Pathankot AirForce base under attack

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Prem
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Re: Pathankot AirForce base under attack

Post by Prem »

Prem Kumar wrote:Whoa - where did you get 10 from??
Shiv AroorVerified account
‏@ShivAroor
Terrible #PathankotAttack toll: 10 defence personnel killed in the attack (6 DSC guards, 2 IAF personnel & 2 IAF Garud commandos).
Paul
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Re: Pathankot AirForce base under attack

Post by Paul »

I think I get it why the terrorists got past the IB twice.

They were using Drug smuggling routes for which the Punjab Police are paid to look other way.

A complete revamp of the BSF/ Punjab Police on the border is needed to prevent any further infiltrations.
Last edited by Paul on 03 Jan 2016 09:58, edited 1 time in total.
manjgu
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Re: Pathankot AirForce base under attack

Post by manjgu »

if at all there will be retribution it will be in 2018-19 ..not before that.
Karan M
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Re: Pathankot AirForce base under attack

Post by Karan M »

^^ we have spent billions enriching a certain family and their cronies. the war chest is being built up only now. base infrastructure is lacking.

meanwhile, we lose people like this. as if their lives dont matter.

http://indianexpress.com/article/india/ ... -martyred/
Karan M
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Re: Pathankot AirForce base under attack

Post by Karan M »

The Punjab Police needs a severe kick up their butt. WTF, 14 hours lost and this was clearly a case of "lets not escalate things lest something comes out". This incident completely reminds me of what happened in Delhi in a moving bus. There again, the police were paid to look the other way and later it came out the cops had taken a bribe to let the bus operate.
Last edited by Karan M on 03 Jan 2016 10:04, edited 1 time in total.
devesh
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Re: Pathankot AirForce base under attack

Post by devesh »

Jhujar wrote:
Prem Kumar wrote:Whoa - where did you get 10 from??
Shiv AroorVerified account
‏@ShivAroor
Terrible #PathankotAttack toll: 10 defence personnel killed in the attack (6 DSC guards, 2 IAF personnel & 2 IAF Garud commandos).
So far 4 terrorists dead and 10 of our armed forces personnel.

If there is no retribution for this....if the forces who hatched this attack don't feel pain and obvious losses in the next few weeks and months, it will be a victory for the Jihadis.
johneeG
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Re: Pathankot AirForce base under attack

Post by johneeG »

habal wrote:
johneeG wrote: The points that Dilli has to face when they have to escalate is:
- Does India want a war right now? -> social, political ramifications.
- Is India prepared for a war right now? -> Defence and economic aspects.
- Will the great powers of the world approve a war right now? -> Geo-politics.
yaar what kind of yindoo bania logic is this ??

if some rogue kills your son, murders the wife will you think of economic cost, what neighbours may think, what the guy living in biggest house of neighboirhood may think, will i be able to make a living after exacting revenge.

such thoughts come only when one sees this happen to someone else distant from us.

we spend billions building up war chest just so that we do NOT have to think like this when settling scores with rogues.
No, I didn't mean it that way. I'll explain what I meant. If you want to take a revenge, will you go in prepared or unprepared into your enemy's house. Will you simply run into the house of your enemy without any preparation? Then, you will not really achieve anything. At best, others will come and stop the silly fight. At worst, you will get seriously injured. If you are serious about revenge, then you need to cool down and prepare yourself and then go in. In short, revenge is a dish best served in cold.
shiv
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Re: Pathankot AirForce base under attack

Post by shiv »

johneeG wrote:If you want to take a revenge, will you go in prepared or unprepared into your enemy's house. Will you simply run into the house of your enemy without any preparation? Then, you will not really achieve anything. At best, others will come and stop the silly fight. At worst, you will get seriously injured. If you are serious about revenge, then you need to cool down and prepare yourself and then go in. In short, revenge is a dish best served in cold.
Let me comment on this

1. This is a perfectly sane, raional viewpoint
2. BRF is full of sane, rational people
3. BRF has had sane rational people who are able to make sane, rational points like this for the last 15 plus years

That means that the longer a person stays on BRF the greater the number of times he will read sane and rational viewpoints like this following every terrorist attack when Indians die.

