TRUE AND BEFITTING TRIBUTE TO PULWAMA MARTYRS

 A lot is written in print,  news and social media by military veterans and editors with catchy taglines and titles harping on post Pulwama lessons, how Pulwama marked a strategic shift in war against terror and by some  to dig deep into Pulwama puzzle to unravel intelligence and security lapses. The horrific attack took place on 14 Feb 2019,wherein vehicle borne terrorists attacked a CRPF convoy resulting in martyrdom of 40( forty) CRPF brave hearts. 

                 THESE CRPF HEROES LIVED TRUE TO CRPF SONG

 "DESH KE HUM HAIN RAKSHAK,JAAN BHI DENGE BESHAK DESH KI KHATIR".

Military veteran ,editors and others basically  addressed external impact and internal  ramification of colossal tragedy and how it shaped India's strategic response. Lt Gen D S Hooda (Retd)  writes that India's strategic planners viewed the suicide as an unacceptable provocation that demanded a strong response.Another defence expert remarked that Pulwama marked a shift in war against terror and also Pulwama became the inflection point that tested India's strategic patience.The editorial in The Tribune called for digging deeper into Pulwama puzzle.  It asked certain questions. Could   the terror attack have been averted? Who were responsible for the intelligence and security lapses?.

It  is okay to dig deep into ramifications of Pulwama on war on terror ,its regional strategic implications and stratagem.

On this day ,these brave hearts are remembered,  their bravely eulogised through programmes tailored for the occasion and wreaths laid  which is must to maintain protocol and  to keep their brave legacy alive.

Is that sufficient or more needs to be done?.

 What is true and befitting tribute  to sacrifice of these Brave hearts. 

Should not this colossal tragedy push CAPFs to initiate  internal  corrective mechanism and measures to usher  in revolutionary changes  in organisational functioning.

First  CRPF and other CAPFs need to accept and recognise that wars and battles  both internal and external are won by men and not machines. Machines i.e. weapons,equipment and technology is support. It  is the man behind the machine who  matter. In India's case  with vast geographical length  to guard , it is boots on ground  and their determination to guard which comes from hard training,discipline and motivation.  So need is keep men charging,  energetic and fighting fit through measures at macro and micro level.  

Therefore a true and befitting tribute to these Braveheart's will be to ensure hard training, de-stressed environment,  discipline and motivation along with  positive and men friendly human resource policies and environment. 

First  is to revisit basic training curriculum to ensure hard basic training to make men physically and mentally strong to go through rigorous ,risky and dangerous work environment without physical and mental breakdown. That is only possible if basic training which transforms a raw civilian into soldier is hard to toughen him  physically and mentally. It also strengthen camaraderie and cohesiveness at subunit and unit level making it an efficient fighting machine.  This will also prevent incidents of fratricide like the one happened on 13 Feb ,2025,where in a CRPF soldier killed two of his colleagues and injured eight before killing him self in Manipur. Hard training is a big de-stressor and motivator and morale booster.

Second is to carry out an analysis of  individual and collective training. Is it regular, consistent and  adequate in terms of periodicity for professionalism.. Leadership need to ensure regular and consist collective training to built a cohesive subunit and unit. This will improve professionalism.ensure discipline ,prepare men for commandership and leadership role in their functional sphere, improve regimentation thus making unit and subunit professionally efficient and effective.

Third and another very important factor is to have positive and friendly Human resource policies in tune with risky and dangerous working environment and not to tinker with basic organisational structure for temporary gains  affecting professionalism. The HR policies need to ensure promotions for men in such a way that frustration and lethargy in functioning does not creep in and men's societal esteem is not affected. There has to be financial upgradations keeping in view the risky and dangerous work environment. Do not compare and club  CAPFs working in risky dangerous regions of Bastar,line of control, line of actual control and isolated ,dangerous and rough borders with civilians working in safe environments of Delhi.state capitals and metropolitan cities.

There is need for Leadership and government to  pay  due and adequate attention to the important aspects of training, destressed work environment,Positive HR policies for men and officers which will improve morale and motivation and make forces  truly professional machines.

THIS  WILL BE TRUE BEFITTING  TRIBUTE TO 40 PULWAMA MARTYRS  WHO SACRIFICED THEIR LIFE FOR NATIONS SAFE TOMORROW