Who Dares, Wins

By Sohail Parwaz

It was a year back, when in October 2015, Former foreign minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri while talking to host Karan Thapar on India Today television,  had revealed that India planned to launch air strikes on Pakistani soil following the 2008 Mumbai attacks in order to target the banned militant group Lashkar-e-Tayiba (LeT) and Jamat ud Dawa (JuD). According to him, it was a tip given to him by Senator John McCain of United States (US) delegation expressed his concern that India may carry out surgical air strikes to target LeT and JuD in Punjab’s Muridke town. The delegation which visited him in Lahore comprised Republican Senator Lindsey Graham and US special envoy on Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke. The former foreign minister states that he told McCain that Pakistan Army would give a “measured” response in case of a strike inside its territory.

Mr. Kasuri expressed his apprehensions in 2015 whereas in the Chapter 19 of my fiction work “The Cornered Rogue” I feared about such stupidity by Indians about three years before Khurshid Kasuri could disclose it. Although the Indians couldn’t dare do any such insanity however this type of adventurism has always remained India’s utmost desire. Whatever happened in India the first three names the Psychos take are ISI, Hafiz Saeed or JuD and Azhar Masood or Jaish e Muhammad. There is a famous saying that, ‘Who dares wins’. The biggest problem is that although Indian have the dreams of carrying out such adventure, nevertheless, every time at the eleventh hour they lack courage and have to abandon their life time desire in the middle of sheer disappointment.

Like my previous two articles, I am again quoting few excerpts from the chapter nineteen of my book. The current circumstances will qualify my fears, although while thinking of any such attempt the Indians will have to be mentally ready to lose a lot in return. Please enjoy the quote:

“Jama’at-e-D’awut-e-Islami, one of the biggest philanthropist organisations of Pakistan had its main office at Muridke, a small town on GT Road, just few kilometers away from Lahore, the capital city of Punjab Province. The party did a great rescue job during the disastrous earthquake of 2005. So much so that the previous American President appreciated their missionary zeal and contribution to relief work, but surprisingly within just a few months the same President suddenly took an abrupt U turn and started criticising the same party allegedly for its militant role in Kashmir. It was the same party which was blamed for Mumbai carnage of 2008. A full fledged campaign was run by some unknown quarters to malign the party which was presented to the world as a demonic outfit, though the party always strongly protested against baseless allegations and resisted to the mudslinging.

The sun was about to be set and there was a usual great traffic rush on the GT Road. Akin Muridke there are some more busy cities like Gujranwala, Wazirabad and Gujarat lie on the GT Road. Those are considered bottlenecks as traffic invariably remains jammed at these centres for most time during the day. Definitely just before the sunset when people return home, these places are so crowded that one has to wait for a long time before making few meters move. When the Mo’azen (person who gives call for the Salaat) were reciting Adaan for  Maghreb Namaz in the main mosque of Jama’at-e-D’awut-e-Islami building the environs at Muridke, exactly at the same time a four ship formation of Mirage 2000 was taking off from Adampur airbase for an unknown destination.

The French made birds, having Indian tail signs, were maintaining very low altitude to avoid any acquaintance. However just before reaching the international border, they had no other choice but to jack up to give their weapons sufficient height for reaching target. At that precise moment the duty air defence and weapon controller sitting in a small mobile low level radar station monitored two small inward bound specks on his radar scope, entering Pakistan’s sovereign air space from east. The ever vigilant eye had no reason to keep any doubt in his mind, thus he immediately realized that he was looking at bandits. The formation was now depicted as a more menacing four ship flight on his radar scope. The rookie controller raised alarm and right away informed the air defense sector about a potential air strike inside Pakistan. By then the hostile birds had already released at least eight of AS-30L, ASM (Air to surface laser guided missiles usually carried by Mirage 2000 & SU30s of Indian air force) with ‘bitter affection’ for Jama’at-e-D’awut-e-Islami and were now turning back for their base.

