely enthusiastic and courageous. During the 1965 war Lt Gen Zaki was a Major and under his leadership his company captured the Pakistani city Barki. He was injured in this battle for which the President of our country awarded him ‘Vir Chakra’. While he was GOC-in-C Northern Command the terrorists were very strictly kept at bay. Once when Lt Gen Zaki was planning a strategic mission in his office in Srinagar a source came & informed him about a terrorists hideout in a locality in Srinagar. He said that they had come for sometime and will go away after 1-2 hours. Without a second thought Gen Zaki immediately got up, took his weapon, collected 10 of his troops and rushed to the place along with the source in two vehicles. The source showed the house. The door of the house was closed. Gen Zaki and his troops got out approached the house silently, took positions. Gen Zaki himself kicked the door and flung it open. There was immediate firing from both the sides. One of the terrorists was killed on the spot and two were killed while fleeing. Due to the heavy exchange of fire Gen Zaki was badly wounded. First aid was given to him immediately and was evacuated to the airport. With him was the team of Army doctors. At the Srinagar airport Mrs Zaki was also accompanying him. While he was being carried to the aircraft for a second his eyes opened. He looked at his wife, signaled thumbs up and gave an expression which consoled her and gave her lot of motivation. The expression on the Gen Zaki’s face was as if he was telling his wife that his mission was successful and that she is a soldier’s wife and hence nothing should disturb her. The doctors accompanying the General saw this and were rest assured that this General will live for long. He was taken to Delhi and was operated upon. Within two months he was back in the valley. Perhaps this was the first time in the history of warfare that the senior officer of a rank of General himself went out for an operation. Such great examples of the officers of our defense forces keep the moral of the troops high. General Zaki was the ‘Colonel of the Regiment’ of the Maratha Regiment. In January 2007, Col V Vasanth of 9 Maratha Light Infantry lost his life in an encounter with terrorist in Uri Sector of J&K. He was posthumously awarded the highest peace time gallantry award the Ashok Chakra. On receiving information about the terrorists Col Vasanth also immediately set out with handful of soldiers. He later planned an ambush at a place from where the terrorists infiltrate into India. It was night time. Col Vasanth and his soldiers were waiting for the terrorists to cross. The moment the terrorists were spotted the Indian troops opened fire. In the exchange of fire Col Vasanth was badly injured and immediately embraced death. All the four terrorists were also gunned down.

 Another incident  Tanmarg a place near Gulmarg was in the news where a group of terrorists were about to cross line of control. This information reached 34 RR (Rashtriya Rifles). The Commanding Officer of 34 RR planned a strategy either to catch the terrorists alive or to silence them. Maj Raghuraman was given the responsibility. The strategy was such that the terrorists should be cornered at a particular place from where they would escape from a narrow lane where ambush will be laid by Maj K P Vinay with 20 of his soldiers in order to nab them. This was a chosen place at Tanmarg. Tanmarg is a very small village from where probably the terrorists got help. Maj Raghuraman and Maj Vinay reached the destined place along with their troops. It was night time and the time was 1’o clock when suddenly the movement was seen across the borders. The terrorists were making attempts to cross the borders. Maj Raghuraman and his troops opened fire which made the terrorists hide in the jungle. Terrorists managed to hide in thick of the jungle and made it difficult for Maj Raghuraman and troops to search them. Secondly, unnecessary firing would result in loss of ammunition. In the mean time the terrorists were firing at repeated intervals. That night passed away. A second day passed away. But Maj Raghuraman ans Maj Vinay just knew one thing that the terrorists should be nabbed. 36 hours passed away like this. Finally Maj Raghuraman and his troops as decided confronted the terrorists from the front. The terrorists opened heavy fire on them in which Maj Raghuraman fell on the ground from where he was shouting to his troops, “Don’t leave a single terrorist alive.” Finally the terrorists who were escaping were trapped by Maj Vinay and his troops where a fierce gun battle took place. Maj Vinay also succumbed to his injuries. In this mission 9 terrorists were killed. But Maj Vinay and Maj Raghuraman lost their lives. It was big victory to their soldiers as regards the terrorists. These terrorists were all citizens of Pakistan. Maj Vinay was about to get married the next month and Maj Raghuraman’s wife was to give birth to a beautiful child two months later. The valor shown by these brave hearts was such that even death was ashamed.

Some political parties of J&K often say that during the month of Ramzan, the Indian Army should avoid firing. In the year 2007, Gen Panag then GOC-in-C was not happy over this and said that over 5000 trained terrorists every year are waiting at the various launch pads across the Loc to cross over into the Indian Territory. The above incident also displays the same thing. But the question that we all should ask is when we have the Indian Army taking care of the borders do we have regard for them? Does the country feel for them? Is there a bit of respect regarding soldiers in the society? I personally believe that the government represents the people and hence the mood of the government shows the mood of the people. Should the political parties weigh patriotism and their selfish interest together? These are all unanswered questions for which we all should think on.

The blame game began. The attack on Taj Hotel left a deep impact on the minds of every Indian. The reason being that Pakistan has been indulging itself into these proxy war games and on proving it to them there is a plain denial. A very famous Pakistani General has said that Pakistan and India can only indulge themselves in plain blame games. Regarding the Taj attack India has submitted dossiers after dossiers to Pakistan and proved it to them that this gruesome attack was planned on the Pakistani soil. But as usual Pakistan kept denying and refused to accept that it was involved in the terror game. Even in the earlier investigations when Ajmal Kasab, one of the terrorists involved in the 26/11 attack confessed that he is a citizen of Pakistan, Pakistan blatantly denied the fact. But the truth will not hide for long. India in its diplomatic move pressurized Pakistan through other countries. It was successful in creating an atmosphere in the whole world that Pakistan harbors terrorism. Though the 26/11 investigation went on for long, India did show to the world that better late than never justice rains supreme. Kasab was finally hanged. But the process was too long. In the initial days the American President Mr. Obama did show his displeasure on the manner in which Pakistan reacted regarding the 26/11 attack. He very strongly condemned the attacks and stated that all the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks should be punished. He also took a step forward and cut down on the military and financial support to the Pakistan.