When can we hope to stop seeing explanations and start seeing explosions on the other side?

or

It ain't even gonna happen.
habal
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Re: Pathankot AirForce base under attack

Post by habal »

Punjabis have been saying for long that Punjab Police is hopelessly corrupt and complicit in drugs smuggling and wasting away youth of entire state. In return we called them khalistanis and answered their complaints with 'KPS Gill zindabad'.
I didn't mean it that way. I'll explain what I meant. If you want to take a revenge, will you go in prepared or unprepared into your enemy's house. Will you simply run into the house of your enemy without any preparation? Then, you will not really achieve anything. At best, others will come and stop the silly fight. At worst, you will get seriously injured. If you are serious, then you need to cool down and prepare yourself and then go in. In short, revenge is a dish best served in cold.
this is a constant process and doesn't happen only after an attack. We will know how prepared we are when we attack and you can bet no one will stop us. There will be no referees. China, USA, Russia are embroiled in bigger affairs and could well do without making any gestures of support for Pakistan. This time Pakistan is well & truly alone. You think Saudis will come to their help ?? There is nobody to help Pakistan now.
Karthik S
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Re: Pathankot AirForce base under attack

Post by Karthik S »

shiv wrote:It ain't even gonna happen.
This will be the case most likely.
member_29247
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Re: Pathankot AirForce base under attack

Post by member_29247 »

What shiv ji Saar said today Insaid long back and was banned or warned.

I said
All we do after terror attack is score Kay hai?

Now some say I expect song and Dance

There must be visible and disproportionate punitive action even if there is collateral damage on TSP side.

We will openly claim responsibility in a press conference and state this is beginning

Well I am dreamer

To win peace we must wage ruthless war. Only then the peace dividend will be sought, appreciated and preserved. period.
member_26622
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Re: Pathankot AirForce base under attack

Post by member_26622 »

If Pakistanis can talk peace while firing guns then why cannot we do the same? We are not fighting the the democratically elected government of Pakistan, just the terrorists who happen to be in Pakistan. We would have taken the fight anywhere in the world (just happens to be in Pakistan 99% of the time)

In my humble opinion - we will never have peace with an Islamic state. Their will always be some fraction who wants to kill Infidels and will conjure up a 'reason' to kill. No answers to this question but Yes we need to fight back 100% of the time.
ramana
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Re: Pathankot AirForce base under attack

Post by ramana »

JohneeG please formulate your ideas clearly before posting them. Don't want fratricide.

Thanks
Kashi
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Re: Pathankot AirForce base under attack

Post by Kashi »

shiv wrote:It ain't even gonna happen.
Painfully true. I am still hoping for some major retribution, chiefly because of the people at the helm- Modi and Doval. I do wonder if it is hoping to the point of foolishness.

My only request to politicos and GoI ministers, have a heart and at least spare us and the families of the martyrs from your "befitting response" and "enemy of the humanity" type comments. Are you purposefully trying to make people angry?
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Re: Pathankot AirForce base under attack

Post by Gyan »

If the cell phone being used by terrorists was being tapped then We knew the location of terrorists down to few metres. It is a monumental failure to loose 10-12 soldiers in these circumstances.
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Re: Pathankot AirForce base under attack

Post by SBajwa »

by Baikul
Are accents the same across the border (assuming they were Punjabi)?
Accent of Amritsar-Lahore-Gurdaspur are very similar but Bakis use way too much islamic words like inshallah, mashaalla, etc and thus it is a dead give away. Also Bakis are not that literate and it becomes quite easy to find them.

Now Accent of Bahawalpur, Multan is called Jhangi which is very different and is a mixture of Punjabi-Rajasthani Hindi-Sindhi. Only older generations of Indians that migrated from this area speak in Jhanji accent (very few in India).
ramana
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Re: Pathankot AirForce base under attack

Post by ramana »

Kashi
We wont know till we know. Give them time. Looks like mop up is still going on.

