We need a catastrophe to hit us before any consensus is built at the national level. Until then we don’t move. In so many years we could not modernize our police force by giving them better compensation, training, working conditions and staffing. Our men fought bravely, but they neither had the assessment of what they were up against, nor were they equipped. It turns out the killers had superior weaponry.
We need to ask ourselves: if an organization funded by charity and Pakistan agencies could muster such killer equipments, why do the police of this vast and powerful nation not have the best?
But a bigger question needs answering. Our foreign minister says that war with Pakistan is not an option. May be he is right. May be we need to first strengthen ourselves internally. But then would that be enough? We can not afford to do what US did in retaliation to the WTC strikes. Do we want to hit specific targets in Pakistan without waging a war? Can we afford not weakening the Pakistan Army? A war will cost huge deficits and inflation. What will be the cost of letting Pakistan go scot-free?
In any case, verbal threats to Pakistan by either India or the US would not yield anything. India will have to act alone for its interests. Despite the new found political consensus on national security, do we have any firm plan of action? Will there be a public backlash if nothing is done by the government? Unlikely. We have a long history of taking things lying down. And then we are mowed over. We call it tolerance.
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