Pakistan is also the victim of the growing terrorists’ attacks. But this can not prove to be an excuse. We all know that Pakistan provides shelter to many terrorists groups, a current example being Osama Bin Laden, provides training ground and facilities and also helps these terrorists outfit to infiltrate into other countries. On the other hand Pakistan keeps claiming that it does fights terrorism on its own land but how much do we believe Pakistan is a million dollar question. It seems that it has been a tradition of Pakistan to lie on several issues right from infiltration to the terrorist attacks and leading to the J&K issue.

Regarding the 26/11 attack India had prepared a 30 point questionnaire for Pakistan to answer. The dossiers that India provided to Pakistan included proof procured from Federal Bureau of Investigation which shows clearly a Pakistani hand into these attacks. The recorded tapes that were procured from the satellite phones of these terrorists also clearly show that activities of these terrorists were controlled from Pakistan. The entire activity going on at various places was well monitored by their so called ‘Akas’ through the media and were instructing them on the phones as to when to throw a grenade, from where all the NSG commandoes are coming, which all places have to be set on fire etc. According to the FBI, the person who was giving instructions to the terrorists was not one of them but a senior officer of the Pakistani regulars Col Sadatulla. Col Sadatulla was a serving senior officer in the Signal Core and was deployed in the Special Communication Organization. The Headquarter of this SCO is located in Muzzafarrabad of Pak Occupied Kashmir and the Colonel was the director General at the HQ.

But natural as the nature of Pakistan goes, it ended up in denying this fact too. But one reporter of the Indian media channel went deep into investigation and established contact with Col Sadatulla. On talking to him on telephone, the Colonel admitted that he was the one to instruct Ajmal Kasab and his accomplices of the attacks. The whole world was watching the fun. The blame game between India and Pakistan was on. Very conveniently Pakistan would deny all charges made against it. And India would keep giving different kinds of proofs against Pakistan. What inference one draws from this? It is clearly evident that the terrorists outfit in Pakistan and Pakistani Army are hand in gloves with each other. Whatever terrorists activities are conducted, they are done so with expert guidance of the ISI. The Prime Minister and President of Pakistan both show that they are extremely troubled by the terrorists activities which occur on their soil too and further makes statements that India and Pakistan both faces problems of terrorist activities which have to be solved by mutual talks. But there is a very valid question whether Pakistan is really very serious about removing terrorism from its soil or it wants to continue raging a proxy war against India.

The whole world knows that the Pakistan Army does not pay heed to the Government of Pakistan and keeps helping the terrorists. But there can be a second meaning to this also that the Pakistani Government is allowing the Pakistani Army to help the terrorists. If one looks at the history of Pakistan, it is not very difficult to believe the above sentence nor is it so that the Pakistani Army will obey the Pakistani Government’s orders like in the Kargil war Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said that General Musharraf kept him guessing about the military movements of Pakistan. There is another school of thought that in the 26/11 attack the underworld don Dawood Ebrahim also had his hand. Dawood Ebrahim knows every nook and corner of Mumbai. He has a wide network  spread in Mumbai who are in constant touch with him. The terrorists came to Mumbai via sea route and it is believed that once they landed in Mumbai, Dawood’s men helped them. It is also believed that the places which were attacked in 26/11 attack were planned on a proper map, described with details of the adjoining areas by Dawood’s men. The finances required for such activity was also procured from Dawood. Thus it can not be denied that the underworld don who is a wanted criminal in the serial Mumbai bomb blasts and many other criminal activities in Mumbai is also a citizen of Pakistan. Thus proven that Pakistan runs an entire network of terrorists and also provides adequate security to them.

It is the need of the hour that India now as is becoming the world leader, needs to be alert as far as growing terrorist activities from across the border is concerned. With a new government swearing in India with its bold and dynamic Prime Minister is emerging as a world leader. The recent visits of our Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the leading nations of the world including Japan, China, USA, and Australia have set a huge platform for India to enter into the race of becoming a superpower. Also it is seen that the Pakistan is being snubbed by the world leaders. This should prove as lesson to Pakistan to stop harbouring terrorism on its soil and take bold steps against it. A troubled neighbour is dangerous. Though it is a fact that Pakistan itself is troubled by the terrorist activities on its own soil, it is also a well known fact that it might induce trouble by sending terrorists across the borders to India. Hence India should be doubly careful as regards securing its borders. Pakistan requires the support of the Talibanis to fight a cold war against India for which initially it did help the Talibanis to settle down in the SWAT valley. In short if one has to take care of this then it has to have a three fold aim. Firstly to take care of the Pakistani Government, second to take care of Pakistan military and third to take care of Pakistani Taliban. The Pakistan Government can not take any decision on its own because its survival depends on the Pakistani Army, ISI and the America. The Taliban has now entered into the race and hence for India now it is time to be more vigilant and keep a watchful eye on its beloved neighbour. 

On Tuesday 16 Dec 2014, in a dreaded attack on an Army Public School in Peshawar (Pakistan) 146 innocents were killed out of which 132 were kids. The terrorists belonged to Pakistan Tehrik-e-Taliban. Death also was ashamed on seeing the bloodshed. It was indeed a very gruesome act which brought the whole world to a standstill. A rage of anger was seen amongst the people worldwide. The shameless terrorists after having conducted this loathsome attack claimed that they had killed only students between 12-16 years of age and not the younger ones. This indeed was a very sorrowful event. This day saw the loss of humanity and barbarism in which lives of innocent children paid the price. Very rightly Hillary Clinton had said to Pakistan that, “You can’t keep snakes in your backyards and think that they will bite only your neighbours.” This is a lesson for Pakistan to understand that harbouring terrorism just to spew venom on your neighbours one can not harbour terrorism. On a serious note the whole world was deeply anguished with pain and condemned the cowardly act of the terrorists. But these kinds of attacks are not new for the world. Before this 15 such types of attacks have occurred wherein innocent children lost their lives but they were all small attacks. This is the second largest attack on school children after the attack on a school by the Chechen rebels in 2004 wherein 330 people lost their lives in which 200 were children.