PP DGP will have own inquiry.
11 people dead has its own dynamics.
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Re: Pathankot AirForce base under attack

Post by ramana »

Sandeep any info on the baba that SP went to meet in official car without driver and bodyguard?
johneeG
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Re: Pathankot AirForce base under attack

Post by johneeG »

shiv wrote:
johneeG wrote:If you want to take a revenge, will you go in prepared or unprepared into your enemy's house. Will you simply run into the house of your enemy without any preparation? Then, you will not really achieve anything. At best, others will come and stop the silly fight. At worst, you will get seriously injured. If you are serious about revenge, then you need to cool down and prepare yourself and then go in. In short, revenge is a dish best served in cold.
Let me comment on this

1. This is a perfectly sane, raional viewpoint
2. BRF is full of sane, rational people
3. BRF has had sane rational people who are able to make sane, rational points like this for the last 15 plus years

That means that the longer a person stays on BRF the greater the number of times he will read sane and rational viewpoints like this following every terrorist attack when Indians die.

When can we hope to stop seeing explanations and start seeing explosions on the other side?

or

It ain't even gonna happen.
Pakistan has been sponsoring terror(or proxy-war) for 30 years now. How do you deal with Pakistan's proxy-war?
The only time Pakistan will stop sponsoring proxy-war is when it breaks up. Breaking up pakistan is atleast a 5 year project. The first step is to build the arsenal. Then, support the freedom movements in Sindh, Balochistan and Pashtun areas in diplomatic, economic and covert ways. Finally, at some point, an overt attack on Pakjab would free up those areas to revolt and declare independence. (Doval has already outlined this as a offensive defensive).

Modi is building up his economy and arsenal and trying to indigenize it so that the dependence on foreign powers is reduced. I think it will take around 2017 - 2018 period to accomplish it and be prepared for a war. It may actually take more time because of various bottlenecks. Until that time, he is using posturing(some good cop bad cop) to stop terror as much as possible.

About geo-political pressures: the powers that sell weapons to us put pressure on us to talk. Sadly it seems that geo-politics is the most important thing for a country like India which depends on foreign countries to buy weapons(including spare parts) and fuel. Further, Indian economy is also susceptible to geo-political pressures. So, any of these countries could put a wrench in our war efforts. India is not US or Russia. The problem with going into a war with unrealistic assumptions is that we will end up hurting ourselves without really achieving anything.

The problem for India is that Pakistan is a one trick pony. Its reaction to any and every action of India(both friendly or otherwise) is terrorism(or more precisely proxy-war). Some or the other faction in Pakistan sponsors terror for some or other reason. If Modi can somehow postpone the war atleast till 2017, then he can fight on his terms. Otherwise, he'll be forced to fight on other's terms. He might still fight it if necessary, but it won't change the proxy-war scenario. Of course, we can get lucky and thing may turn in our favour. But, I don't think any country should go into a war hoping to get lucky.

I think we should give some tactical leeway to the leadership. BTW, my standards were same for the earlier govt. UPA got full leeway during the first term. It was only after 26/11 that it became painfully obvious that UPA had failed in dealing with Pak sponsored terrorism(or proxy-war). And remember the unprecedented terrorism in every major city throughout India during UPA's regime. Sharm-el-Shiekh and track-2 diplomacy made it clear that UPA were just not upto it. Modi should get some time to fix a 30 yr old problem.
ramana wrote:JohneeG please formulate your ideas clearly before posting them. Don't want fratricide.

