BAFFLING
It is a trifle hard to understand why Pak air intrusions in Jammu and Kahmir on July 20 and 21 had to be condoned. These could not be dismissed either as technical or accidental, both being of fairly long duration and having taken place deep in the country. Nor could it be urged that these were not timely detected. Failure, both human and mechanical, has to be ruled out. Anyway the Defence Minster repudiated any such suggestion. In the Lok Sabha he added that the Pak Mirages were noticed “as soon as they entered our air space”. The reason proffered in Parliament by Mr. Jagjivan Ram is the “Limitations imposed on us” by civil aircraft using Srinagar airport. But he has assured the Lok Sabha that “instructions will be given that efforts should be made to shoot down intruding Pakistani Plane:” This means that India could, if she so chose shoot down Pak planes engaged in air space violation. Also, there is an earlier official assurance that Indian Interceptions could bring down any miruding air craft in three minutes. Why, then were such intrusions allowed? Normal interception procedures, the Rajya Sabha was told, had not been automatically activated because the authorities did not consider “ that sort of emergency” to have existed.
Against the background of daily Pak shelling of B. S. F outposts in this country, frequent sabre-rattling By President Yahya Khan himself and the growing Mukti Bahini offensive in Bangladesh this kind of complacence is not just smug but positively dangerous. What prevents the Pak airforce from catching India unawares? Frankly speaking we see nothing. When a member of the Lok Sabha referred to the possibility of a surprise air attack and knocking out a goodly proportion of the I. A. F planes Mr. Jagjivan Ram took it to be an unfair attack. Here also the logic is a bit baffling. If the authorities were caught napping once they could easily be a second time. The point is to be forward-looking and to prevent recurrence of the mistake. Every patriotic Indian wants a clear and unequivocal assurance that such intrusions will not be tolerated in the future. This has now come.
If President Yahya Khan is losing, as stated by Mr. Ram, his sense of equilibrium and balance assuring that he had some this country can’t be over-careful. He may, in a desperate move to entangle India, indulge in any provocation and may try to march troops to India and order airbombing of Principal cities, it is for meeting such an emergency that New Delhi recently had practice blackouts and civil defence all over the country is being strengthened. The country must be prepared for any eventuality. Let us not hear any more that the authority did not anticipate this or that sort of emergency.
Reference: Hindustan Standard 25.7.1971