To counter the Russian forces in Afghanistan Pakistan helped America to train the Talibanis against the Russian forces. The then President of Pakistan Gen Musharraf was instrumental in training the Talibanis in commando operations. As a reward for an excellent commando training given to Talibanis was made chief of Pakistani Army. In short Taliban is Pakistan’s baby. With the help of Pakistan the Talibanis were successful in driving away the Russian forces in Afghanistan. Later on the Talibanis proved to be bigger headache for America and Pakistan. Pakistan claims that it is carrying out operations against these Talibanis who fled from Afghanistan to Pakistan and settled in North Waziristan. And therefore the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Taliban claimed that this attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar was reply to the killings of their families during the Pakistani Army operations. The world view is that at least now Pakistan should wake up. For this it is necessary that Pakistan should stop harbouring terrorism on their soil. A .terrorist is after all is a terrorist. He can be nobody else’s friend. Pakistan should keep in mind that a terrorists trained to carry out activities in India can also terrorise the Pakistanis because he just has one religion and that is terrorism. The terrorists love only one colour and that is the colour of blood.

The whole world knows that Hafeez Saeed the chief of Jamat-Ud-Dawa was the mastermind of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks. To prove this fact India has submitted dossiers after dossiers with siting proves of Hafeez Saeed’s involvement in 26/11 attack. But this mastermind is roaming free in Pakistan. The Pakistan government gives all kind of support and help to the various rallies that Hafeez Saeed conducts, special trains operate, special security forces provide security for rallies, there is special coverage on the media and to top it all Hafeez Saeed invites the Kashmiri separatists to participate in these rallies. The terrorists have a special training centre in a Pakistan occupied Kashmir. In this centre the terrorists are trained meticulously and from where they enter the Indian soil. In short the saying ‘As u sow shall u reap’ goes true for Pakistan. Pakistan should stop the policy of believing that the Talibanis that operate against Pakistani Army are bad and those who operate against India are good. There is an urgent need for Pakistan to immediately stop the training activities of terrorists in Pakistan occupied Kashmir and also stop providing terrorists with arms, ammunition, money etc. after the attack on Peshawar India has offered all its assistance to Pakistan to launch a combined fight against the terrorists.

If India and Pakistan has to work together Pakistan should forget the issue of Kashmir. Pakistan knows one thing for sure that if war is waged against India then its defeat is assured. That is why, Pakistan encourages terrorists activities and fights a proxy war. When the neighbour’s house is on fire then it is natural tendency that we take care of our own house. In the same manner we should now take care that such gruesome attacks do not occur in our country. For this we should prepare ourselves and secure the soft targets like schools, hospitals, hostels, malls etc. There should be a Standard Operation Procedure (SOP) for the schools and such public places so that in case of a terrorists attack it can prove to be a good guide of the actions to be taken. There should be time to time rehearsals of the SOPs and SOP should be known to each and every person of the organistaion. The entry and the exit gates of the schools should be properly manned by able security guards. The security guard should check each and every person coming into the school. At important places there should be CCTV cameras and there should be proper emergency exit routes known to the children and the staff. In the assembly halls of the school care should be taken that nobody enters the hall without permission. The entry doors should be sealed properly and the students should be aware of the exit route from the assembly hall. The same goes to for the classroom exit routes also. If such attacks occur the immediate reaction of all the students should be to lie on ground because the moment one stands he becomes the easy target for the terrorists. If one has to run to save his/ her life then one should never run straight instead should always run in a zigzag manner. There should be a continuous thought process running in our mind to escape routs in case of such attacks. Now a day you find grills in most of the schools. On each floor of the school these grills should have a particular opening from where, if need be, children can escape with the help of ropes. In every school during emergency there should be a police alarm which will alert the police machinery at the right time. In Prahar Military School I was addressing today my Praharis regarding the above issues. I did tell them that they all should keep thinking on the various methods in which they can escape in case of such attacks. I further told them that they should have thinking cap on so much so that the idea of killing at least one terrorist with whatever resources are available, should strike our minds.

In the Rajya Sabha, this winter session the topic of should military training be made compulsory in schools was discussed. But the apathy of the whole discussion was that during the discussion merely 10-12 members were present in the house. In which the Raksha Mantri was also there. We all do accept and believe that military training is a must. But when situations like these arise I personally feel that it should be made compulsory at least to save yourself and to oppose or revolt against the injustice.

This year 91 witnessed a landmark movie by doyen of Hindi cinema, famous actor and director Mr Nana Patekar- PRAHAR. This movie depicted a soldier’s psych in a very vivid manner. The first half of the movie showed the rigorous training a soldier undergoes after which he becomes capable of handling the security of the nation. It also shows various qualities that makes a soldier. The second half of the movie makes each one of us wonder over the thought of our society which is engulfed in vices. As the movie progresses a soldier’s response to free the vices in the society has been portrayed in a very effective manner.

The last scene of the movie is very symbolic wherein thousands of naked children are running and Major Vijay Chauhan (Nana Patekar) is seen running with them, motivating them, “Come on commandos, you are my tomorrow.” In this last scene Nana Patekar expresses his idea of a new society and a new generation of Indians who will be bereft of all the negativity, who will thrive with camaraderie and who will have pure minds. This positive outlook of the last scene of the movie proved to be a torch bearer. The ray of hope shown in the last scene of the movie was the stepping stone for Colonel Sunil Deshpande to start “PRAHAR Samaj Jagruti Sansthan (PSJS)”.

Colonel Deshpande was the military advisor for this movie. It was the endeavour of Nana Patekar and Colonel Deshpande that through every scene of this movie there should a message given to the society. Long discussions and lots of brain-churning has been done into conveying the right message to the youth of the country. In 1993, Colonel Deshpande took voluntary retirement from 30 years of active service of the Indian Army and started PSJS on 9th January 1994. The aim of the organisation is to spread the soldierly qualities in the society so as to strengthen the roots of Indian society and culture.

What makes a soldier and what exactly are these soldierly Qualities?

Discipline and courage defines a soldier. And when discipline and courage are coupled with values of life, patriotism and vigilance, it constitutes a quality that a soldier possesses. Col Deshpande aimed at instilling these qualities in young minds because it is easy to mould them at a budding age.

The emergence of PRAHAR was felt very deeply when acts of terrorism, corruption, sedition, diminishing Indian values etc started growing in our country. The literal meaning of PRAHAR is ‘a final blow’ on the negative mindset of a human being so as to eliminate it and change it to a positive one. This, of course is a nation building work.