Thanks
My simple point is that if we have to go a war, then we should go to a war after being prepared for it. And we should achieve some concrete results. It should not be something like operation parakram.
Prem
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Re: Pathankot AirForce base under attack

Post by Prem »

IMHO, We should not to to war for another decade or so as we need to hold all the cards, not even one small tiny loophole left unplugged before we cut them down for good. India must have at least 600 strategic weapons in reserved for Paki pasand bandars to deter them and then go on cleaning the filth out of south asia.This current terror attack can be avenged by taking their navy ship or ERIEye down.
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Re: Pathankot AirForce base under attack

Post by Neela »

Indian retaliation and peace talks MUST go together. Pakistan is invested in the peace process. So Indian attacks on mil-jihadi infrastructure must be seen as India,s firm commitment to the uninterruptible peace process. We are after all the same people.
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Re: Pathankot AirForce base under attack

Post by ManSingh »

Karan M wrote:The Punjab Police needs a severe kick up their butt. WTF, 14 hours lost and this was clearly a case of "lets not escalate things lest something comes out". This incident completely reminds me of what happened in Delhi in a moving bus. There again, the police were paid to look the other way and later it came out the cops had taken a bribe to let the bus operate.
My post is not a counter argument but just information. No offense meant.

As someone who has lived in rural punjab, policing in country side is not what many posters on this forum are expecting. Policing by police in uniform is very rare. Villages and towns could be very far apart and difficult to police. Just think two villages separated by 40 kms ( or even more ) with nothing but farm land and irrigation channels in between.

I remember that when a vigil was required in villages for some reason something called a "theekri pehra" in punjabi was organized. This is basically a group of able bodied men of the village ( rotating every night ) would maintain a watch on the roads in the village. If something untoward is noticed, then we call the police. Usually this is organized in harvest seasons when there is a fear of robbers. Usually it leads to a lot of false alarms and is also resented by villagers nowadays.

Another tidbit: This form of policing is backed by a law ( british of course ) : "The Punjab Village and Small towns Patrol Act, 1918". And of course, the law has its own procedure :evil: . Usually district administration when it requires issues a notice signed by DC after which a notice is sent out to villages. And obviously this takes longer than 14 hours. Like it or not this is the system and there is no concept of city styled policing in rural punjab.

My opinion: Gurdaspur is a very large and largely rural district and there is no way any agency/police could have done anything even if they decided to act faster. Instead of looking inwards( we can not be in a state of eternal vigil always ), we should look at fixing the root cause. I don't know how we can do that.
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Re: Pathankot AirForce base under attack

Post by Karthik S »

Jhujar wrote:IMHO, We should not to to war for another decade or so as we need to hold all the cards, not even one small tiny loophole left unplugged before we cut them down for good. India must have at least 600 strategic weapons in reserved for Paki pasand bandars to deter them and then go on cleaning the filth out of south asia.This current terror attack can be avenged by taking their navy ship or ERIEye down.
Nobody is talking about going to war sir, all we want is a response. The former is for another discussion. You mean we should accept causalities like this in 100s for the next decade?
NM could have abstained from that humanity statement, really sounds very familiar to us. He should walk the talk atleast in this matter. Wish we had a Putin now.
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Re: Pathankot AirForce base under attack

Post by partha »

Neela wrote:Indian retaliation and peace talks MUST go together. Pakistan is invested in the peace process. So Indian attacks on mil-jihadi infrastructure must be seen as India,s firm commitment to the uninterruptible peace process. We are after all the same people.
Let's bomb some camps and then say we look forward to the upcoming meeting of foreign secretaries.
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Re: Pathankot AirForce base under attack

Post by nirav »

There's been a lot of criticism on the usage of 'enemies of humanity' by the PM.

In my view, such a statement was warranted to prevent mass hysteria and war mongering on our side. Saying the right things and launching a covert strike is better than saying "aar paar ki ladai hogi" , mobilizing the whole army, doing nothing and still managing to get a large numbers of IA jawans killed in mine field clearing ops.

For those blasting the Home minister for the 'befetting' reply comment, id like to remind them that the BSF which indeed rained hell on Pakis comes under the home ministry. The minister has delivered on his muh tod remarks earlier and I dont see why he can't/won't deliver again.

The national security advisor is probably the first guy to directly threaten Pak with his do one more mumbai, loose Baluchistan remark.

Reason for writing down these known facts is to remind folks here that these men are no hacks.

