Questions raised over Army's side role

As Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar visits the Pathankot airbase at the end of the operation, a question being increasingly heard within the military circle is why the Indian Army was not pressed into action earlier?

Within few kilometre from Indian Air Force station is the 29 Division of Indian Army and two independent armoured brigades. The first batch of soldiers that were sent to protect the assets were from 11 Jammu and Kashmir Rifles that was part of the Mamun brigade under the 29 Division.

But in the first day of the terror attack, Army troops played only a secondary role as the Air Force Garud commandos and men from the National Security Guards fought with the terrorists. Security forces lost seven lives and 20 men were injured in the gun battle.

The strategy is being questioned within the military circle because the Army has years of experience in tackling counter insurgency and counter terrorism operations unlike the NSG, who are trained for situations like hostage crisis.

For an operation in 1900 acres of woody area, Army CI-CT teams would have been a better choice, feel several retired officers, who raised questions on the need to have better coordination among various agencies. “We have lost more men and this could have been prevented by effective coordination. And also that the time taken to neutralise the attackers is way too long,” former Western Air Command Chief Air Marshal P S Ahluwalia, who had commanded the Pathankot airbase during his service said on Sunday.

The present Commander- in-Chief of the Western Air Command, Air Marshal S B Deo was at the site for coordination among Army, NSG and local police for operational activities.