Exactly at the time when the Indian four-ship formation was alarmingly close to the Pakistani air territory and was about to enter Lahore, the ADA (Air Defence Alert) hut at Mushaf Base of PAF was abuzz with bustle.  The ADA shifts were about to be changed, the on duty pilots were busy playing backgammon, a most favourite and popular time pass in all the squadrons of PAF. This ADA hut belonged to one of the oldest fighter squadrons, a crack F-16 unit. The silence in the hut was broken by a sudden call on the secured communication line from air defence sector headquarters. This message was a rather unexpected one. The duty controller of sector proclaimed in a panic ridden voice, ‘Scramble… scramble, two’. The Operations Officer in ADA hut had already punched the siren switch under the table in a scramble sequence so as to leave no doubt in the minds of the maintenance crew. In a matter of two minutes, two sleek silhouettes disappeared in the dying dusk over Sargodha.

The Imam was leading the Namaz at the D’awut-e-Islami’s mosque. Almost three hundred people were offering prayer behind him. Loudly he said, ‘Allah ho Akbar’ as soon as he knelt down for Sujdaa, all the files of Namazis followed him for the act in a remarkably synchronised manner. The Namazis were supposed to stay in Sujdaa for few seconds that was the time when suddenly a great pound ripped off everything. People in the surrounding heard a blast and were still shocked and baffled trying to guess the direction when three more hits made everything clear to them. The D’awut-e-Islami’s building was the target. Everyone, having thought in mind that probably some suicide bomber has struck, ran towards the site. The traffic on GT Road halted, life came to a stand still, there was a horrifying silence in the air except for screams and shouts for help. Those were coming from ruins and rubble of D’awut-e-Islami mosque and residential building.

For Indians it wasn’t that effortless this time, especially after the Muzaffarabad incident, where they took on an emergency hospital founded after the 2005 earthquake. The No.3 and 4 were still inside Pakistan when an air defence battery deployed in the suburbs of Lahore, equipped with MANPADS (Man Portable Air Defence System) type SAMs ( popularly known as Anza, obtained a lock on No.4 and released at least two missiles without wasting even a second. The poor guy couldn’t make an escape; the rest of the three had to enter back Indian air space with a heavy heart and certainly without their youngest colleague, a Flight Lieutenant.

Leader of the mission flew from Mushaf Base Sargodha contacted radar controller on radio and was given Angeles(slang used in the air forces for the altitude) and vectors for a possible interception. He turned in the direction and started searching his own radar scope for the reported brigands. He was briefed by the Controller that a four ship high speed formation had violated the air space of Pakistan three minutes ago and was now heading back. As he neared Lahore he also picked contact with a pair of retreating specks. The bandits were about to re-enter Indian air space. He informed the controller and sought permission to chase the hostile in their territory. He was sure that he could catch upon them in another 4 to 5 minutes and can shoot them down a few miles inside the hostile territory.

‘Negative, Sherdil leader, you are not cleared to chase the bandits. You must turn on a westerly heading and establish a CAP station 10 miles from the international border’ the ground control warned the leader. The dejected leader had no other choice but to accept the controller’s counselling. He desperately thought that had his bird flown a few miles faster things would have been different. Dolefully, the leader asked his number two to turn back. While he was turning back for the base suddenly he heard a yell on RT confirming that one of them got hit by some surface released weapon.

The event wasn’t a small one. It enraged the already infuriated Pakistanis who came out on the streets, from Khyber to Karachi. The national as well the international media was deliberately covering the Islamists in driving seats, although both had different connotations, yet coverage was conveying strong reaction of  Islamic parties and rightists. In big towns there were clashes between police and protesters who were demanding to declare a war against India for the latter’s deliberate and frequent aggressions. Those who had a longing for the Indo-Pak cordial relations and were chanting ‘Aman Ki Asha’ slogans had to retreat, go underground. The moderate political parties finding no other choice had to side with the right wing parties in their protest against the rival’s high handedness. Indian effigies were burnt in unprecedented processions taken out on short notices that clearly reflected revulsion and vengeance these two countries had for each other. In Islamabad protesters tried to march towards the Indian High Commission but were stopped by the army troops posted to block roads leading towards it. Surprisingly call by Islamic parties was greatly responded by Indian side of Kashmir, who choked the Srinagar and Baramula streets with their appearance. The Indian forces tried to crush processions with full force but to no avail. In Lal Chowk, Srinagar paramilitary forces opened fire at the mob, which caused death of few; it infuriated the already burning situation more. It was a bloody September for the inopportune Kashmiris, who remained calm for few years, but now looked for some sound reason to start their freedom movement once again.