The kind of ridicule being hurled on them is not warranted IMHO.
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Re: Pathankot AirForce base under attack

Post by Raja Bose »

NSG lost its highest ranking officer in an operation - Lt Col Niranjan Kumar.

http://m.timesofindia.com/india/Pathank ... 423958.cms
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Re: Pathankot AirForce base under attack

Post by Aditya G »

As per India Border Watch thread, local LoC commanders regularly, if not routinely, take Covert and Surgical punitive actions against Pak Army proper. These remain covert as neither side publicizes it. Surely a similar action such as this can be taken?

Alternatively, we may fight back for Point 5533 etc and Pigeon can inform his counterpart that this was retribution for Pathankot attack.

We should keep targets identified, and every time there is jehadi attack claim one item of the list as excuse.
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Re: Pathankot AirForce base under attack

Post by Raja Ram »

Cross posting from STFUP thread in other forum at the request of ramana

MOD statement says that a major calamity was avoided as the bases were prepared based on Intel reports on the possibility of an attack. So far there has been no major official source or indication of an intel failure. Statements from the PM, HM and RM have all stated that a major attack has been foiled. There is nothing to contradict the position that is credible and available as of now.

Consider the following facts:

1. The terror team had crossed in the night of 31 December.
2. They had hijacked an official vehicle of the Gurdaspur SP but did not who he was. Police knew of the missing vehicle and the fact that it was close to the border should have instigated an alert and search
3. The terror group had used a phone recovered from the site to be in touch with a control centre in Pakistan
4. The reports indicate maximum casualty was in the initial moments of the attack and the perimeter force reacted fast and took the terrorists head on
5. The terrorists were isolated very quickly in an area away from technical area where priced air assets were present.
6. Base Commander and WAC Commander were on the ground
7. The whole area was secured and operations commenced thereafter and as per reports all terrorists were neutralised with no casualty on our side
8. Air assets were used for recce and spotting mission as per MOD and not on an attack mode.
9. One photograph of terrorist released that shows a lot of ammo was carried and they were well stocked.

Based on the above there are a few things that can be inferred

1. The installations were informed and were in a state of alert. That is why the response was well coordinated once the initial contact was made.

2. The initial losses are very high, especially when you take into account that this was a pattern starting from attack on parliament to attackss on Army Camps in J&K, Kabul Embassy Attack, Gurdaspur attack etc. The initial contact claimed maximum casualty on perimeter guard duty. Given the alert, and the report of missing car of the police SP near the border in a case of carjacking; the perimeter guards should have been adequately protected with full body armour; reinforcing of approach defences must have been in place way ahead of entry and a clear vantage view and surveillance should have been in place in all approaches. Indications are that these were not there or it was not adequate enough

3. I have always wondered why QR teams or Special Ops teams reacting to such attacks are not accompanied by a mobile Medvac team that is stocked to prevent blood loss or do field level emergency surgery. Should it not become SOP by now? Maybe it is there and these fatalities are despite that (due to head shots or grenade attacks)

4. I have also wondered why cant there be stand off defence systems that can neutralize approaching terrorists at a field level. Like maybe Drones or small intensity guided munitions that can be launched on a isolated area where the terrorists who infiltrate can be boxed in. In this case, the terrorists were boxed into the administrative area and by all accounts there were no hostages or friendlies inside that area. The operation took 15 + hours and after 4 of the 5 were killed it took a long time to neutralise the last one.

5. There seems to have been casualties in the mopping up phase when a grenade or some explosive has gone off during disarming. Again could this loss not been avoided due to use of technology such as robots or explosive sensors during combing?

These are some questions that come up. Maybe someone can contact an expert like Lt Gen Hasnain to get some answers.
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Re: Pathankot AirForce base under attack

Post by Karan M »

shiv wrote:
johneeG wrote:If you want to take a revenge, will you go in prepared or unprepared into your enemy's house. Will you simply run into the house of your enemy without any preparation? Then, you will not really achieve anything. At best, others will come and stop the silly fight. At worst, you will get seriously injured. If you are serious about revenge, then you need to cool down and prepare yourself and then go in. In short, revenge is a dish best served in cold.
Let me comment on this

1. This is a perfectly sane, raional viewpoint
2. BRF is full of sane, rational people
3. BRF has had sane rational people who are able to make sane, rational points like this for the last 15 plus years

That means that the longer a person stays on BRF the greater the number of times he will read sane and rational viewpoints like this following every terrorist attack when Indians die.