‘Discipline is directly proportional to progress’. If you think of this sentence, it appears to be very practical and true. If a person is disciplined, he in turn makes the society disciplined which results in work done on time enhancing progress of a nation. And hence this attribute is very necessary for us Indians. It is high time that we learn the meaning of the term known as time management.

A soldier is out and out disciplined person and punctuality is one thing of the many things we can learn from him. Just imagine how wonderful it will be if we Indians start valuing time & were punctual.

Courage is the second attribute of a soldier. The mental & moral strength to withstand danger is slowly diminishing in the society. This makes the society weak. India needs men of metal who have ingrained capacity for meeting any kind of difficulty or strain with strong attitude and resilience. Therefore, the will to withstand any hardships with bold attitude and full determination is required. For India to rise, what is required is Indians with great heroism, valour and virtue. Thus, it is the need for everybody. May it be a child, man or a woman to have moral courage and physical courage to voice against injustice and resolve for a better tomorrow is being felt. The time has come now to make Rabindranath Tagore’s lines come true, “Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high.”

In 1993, Mumbai blast left each one of us awestruck. Had the people of Mumbai been more attentive, atleast then these bomb blasts could have been stopped. With the threat of terrorism looming large over our country there is a growing need felt that our citizens should be more watchful. As far as natural calamities goes, alertness is demanded. And hence we Indians should be more vigilant towards such occurrences around us. Vigilant citizens are the fortresses of the society. The time had come now for us to understand our own responsibilities and work towards it. Taking ease of the society is no man’s job but a collective work. The practical & current problems of the society like murders, kidnapping, eve-teasing, accidents, man-made calamities etc can be controlled and minimised by the vigilant attitude of the citizens. The Indian civilisation is one of the oldest civilisations.

Our country is known all over the world for our rich culture, values and beliefs. As we are heading towards the 21st century our intellectual and moral faculties are also developing with education. The integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief and behaviour that depends upon the capacity for leaning and transmitting knowledge for succeeding generations should adhere to the values of life that our Indian culture has taught us. Imbibing moral values in the society makes citizens strong with god character. Thus, the nation will always be on the right path to face any type of adversity boldly. PRAHAR SJS aims to preserve values of life that our great civilisation has gifted to us.

“Country first” should be the motto of all Indians. We should aim to keep the nation’s interest at the back of our minds while doing our day to day activities. A soldier symbolises patriotism. All citizens should be physically and mentally prepared for any kind of sacrifice that nation demands. There are many examples that can be quoted, like saving electricity through our daily routine, cleanliness, following traffic rules etc. We ought to have a sense of national consciousness and lay primary emphasis on the promotion of our country’s culture and interest. Loyalty and integrity binds the people of our nation. And hence, PRAHAR endeavours to spread this feeling of belongingness towards our country.

A scene of Srinagar Medical Hospital. A small girl crying looking at hurt leg which is badly wounded in a bomb blast, her parents are consoling her and along with her 20-25 people badly wounded are also there looking for medical aid. This incident dates back to 11 July 2006. From 11:50 am to 2 pm 5 grenade attacks were carried out in Srinagar by terrorists. It shook the entire valley. These attacks were carried out at crowded places. The terrorists had targeted the tourists because from May to October the weather of J&K is excellent for tourists to travel. Tourism flourishes in this season. The aim of the terrorists was to disrupt the basic framework of tourism and also to terrorize the people.

A similar incident of Mumbai, 8 high intensity bomb blasts in 11 minutes. Mumbai too was shaken. This indeed was the planned activity by the terrorists. The time that was chosen by the terrorists in Mumbai blast was absolutely apt to achieve their aim. Evening 6’O clock, 8 different spots at western express highway. This is the peek time when people return from their office to their home and hence the terrorists achieved what they wanted to. Nearly 200 people died in these bomb blasts and more than 600 wounded. Help arrived at the right team, high alert was announced, people started running helter-skelter, political leaders started grabbing opportunity to blame each other, asking the people to keep calm and praising the spirit of the Mumbaikars. We all know that this happens after every terrorist’s attacks. We feel bad for sometime and soon forget it. Perhaps we wait for another incident to happen? Or perhaps are we getting used to this? Are we going to have passive attitude towards all this?

I personally believe that fighting against terrorism should not be left to government alone but it is a matter of concern for normal public too. A lot of thinking should go into this and then arriving to strong conclusion is the necessity of the hour. Regarding this does our history say? We Indians are extremely peace loving and tolerant society. But whenever our honor has been put to test we have retaliated back by immense force. Our great epics Ramayana and Mahabharata has taught us that whenever there is injustice done we should always side with ‘dharma’ i.e. equality and fight against the wrong. Till date as India has been portraying as a peace loving country to the world our policy regarding terrorism is a big question mark. Our policy against terrorism does not stand correct because its very backbone is weak. If you look into the examples of recent past, the hijacking of IC814 and attack on the parliament are the examples of our weak policy. Time has now come that some strong steps should be taken. We are a strong developing nation, we are a nuclear power, our economy is fast developing, information and technology of our country is famous all over the world but along with all this we should not forget that we are a weak nation as far as security is concerned. ‘National Security’ is a very important topic that needs to be handled with care and thought over deeply. And under this our policy regarding Pakistan needs a change. Till now our plicy regarding Pakistan was very soft. Under the tag of peace and friendship Pakistan has been time and again crossing its limits. Its policy regarding Kashmir is also questionable. We all know Kashmir is the integral part of India and come hat may our endeavour should be to safeguard the interest of the nation. As winter approaches Pakistani trained militants gather at various launch pads to enter into Indian Territory. The Indian Army and the BSF maintains a great vigil at the borders and foils such attempts to the maximum but how long all this is going to carry on? Pakistan turns a blind eye to very fact that it is harbuoring terrorism. And hence, a very strong and the lethal policy should be in place to handle Pakistan and its evil ideas.

