Yuva Bharati - October 2016

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News:At around 5:30 a.m. on 18 September, four terrorists attacked an Indian Army Brigade headquarters at the town of Uri near the Line of Control in a pre-dawn ambush. They are said to have lobbed 17 grenades in 3 minutes. As a rear administrative base camp with tents caught fire, 13-14 army personnel were killed. A gun battle ensued lasting six hours, during which all the four terrorists were killed. Additional 19-30 soldiers were reported to have been injured in the attack. Combing operations continued to flush out additional terrorists thought to be alive. Most of the soldiers killed were from the 10 Dogra and 6 Bihar regiments. One of the injured soldiers succumbed to his injuries on 19 September at R&R Hospital in New Delhi, followed by another soldier on 24 September, bringing the death toll to 19 Another terror attack. Another case of loss of lives. Another set of condemnation. Another case of getting back to Business as Usual. Are we reading it right. Yes I am afraid. But the initial look of it, the case looks like “one more added to the list”. But it is not just another terror attack and not just another case of loss of lives. This attack is right inside a Military base. The losses of lives are of our soldiers. This tantamounts to an act of war. Not that a soldier’s life is more precious than that of a normal civilian. But the signals and intent are different. When 19 army personnel lives are lost, it’s a huge embarrassment to the security establishment of a country. And immediately you hear a round of condemnation from those in power and positions. And then after a week everyone gets back to their routine. We hope that the routine is disturbed at least this time, as this is a case of war and this is the deadliest attack on security forces in Kashmir in two decades.