When can we hope to stop seeing explanations and start seeing explosions on the other side?

or

It ain't even gonna happen.
I am going to keep strong internal security and covert ops as out - those are a given need.

But based on what you state, this can happen if we are prepared to make teh following choices.

1. Cross border retaliation on Pak mil no matter who attacks India. All this BS of this guy, that guy stops. For this, the weapon of choice should be artillery. To minimize pain on our side we have to undertake mass relocation of people on the Indian side. Is this feasible? Perhaps not completely and perhaps restricting the firing to LOC and some parts of IB may have to be done.

2. Prepare for limited or all out war under nuclear overhang. There is always a chance that above can get out of hand. So, hot war a la Kargil is always a possibility. It can then escalate to a full blown war. In short, we have to allocate a portion of our GDP to this aspect and it must be done seriously.

3. Educate the Indian public. The Indian public has been basically kept in the dark by prior GOI about depth of Pakistan's perfidy & they need to be made aware so they are willing to bear the consequences of protracted conflict.
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Re: Pathankot AirForce base under attack

Post by Karthik S »

Raja Bose wrote:NSG lost its highest ranking officer in an operation - Lt Col Niranjan Kumar.

http://m.timesofindia.com/india/Pathank ... 423958.cms
From the article:
Meanwhile, in the seventh casualty among the security forces, Lt Col Niranjan of the National Security Guard died in hospital on Sunday morning. He was injured in an IED blast while retrieving the body of a terrorist.
What a waste of a warrior's life. RIP :(
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Re: Pathankot AirForce base under attack

Post by rohitvats »

Here is the summary of events basis whatever I’ve come across in the media. I’ve also added my comments along with it.

The terrorists entered India on the intervening night of December 31 and 1st January. Some news reports have claimed that the Innova was ARRAINGED to pick-up the terrorists from across the border. It was after the vehicle broke down/had a flat that terrorists hijacked the SP’s vehicle and made way away with it.

[Comment: Now, this is the FIRST most curious part of the whole event. And IMO, points towards the use of drug smuggling network to facilitate the strike. It is quite possible that the Innova was arranged for picking up the terrorists by facilitators on Indian side. When the Innova broke down, the terrorists made a call to their handlers and appraised them of the problem.

It was because of this call that SP was activated. I’ve convinced that the SP is a key player in the drug smuggling network. He was most probably asked to facilitate movement of some ‘smugglers’ – the fact that he decided to use his own car shows that instructions came right from the top on Indian side. One of the news report talks about a local political leader involved in harbouring the terrorists. I would not be surprised that the same person activated the SP and got him to personally facilitate the movement.

And that is why, while the terrorists killed the driver of the Innova car, they did not kill the SP, which should’ve been the normal course of action. That is because they were confident that he would not give away their plan. But it seems when the SP realized that the people he had picked up were not your garden variety smugglers but terrorists, he fabricated the story of ‘army personnel’ having kidnapped him and all that…I think he tried to send across the message as clearly as possible w/o compromising himself. And this is where we lost the crucial time.

This act of arranging the second transport after first broke-down and that too by activating a very high value asset like SP again points to the fact that Pathankot AFS was always the target. Unlike earlier Gurdaspur or Sambha attack, focus was maintained and every effort made to reach + attack the target. Here I would like to go with the theory that since Mi-25 to be gifted to Afghanistan are from Pathankot based squadron, Pakistan Deep State wanted to really drive home the point]

The SP was ‘kidnapped’ at around 3:30am on January 1st and the base was attacked 24hrs later at about 3:30am – 4:00am on 2nd January.