But it is not so that these terrorists enter into borders of J&K. We know about recent 26/11 Mumbai attack where these terrorists entered through the sea route. It is very important to recognize a terrorist. From where do these terrorists organistion gains strength? Behind them is the country which gives them financial supports, provides them arms and ammunition, organizes terrorists camps and holds them behind closed doors. And hence it is proved very clearly that the cross border terrorism that takes place is a Pakistan created ideology. We have had many level talks between Pakistan and India may it be secretary level talks or may it be flag meeting talks. In the recent past Manmohan Singh government had started the cricket friendlies in which Visa was given to many Pak nationals out of which many of the Pak nationals did not returned back to Pakistan. Don’t you think owing to the cricket madness we had put the nation’s interest at stake? I feel that strict rules should be implemented regarding Pakistan Visa policy.

The Modi government has taken the right step in this regard of banning all talks with Pakistan till the time it stops all ceasefire violations and terrorists’ activities. Our nuclear policy also has to be changed. We keep telling the World that we will never be the first ones to initiate the war and we will never be the first ones to use the nuclear weapons. Pakistan has therefore taken India for granted as it knows that India will never initiate a war. And hence it is indulging itself into cross border terrorism against India. After the 1999 Kargil war, one thing is crystal clear that Pakistan can never win a war against India and hence it engages itself into these dirty tricks.

But cross border terrorism is very expensive and difficult for us to handle because it is easy to fight against the enemy who is across the border but it is difficult to recognize a terrorist and fight against him internally. For how long is this cold war going to take place against India and Pakistan. We need to change the future strategy of warfare regarding Pakistan and it should be made blatantly clear that if need be we also can be the first ones to initiate war. We should not undermine the attack on Mumbai as Mumbai is the financial backbone of our country. It is quite evident that some of the terrorists organisations do possess the nuclear weapons. When USSR disintegrated into 17 small nations these nuclear weapons were sold at the throw away price and they reached these terrorists organisations. This fact has been very clearly stated in the Alvin Toffler’s “War and Antiwar”. If we continue with old nuclear policy of not using the nuclear weapon first we might not have to wait for long when we might have to face terrorists attack with nuclear weapon. It is an irony to say that let the other countries use the nuclear power against us and then we will see. Some years back the topic of first use of nuclear weapon was discussed at length by the senior officers of the Indian Army and the conclusion was that this policy should be changed.

Terrorist’s attacks are never ending episodes. And we all need to stand firmly against it. We as normal citizens of this country can also do a bit to identify terrorists and help the authorities to nab them. Vigilance and alertness are the key factors to all this.  We need to forgo our casual attitude towards the society and think of the society as nation. I agree that the times are changing fast and that the time is money but in the quest of earning money we cant not put national security at stake. Unity is also the key factor. If the society is united and all of us are vigilant the terrorists will not succeed in their aim of terrorizing the people. People should be careful and should not believe in rumors. The responsibility to fight against terrorists lies with the government is too much of a belief. This responsibility lies with every individual. I find it very funny when the red alert is sounded after the terrorist attack occurs and not when intelligence gives a warning about the same. In fact the government machinery needs to act very swiftly when there are intelligence reports of suspected terrorists attacks. An awareness should be created amongst the people and proper training should be given to handful of youth from every locality regarding disaster management and civil defense. The media also needs to take care of the same and create a special forum to broadcast news regarding terrorists warning. A vigilant society symbolizes a strong nation and hence we as citizens should resolve to fight against these anti social elements.

Prahar also gives training to young boys and girls regarding civil defense and vigilance and such trained praharis will serve as the pillars of the society if any untoward terrorist incident takes place.

Reference (16 July 2006 article)

Poem in hindi to be written. 

The Maharshtra Police managed to stop the terrorists from committing a serious crime. The RSS headquarter was saved in 2006. In the same manner the Indian Army has been fighting against terrorists and teaching them bitter lessons. This mentality of fighting against terrorists must be developed in the common man.

The year 1991 witnessed a landmark film named ‘Prahar’ in the Indian cinema, the director of which was the famous actor and doyen of Hindi Cinema, Shri Nana Patekar.

Before the shooting of the film Nana & I were involved in long discussions. We used to discuss till late night hours and sometimes even till the dawn. This continued for almost 3 months. Nana wished that through every scene of Prahar a message should be sent to the society to strengthen its mindset. In the film Nana played the character of an Army Officer. During his leave he comes to Mumbai to attend the marriage of one of his trainee officers. He sees that some goonda elements are terrorising people and asking them for undue money which in the language of Mumbai is called “Hafta”. People do not oppose them and due to fear offer them money. Maj Vijay Chauhan (Nana Patekar) is surprised and stops the goondas from collecting Hafta. And here begins the real story- a fierce fight between the goondas and Nana. While the fight is going on about 60-70 people of the locality are standing and watching the fun. For them this kind of episode is uncalled for. And then suddenly some stones are hurled. Nana assumes that these stones are being hurled at the goondas because they are the bad elements. But he is taken aback when he understands that these stones are hurled at him. The people watching the fight say to Nana, “You are a soldier. Your work is not here. It is at the borders. You are here on leave today. When you go back tomorrow who will save us from these goondas.”

Nana fails to understand the fact that how 60-70 people are afraid of 4 petty goondas. Later as the movie progresses, in the second fight of Nana Patekar and same four goondas, Nana kills them. A case is fought against Nana in the court. What Nana says in the court to Judge is something we all should ponder on, “I am a soldier. I know that I have to fight the enemy from across the border. But I also know that it is easy to fight the enemy across the borders than to fight enemy which is thriving within the society. And these are the anti social elements, terrorists which are weakening the foundation of the society. And to fight against them is not only the duty of a soldier but also of the entire society. Perhaps we are taking the freedom that we have got with much effort, for granted. I feel that every citizen of this country should undergo military training and devote at least one year of his life for the nation.” The entire court is listening with pin drop silence. The judge then says that the vices in the society have left a deep imprint on Maj Vijay Chauhan’s mind due to which he has become mentally disturbed. And therefore the Judge sends him to psychiatrist ward of the military hospital. The climax of the movie Prahar serves as a very important vision for all of us. It goes something like this- One fine evening when Nana Patekar is sitting by the window in psychiatric ward, he imagines a scene where a multitude of small children without any clothes on their body are running and Maj Vijay Chauhan is also running with them motivating them and saying “Come on commandos you are my tomorrow.” One of the child stumbles and other one helps him and thus they carry on running. Everybody has a smile on their face and the movie ends here. The message that Nana Patekar wants to give through this last scene is that the next generation of our country will be bereft of all vices in the society. Brotherhood will thrive amongst them. And the next generation will be full of energy and happiness. He also wishes to tell the people in this last scene that if these children join the Armed Forces it is good but if not they at least should live like soldiers of the society.

