A Tribute to Five Bravehearts
Theirs not to make reply, theirs not to reason why, rode into the Valley of Death …… five CRPF Martyrs.
– Ram Kumar Ohri, IPS (Retd)
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The killing of five lathi-equipped CRPF jawans sometime ago in the battleground Kashmir by the Pak-trained jihadis reminds me of Lord Tennyson’s famous poem, The Charge of The Light Brigade. The non-policy approach of Indian Government to the Pak-sponsored militancy in Kashmir has been a shameful saga of monumental disasters. But the latest policy blunder of disarming the jawans of the country’s oldest para-military force and telling them to fight the AK-47 equipped jihadis with lathis marked a new low in pusillanimity of the Indian State. 
After the hanging of Afzal Guru, the jihadi outfits operating from Pakistan had publicly threatened multiple retaliatory terror strikes to avenge Guru’s death. It was followed by two bomb blasts in Hyderabad claiming 17 lives. While there was a national alert circulated by the Intelligence Bureau across the country directing the security personnel to exercise extra vigilance, the Kashmir government ordered the disarming of the C R P F Jawans and directed them to carry lathis to fightthe gun-toting insurgents.
Like the soldiers of the Light Brigade killed in the Battle of Balacalava, the CRPF jawans knew that someone had blundered, they knew that Omar Abdullah had blundered, that Sushil Kumar Shinde had blundered by making them give up their arms and adorn themselves with lathis for fighting the gun-toting jihadis.
Yet the five bold martyrs courageously opted to die in the line of duty because theirs was not to make reply, theirs was not to reason why, theirs but was to do and die ? 
The jihadi storm-troopers have now been targeting India for more than twenty years. Till date the Indian government has not been able to stem the onslaught of radical Islamists across India.There is a vain hope and delusional misconception among the voluble chatterati of Lutyen’s New Delhi that by following our non-policy approach of trial and error the Indian State will be able to defeat the heavyweight jihadi gorillas. Day in and day out inadequately read columnists and strategic analysts churn out reams of papers faulting the police and security officers for failure in preventing repetitive attacks by terrorists anywhere and everywhere in India. The real problem, however, lies elsewhere.
Today India is choc-a-bloc with thousands of jihadis and fifth-
columnists and lakhs of fellow travellers, some even occupying important political positions. They may not be spies of hostile neighbours, but they can easily be used as fellow-travellers.
It is time to publicly admit that the militancy in Kashmir is no ‘freedom’ struggle, nor a call for greater autonomy. Why conceal the fact that militants from 18 Muslim countries have been found fighting our security forces in the valley? To put it bluntly, the Kashmir militancy is an extension of the global jihad and must be countered accordingly. To win in this two decades old clash of civilisations, the Indian government must adopt a zero tolerance strategy. The other alternative is to face failure, shame and ignominy at international level. 
As a former soldier, who had the privilege of serving for six years in the Central Reserve Police Force, I recognize that laying one’s life in defence of nation, is a call of duty for Armed forces . But of late in Mahrashtra , Punjab and UP there have been attacks and even murder of Police personnel which were virtually ignored for political reasons . This case of J&K is possibly the worst case of political killing of Armed force personnel by downgrading threat to their lives . Responsibility for this needs to be fixed on politicians .
I salute the five bravehearts and their families. Hopefully the two pusillanimous governments, the one at the centre and the other in the State of Jammu & Kashmir, will learn some lessons in valour from Israelis and acquire the guts to defeat the ugly designs of Pak-sponsored terrorists.
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