[Comment: While no news report talks about where exactly the SP was ‘kidnapped’, the road distance could not have been more than 50km by any stretch. In fact, it should’ve been lesser. The million dollar question is where did the terrorists hide in the intervening 24 hours? Again, I refer to news report about some local politician giving support to these men. It is highly likely that terrorists moved as close to the target as possible before the alarm had gone off.

And the SP vehicle was off the road pretty soon after the ‘kidnapping’ drama. As I said earlier, the road distance is low, the roads are very good and the vehicle would’ve been at the hiding destination in under an hour. It is quite likely that SP himself drove them to a pre-designated point where someone else took over. And terrorists hid for next 18-24 hours.]

The base was attacked from the southern end where a river/canal exists the base.

[Comment: I request people to have a look at Google Earth map of the base. This place is 6+ km (as the crow flies) from the National Highway 15 which links Gurdaspur to Pathankot. And to reach this point, you need to navigate village roads (if coming by vehicle) or navigate open fields/ground between villages in the area.

I would wager that someone dropped them as close as possible to this point – this is because the assault point seems to have been chosen with lot of planning and powers-that-be would not have wanted the terrorists to lose their way and end up assaulting from some other position.

GE shows there is a gate and entry point to base from this side and road leading up to. I think these fellows were dropped not more than 1 km away from this point. Again, points to deep local help and the sheer desperation from Deep State to launch this strike.

Another important point – the first set of targets to come up when you enter from this point is the magazine area, the hardened aircraft shelter (HAS) lie further ahead. Quite possible that these terrorists had planned to take hold of one of these and make large fire-work]

Security being beefed up at the Base and presence of Army SF and NSG.

[Comment: After the alert was sounded at around 4:00pm – 4:30pm on 2nd January, it seems NSA had moved the Army SF and NSG components to Pathankot AFS. But my assertion is that this was done not from the purpose of securing the base but for AFS to act as node for reacting to situation anywhere else in the region.

The actual act of securing the base consisted of inducting 2 x infantry platoons to secure the technical area. The big question remains – why was not a whole infantry battalion inducted to secure the entire premises? I know we used TA battalions during 1999 and Op Parakaram to secure bases]

High casualties on our side.

[Comment: I think the terrorists used the same tactic as used in the attack on army base in Uri. They might have attacked in two teams. While the QRT reacted to the first set of attackers, the second set could’ve ambushed the QRT or follow-on forces which rushed to the spot.

I would not be surprised if DSC and Garuds were caught in a cross-fire. Loss from NSG could be because of throwing men at the problem to quickly take out the terrorists. Again, it is plausible that terrorists took hold of one of the magazines and had to be neutralized quickly.

No news about involvement of Army SF – quite possible that NSG was asked to lead the operation with Army SF on standby as back-up or for handling other contingency, if required. And the C-130J in the air could’ve been the same aircraft which ferried NSG from Delhi to Pathankot – So, the brave chaps got it airborne even as fire-fight was happening on the base!]
Karan M
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Re: Pathankot AirForce base under attack

Post by Karan M »

Rohitvats, completely agree. The SPs involvement is IMO a raging red flag and needs to be closed.

Also as regards Pathankot, IMO, all the Punjab based AFS need to be secured 24/7. Punjab's border is quite clearly porous and under the Akalis, its become a zone of low security and chalta hain.
Gyan
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Re: Pathankot AirForce base under attack

Post by Gyan »

SBajwa wrote:
by Baikul
Are accents the same across the border (assuming they were Punjabi)?
Accent of Amritsar-Lahore-Gurdaspur are very similar but Bakis use way too much islamic words like inshallah, mashaalla, etc and thus it is a dead give away. Also Bakis are not that literate and it becomes quite easy to find them.

Now Accent of Bahawalpur, Multan is called Jhangi which is very different and is a mixture of Punjabi-Rajasthani Hindi-Sindhi. Only older generations of Indians that migrated from this area speak in Jhanji accent (very few in India).
That is to say, Pakis would have been super oblivious like Shit on Cake.
Last edited by Gyan on 03 Jan 2016 12:06, edited 1 time in total.
Gyan
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Re: Pathankot AirForce base under attack

Post by Gyan »

Aditya G wrote:As per India Border Watch thread, local LoC commanders regularly, if not routinely, take Covert and Surgical punitive actions against Pak Army proper. These remain covert as neither side publicizes it. Surely a similar action such as this can be taken?