The very fact that our country possesses a nuclear weapon shows that India is a strong nation but the real strength of the nation lies in the mindset of the society. Past incidents like hijacking of IC814 aircraft, attack on parliament shows the weak mindset of the country. When IC 814 was hijacked the TV channels played only one scene where a disturbed mother was pleading to Government to bring her son back. This scene was repeatedly shown on the news channels which pressurized the Government to agree to the demands of the hijackers. Therefore the need of the hour is to strengthen the mindset of the society so that we emerge as the strong Nation.

We are a peace loving country. But this attitude of ours should not be misunderstood as a weakness. Where the question of dignity of the Nation arises this country has a history of strength and sacrifice that the people exhibit in trying times. And this is what we call – to spread soldierly qualities in the society to strengthen the framework of the society. The need of the hour is to have a robust mindset like a soldier so that our country emerges as a leader of the world and a power to reckon with. 

“There is news that some infiltrators just entered Battalik sector. To obtain information about the same we have to move tonight.” Maj Rohit Gaur of 1 Bihar Battalion with 10 of his troops started off on 8th May 2000 to procure information about these infiltrators. As they were heading towards the Loc, suddenly they found themselves surrounded and firing from all sides began. The enemy was firing with mortar bombs. There was retaliatory fire from Indian troops but they were sandwiched from all sides and there was no way for them to escape. Maj Gaur and his soldiers fought bravely and returned the fire in every possible direction they could but in the event became martyrs.

Later on it was understood that the enemy was camped at the Jubar Hills ready for an offensive. One Bihar battalions was given the task to attack Jubar Hills. It was very difficult because the hill tops in this area were very high. We all have heard about the battles of Tiger Hill and Tololing. But the battle on Jubar Hills was also equally difficult. If you see this hill you will understand what a herculian task it was for Indian troops to scale this mountain and then fight a battle atop. The Jubar Hills had steep climbs, difficult turns and terrain, rough rocks and the snow had still not melted. To climb a hill a firm base was required which was very difficult to find in this hill. Maj Sarvanan was assigned this task. He immediately got onto the job. “We are brave soldiers of 1 Bihar battalion. Some days back, Maj Rohit Gaur and 10 troops of our unit gave their lives for the country. To capture Jubar Hills and kill the enemy will be the best tribute to Maj Rohit Gaur and his troops. Our attack will begin from a firm base for which we will first have to destroy the enemy at this place and then launch a counter offensive on the enemy at the other side. I am sure that the moment we attack the enemy with great fervour they will flee.” Maj Sarvanan told his troops.

In one company there are usually 100-120 soldiers. One battalion consists of around 1000 soldiers. Maj Sarvanan procured all the weaponry, checked the ammunition, planned the mission and set out to launch the attack. In the beginning their aim was to go as close to the enemy as possible without letting them know. Maj Sarvanan and his troops silently approached the enemy. When they were just 200 yards away from the enemy and were trying to climb a steep rock, there was heavy firing from the enemy side. The enemy was firing the Medium Machine Gun in which there is a long belt with 300 rounds. Once the trigger is pressed, the entire 300 rounds are fired in mere 15 seconds. In this manner they create a curtain of bullets in the front of the troops. Maj Sarvanan and his troops battled their way through  and continued marching ahead. Soldiers were getting wounded, some were even embracing death but the sole aim was to capture the enemy post. Maj Sarvanan was continuously motivating his troops and they shouted slogans of ‘Bol Bajrang Bali ki Jay’, the battle cry of Bihar Regiment. The soldier next to Maj Sarvanan, Shatrughna Singh was hit on his leg. He waited for sometime but later on moved ahead slowly but steadily. He was left behind, later he lost the way. Maj Sarvanan informed his commanding officer on the wireless set that, “Many of my troops are injured and many are no more but we are moving ahead and the point that we have to capture is quite near. If the enemy again attacks us probably then we will not be able to hold on because I will be left with handful of soldiers. I will then inform you to send some more troops immediately so that we hold onto this place.”

In the thick of the war to think so coolly with a good foresight is really appreciating. All this is possible only when the officer had dauntless courage and maturity of thoughts. Maj Sarvanan was one of such kind. After talking to his CO he again started motivating his soldiers and moved ahead. It was 29 May suddenly Maj Sarvanan dropped; he was hit on his forehead by three bullets of a machine gun. He breathes his last.  In war there is no time to cry! When his troops saw dead body of Maj Sarvanan, they became wild with anger and captured a part of that post. Maj Sarvanan like his name was loved by all. He was a very happy go lucky person, was very humorous, used to love to talk to people and was extremely social person. This brave soldier belonged to Tiruchilapalli. And in the Bihar Regiment he was called Tiruchilapalli ka Bihari Babu.

After Maj Sarvanan’s martyrdom 1 Bihar Battalion made a detailed plan to capture Jubar Hill. After repeated attempts finally on 29th June the OP (Observation Post) of Jubar Hills was captured. The enemy tried its level best to recapture the OP but all efforts were in vain. On the next day Bihar battalion attacked Jubar Hills with their whole might again. The enemy was also well prepared and had decided to throw Indian soldiers away. A fierce gun battle was to take place and it did happen. The enemy did overpower the Bihar Battalion which was followed by the retreat of the Indian troops. There were heavy casualties on both the sides. After watching the entire scenario of the Jubar Hills, the Brigade Commander finally sent a Grenadier Battalion to the rescue. The enemy had also called in for support. Small patrols of Grenadier Battalion set out to obtain information about the terrain of the Jubar Hills and the surrounding area. On 5th July one such patrol of the Grenadiers observed a huge ammunition dump of the enemy. The entire recce of the area was done. A detailed plan was chalked out on which the place of the ammunition dump was highlighted. Such opportunities are very rare in a war. Opportunities are to be grabbed and situations are to be won. And one who recognizes an opportunity and wins it is a real leader. Without wasting time our troops fired by a multi barrel rocket launcher pinpoint on the target. The entire ammunition dump was destroyed. There was huge ball of fire. Though the enemy was shaken but they did not loose hope. On the next day i.e. 6th July the Bihar and Grenadier Battalion again attacked Jubar Hills.

Before launching the final attack on the Jubar Hills our Bofors guns fired heavily. This is called as Preparatory Bombardment. This is basically done to weaken the base of the enemy. Our Bofors guns fired accurately on the bunkers of the enemy which resulted into destroying quite a few of them. It was ‘Do or Die’ situation for Bihar and the Grenadier Battalion. There was one company of the enemy on the Jubar Hills. On the final assault with the war cry of “Bajrang Bali ki Jay” and “Sarvada Shaktishali” respectively of Bihar and Grenadiers our troops attacked the enemy. The battle of the Jubar Hills was very fierce. After hours of constant firing from both the sides and the loss of three officers and 25 troops the Jubar Hill was finally captured. The India Tricolor was seen on the Jubar Hills. Maj Sarvanan’s martyrdom did not go in vain. It proved to be a great motivation for 1 Bihar Battalion.

Jubar Hill was a very strategic point as far as the entire Kargil operation was concerned and hence the capture of Jubar Hills holds equal importance. This place was strategic because the capture of the other points in the Batallik Sector was easy. Carrying on the winning spree Bihar Battalion later captured Pt 4924 on 7th July 1999.

In the Kargil war the Indian Army showed undaunted courage. In the most difficult terrain, a high altitude where there is lack of oxygen, on snowy mountains, rocky steep slopes, climbing requires tremendous mental strength. The unparalleled sacrifice, the incomparable courage and the call of the Motherland has always been at the top of the Indian soldier’s virtue. 

Taliban was well aware that it will be difficult for them to face the America and the elite forces in all out war and hence as soon as the American forces started attacking the Talibans from all the sides, Taliban called for ‘Jihaad’. The motive behind this was that the other Muslim nations of the world should support the Talibani morally, economically and militarily. America also very well knew that to fight a face to face battle with the Talibans on their soil was difficult but not impossible and the Talibans knew that as far as the warfare was concerned the Americans had an upper hand. The Taliban soldiers were mere 50000 in number and the American Army was huge. Therefore the Taliban thought its best to fight a war using a hide out strategy.

If you look at the topography of the Afganistan the entire area is rocky, full of dust and the vegetation is very scarce. In such a terrain which was very well known to Talibans, even if a Taliban terrorist uses his best camouflage strategy it was very difficult for the Americans to recognize. To misguide the American soldiers the Talibans especially trained their sources to give wrong information to them. The Taliban strategy was straight to corner the Americans by trapping them into their own strategy. During this war the Talibans were continuously supplied with arms and ammunition from the friendly nations. Taliban also indulged itself into defaming the American troops to a large extent by using the social network. It was during the same time that the electronic media was given a tape in which the Talibani head Osama Bin Laden gave out his message to Muslim brethren and very effectively tried to convince the people on the fact that whatever the Talibans were doing was correct. America was very well aware of the fact that Osama Bin Laden could again plan an attack like 9/11 on America or England. This is another strategy of war wherein a counter offensive is launched on the enemy which results in demoralizing it and also deviates attention. This is the same strategy which was used by Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj when he was attacked by Shaistakhan. At the same time Shivaji Maharaj attacked Lalbagh.

THE DOUBLE MINDED PAKISTAN

When the Americans attacked the Afganistan the Pakistan President Gen Pervez Musharraf took a press conference in which he said that Pakistan supports any war against terrorist activities. He also further stated that this statement of his should not be taken into account as far as Kashmir was concerned because the fight for Kashmir is for freedom. The think tank of Pakistan did no agree to the Pakistani governments move to support the Americans. Pakistan saw a no of protests especially against Gen Pervez Musharraf’s policy of helping the Americans.

For how long will Pakistan help the Americans and in what proportion was a wait and watch policy for many. The very existence of Gen Pervez Musharraf as the President of Pakistan was also threatened. America was also well aware of this fact as America is a big opportunist. It had got no love lost for Pakistan. America always wants that Pakistan should remain indebted and hence America has been giving many concessions as far as arms and ammunitions is concerned. In his press conference he further added that this war will be a short one and will not last long. Soon there will be a good government and peace will prevail in Afganistan. Though America was successful in establishing a peaceful government is Afganistan, Taliban continued its small attacks and proved it to Americans that mere governance is not going to work. They further gave out a message that even if Taliban is destroyed completely, Osama Bin Laden killed the Americans should not be under impression that terrorism has come to an end. Terrorism is a long lasting problem and hence to control terrorism there has to be an awareness created amongst the people, the terrorists should be suffocated financially, targeting the terrorist politician and bringing down their morale is important.

     INDIA’s OUTLOOK

Gen Pervez Musharraf in his press conference made a very explosive statement. He stated that he will not allow India to take advantage of the Afgan war. In short Pervez Musharraf had an idea that India would have an edge over terrorists to end terrorism in Kashmir. India has always voiced its opinion against terrorism. After the 9/11 attacks the then foreign minister Mr Jaswant Singh visited America, England and Germany where he discussed with the leaders of these countries in length about terrorism. These leaders expressed the idea that this terrorism is not limited only to Taliban but is a problem which concerns the whole world. Since last 20 years the Indian society is continuously fighting against terrorism. The Indian soil has witnessed lot of bloodshed due to the terrorists’ attacks. Duing his visits Mr Jaswant Singh also stated to foreign counterparts that the terrorists in Kashmir have been largely influenced by the Taliban. And hence it was very clear that the problem of Afghanistan was not only limited to a territory but was spreading its wings worldwide. The day America attacked Afganistan, Mr George Bush the then President of US informed about this attack to the then Indian Prime Minister Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee. George busy was very well aware of the fact that Pakistan could any time switch sides. If this happens America would have turned to India for help. India was on very advantageous position then;

 1. America’s doubtful attitude towards Pakistan.

 2. Many terrorists organsiations in Kashmir had already gone to Afganistan and therefore          the threaten Kashmir was less.

 3. The internal turmoil in Pakistan was to be handled by the Pakistan Army as per the instructions of Gen Pervez Musharraff. This means that the President’s position will be under threat.