Alternatively, we may fight back for Point 5533 etc and Pigeon can inform his counterpart that this was retribution for Pathankot attack.

We should keep targets identified, and every time there is jehadi attack claim one item of the list as excuse.
Almost all the local border action is done by Army officers on ground at their own risk. No credit to 56 inch.
Last edited by Gyan on 03 Jan 2016 12:16, edited 1 time in total.
bahdada
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Re: Pathankot AirForce base under attack

Post by bahdada »

Karthik S wrote:
Raja Bose wrote:NSG lost its highest ranking officer in an operation - Lt Col Niranjan Kumar.

http://m.timesofindia.com/india/Pathank ... 423958.cms
From the article:
Meanwhile, in the seventh casualty among the security forces, Lt Col Niranjan of the National Security Guard died in hospital on Sunday morning. He was injured in an IED blast while retrieving the body of a terrorist.
What a waste of a warrior's life. RIP :(
It amazes me how the media is saying that vital assets weren't lost. These soldiers are vital. I would be happy trading a few hardware to get all these officers and professionals back. They cannot be fodder for Drugged up jihadis on a 72houri mission to paradise.
Karan M
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Re: Pathankot AirForce base under attack

Post by Karan M »

Has Aroors casualty list been confirmed? I am hoping its actually lesser than what he claimed.
nirav
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Re: Pathankot AirForce base under attack

Post by nirav »

Gyan wrote:
Aditya G wrote:As per India Border Watch thread, local LoC commanders regularly, if not routinely, take Covert and Surgical punitive actions against Pak Army proper. These remain covert as neither side publicizes it. Surely a similar action such as this can be taken?

Alternatively, we may fight back for Point 5533 etc and Pigeon can inform his counterpart that this was retribution for Pathankot attack.

We should keep targets identified, and every time there is jehadi attack claim one item of the list as excuse.
Almost all the local border action is done by Army officers on ground as their own risk. No credit to 56 inch.
Where and when did he take credit for it ?
Last edited by nirav on 03 Jan 2016 12:04, edited 1 time in total.
rohitvats
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Re: Pathankot AirForce base under attack

Post by rohitvats »

From Twitter: List of casualties (with cause of casualty) admitted to Army Hospital. Some hakims on BRF can better comment.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4ZSik ... sp=sharing
Last edited by rohitvats on 03 Jan 2016 12:05, edited 2 times in total.
ldev
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Re: Pathankot AirForce base under attack

Post by ldev »

23 years ago in 1993 the ISI aided Dawood Ibrahim to smuggle in over 2000 kgs of RDX via boats landing on the coast of Raigad district south of Mumbai. Vehicles carrying those explosives were let through by local police contacts of Dawood into Mumbai, thinking at they were carrying usual smuggled goods for which they were well compensated to look the other way. Over 350 people died and more than 700 were injured in those blasts. 23 years later a corrupt police SP in Punjab lets in terrorists into Pathankot attacking the air force base and killing Indians yet again. Reminds me of the saying:
Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it
Last edited by ldev on 03 Jan 2016 12:07, edited 2 times in total.
Vayutuvan
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Re: Pathankot AirForce base under attack

Post by Vayutuvan »

Prasad wrote:
Raja Bose wrote:Has the Garud been identified? Was he part of the QRT when he was KIA?
Gursewak Singh https://twitter.com/ShivAroor/status/683372741546778624
Looking at his photo i would have been honored to have met him and buy a couple of drinks. Gursewak ji, I am sure your supreme sacrifice and that of the five DSC personnel will not go unavenged. Condolences to the families of those who got martyred. :(
Last edited by Vayutuvan on 03 Jan 2016 12:32, edited 1 time in total.
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