 4. Right from the beginning Pakistan had a soft policy toward Taliban and till date has been supporting the Talibans in indirect manner.

 5. The economic condition of Pakistan was very weak.

 6. Pakistan was witnessing riots and protests, was becoming unstable. And this condition was very advantageous as far as India was concerned. India should have grabbed the opportunity of this internal turmoil in Pakistan. It should have immediately launched an attack on the terrorists training camps across the border in the PoK. During this time Dr Farooq Abdullah had said with a very heavy heart that time has now come for India to wage a war against Pakistan. India should have then started a combing operation and fished out the terrorists. In hot pursuit of the terrorist the Indian Forces could have crossed over to the other side. This would have resulted in destroying the terrorists training camps. But then this would call for a war between India and Pakistan. And Pakistan would have been forced into all this. India then was well prepared and should have launched an offensive in Pakistan occupied Kashmir thus putting an end to the border dispute forever. Let us hope that our forces are given a free hand and PoK is merged into India again.   

After the deadly attack of 9/11 the entire world’s eyes were on America. How will America retaliate was the biggest question. What action America will take with its friendly nations, was a matter of discussion for everyone. On 07 October 2001 American fighter aircrafts & bomber aircrafts along with cruise missiles fired from battleships attacked Afghanistan at IST 10 o’ clock. The main targets in this attack were Kandhar, Jalalabad and Kabul. The main targets in these cities were the Talibani Defense Ministry, all the three airports and all the aircrafts. The main attack also targeted the artillery base, the anti aircraft guns, the ammunition dump, the terrorist terror grounds and the main office of Mullah Omar. The air traffic control of the Kandhar airport was completely destroyed and the airstrip was totally devastated.

In these attacks America used 15 bombers and 25 fighter jets. About 50 cruise missiles were fired from the warships to Afganistan. The range of these cruise missiles was 1600 km. The B-1 fighter aircraft cuts through the clouds with the speed of 1450 km/hr. These same aircrafts were also used in the 1998 US-Iraq war.

B-52 is the huge aircraft which has the capacity of carrying rockets, missiles and bombs weighing 70000 pounds. This aircraft can fly up to 13000km without refueling. America in this war also used F-15 and F-16 fighter jets.

We all are aware of the fact that the Northern Alliance had waged a war against Afganistan. The northern alliance had support of Russia, America and England also. Northern Alliance had captured many of the Talibani posts and especially after the Americans attacked the motivation of the Northern Alliance grew. It looked like a long run war. There was a big doubt in many minds whether America wanted change of the political power with the help of the Northern Alliance. At the same time many questions were raised like when America will use its ground forces, when will America use its deadliest weapons and whether this war would turn out to be a war between superpowers? The American war strategy was very wonderful. The intelligence system of America worked very fast. At one time it seemed that America had full control of the situation. This was the time when America used the time to utilize the information regarding the Talibani hideouts. Though the terrain was very difficult for the Americans, they still carried on with their spirits high. In every war, ‘intelligence gathering plays a very vital role.’ Before knowing the strategy of the enemy one should never proceed forward is the basis of war. To gather such information, America used its satellites. Russia also came to its rescue because Russia had the experience of fighting the Talibanis since 10 years. They very well knew the Talibani war strategy, the atmospheric condition of Afganistan, the topographical condition of Afganistan, the hideouts of Talibanis, the weaponry system and the ammunition that the Taliban had and there main control systems. The action that America took was extremely diplomatic as America very carefully gathered the support of 40 nations and also managed to get the nod of the United Nations.

THE AMERICAN WAR STRATEGY

The main aim of the American attack on Afganistan was first to gather information regarding the Talibans and then attack on the important cities ensuring minimum loss of civilian life and also to destroy the main ammunition dump and the hideouts of the Talibans. The Americans knew one thing that for them to gain air supremacy it was of utmost importance that the Taliban airpower should be silenced. In 1971 Bangladesh war, the Indian Air Force also used their fighter jets for 3 days over east Pakistan and gained supremacy. Once air supremacy is attained, the pilots no longer have the fear of the enemy aircrafts due to which the pilots very freely destroy the enemy bunkers with precision. Also, when the ground forces operate the pilots can give perfect supporting fire as was done by the American pilots in the Afgan war. The American strategy worked very perfectly. After gaining air supremacy in mere two days, the US Air Force successfully destroyed many ammunition dumps. Large number of Taliban ground force and also demotivated the Talibanis.

In every war this kind of action is very important. The air field from which America attacked Afganistan was chosen very aptly. The B-52 bomber air crafts took off from the island of Diego Garcia. The American surrounded Afganistan through all the three forces. The sea routes were blocked. The air space was captured and the ground forces had begun their work. Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Russia helped America in this action. The Pakistani air bases were also used very extensively by the Americans. The American UAVs were also positioned and were carrying out their job very efficiently. The use of nuclear weapon was absolutely ruled out. But in case the Talibans had used chemical of biological weapons the Americans ground forces were well trained in the use of gas mask. Had the Talibanis attempted to use any of these, the Americans would not have remained silent. The American war strategy further intensified as the ground forces mobilized its troops into strategic actions. This war saw a lot of advanced war technology. America had a very bitter experience in the Vietnam War and Russia too had a bitter experience in Afganistan. Both these superpowers could gain nothing out of these two wars. And hence, for the Americans to survive in Afganistan was a big challenge. As stated by the senior General of the American forces, while planning the ground forces attacks, America had already obtained;

1. Précised information about the Talibani post.

2. The information about the weapons that the Taliban had.

3. Effective use of intelligence sources.

4. Information regarding the supply of ration to the Taliban.

5. Information regarding the strategic posts of their Commanders.

6. To maintain secrecy of the American moves.

7. To seal the approach roads of the Talibans.

8. To plan strategically simultaneous operations over different terrorist hideouts.

9. Gathering information regarding the mine fields laid by the Talibans.

10. At the various Taliban posts, the number of terrorists and their survival if the         supply was cut.

The Americans though succeeded in flushing out maximum number of terrorists, it had to face an equal number of casualties. This war lasted for long but it also taught the Americans many lessons as far as war planning, war strategies, defensive tactics, and offensive measures were concerned. The real hero of this Afghan battle turned out to be ground forces and they despite of many casualties fought relentlessly against the terrorists.