The main actors of the Pathankot airbase attack were the six Pakistan-based terrorists. Though they failed to accomplish their mission of destroying high value assets of Indian Air Force, yet the question of how the six heavily armed terrorists succeeded in infiltrating the border claimed to be heavily guarded still remains to be satisfactorily answered. Though BSF has denied that the border is not satisfactorily guarded, the ruling Akali leadership has asked the Centre to deploy more BSF personnel on the border to ensure fool-proof sealing of the border. The demand is obviously an attempt to cover up the state police’s own failure to apprehend the armed infiltrators during their over 30 km traverse from their infiltrating point to the airbase site.

For instance, there is a kilometer-wide unfenced border due to the terrain’s problems. This unprotected terrain is used by the police-politician-smugglers nexus for drugs and arms smuggling. The Punjab government has not been able to fully check such illegal activities in which certain politicians including some Akali leaders are allegedly involved. And the less said the better about the failure of the police to prevent the infiltrators and their local operators from carrying out their cross-border activities.

Pakistani militants’ Pathankot attack raises three important questions, which may impact India’s home and foreign policies.
(1) Has the Pakistani terrorists attack to destroy high value assets of Indian Air Force at Pathankot exposed Punjab’s vulnerability to terrorism?
(2) Are the actions of the ruling Akali leadership activating Punjab’s hibernating radicals?
(3) Was the Pathankot attack designed to prevent any détente between India and Pakistan after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s surprise Christmas Day visit to Pakistan?
Answer of the first two questions is ‘YES’.

Comparisons are odious but often gain relevance. The context is comparing the eighties decade-long terrorism in Punjab which took the lives of thousands of innocent Hindus and Sikhs and the January 2016 Pakistani terrorists attack on Pathankot airbase which was preceded by the Pakistani terrorists Dinanagar attack in July.

The eighties and the 2016 events were marked by certain similarities and dissimilarities. Both exposed certain foreign state and non-state elements dubious attempts to destabilize Indian polity. The events also highlight the Akali-BJP government’s poor level of governance and the divisive role some of India’s state and national political forces (including Akali Dal) have been playing to capture or retain power by blatantly using religion.

As the first and the second questions dealing with terrorism are inter-related, their answers cannot be attempted without comparing the eighties terrorist happenings and the atmosphere conducive for revival of radicalism now being created in Punjab. It may just be a coincident that during both periods, the Badal-led government was in power.

Before dwelling on the likely implications of the Pathankot attack for Punjab and the Modi government, it is imperative to first briefly narrate the factors responsible and the forces behind the eighties tragic happenings about which our 21st generation is not fully aware of.

It all began with the fundamentalist organizations, including the Damadami Taksal to which Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale belonged, holding a demonstration against the Nirankaris congregation at Amritsar on April 13, 1978 when the Parkash Singh Badal-led government was in power. It led to a confrontation in which 16 demonstrators were killed. This marked the starting point of the tragic events in Punjab. Bhindranwale had been propped up by the Congress leaders Sanjay Gandhi and Giani Zail Singh to erode the Akalis Sikh vote bank. Then the SGPC president G.S. Tohra allowed him on December 15, 1983 to enter the Golden Temple Complex overruling the objection of Akhal Takht’s head priest Giani Kirpal Singh. What followed is history.

Take the January 2016 event which acquires significance in the background of the Badals using, as usual, religion for political and electoral objectives.

The problem started with the Chief Minister’s securing politically managed pardon from the Akal Takht jathedar for Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh for committing blasphemy by appearing in Guru Gobind Singh attire in 2007. Badals had obviously hoped that appeasing the Dera chief who enjoys large following in the Akali Dal’s Malwa stronghold will fetch their party substantial votes in 2017 assembly elections.

But the pardon coupled with the incidents of defiling of Guru Granth Sahib, huge attendance at sarbatkhalsa and protests by villagers against some leading Akalis and ministers panicked the Akali Dal’s top brass and caused fissures not only in the party but also in the Akalis-controlled Sikh religious bodies.

The 2016 event has apparently changed Prime Minister Modi’s hitherto flip-flop attitude for normalizing India-Pakistan relations. The move for talk which the BJP’s ideological master RSS has been pressing may materialize subject to Pakistan’s taking of credible action on the evidence provided by India on Pakistani terrorists attack on Pathankot airbase.

The most significant similarity between the Pakistan-based terrorist violence in the eighties and the 2016 Pathankot attack is the US Establishment’s attitude. In the eighties, the CIA had masterminded and the ISI had executed the plan for Bhindranwale-led separatist movement as the US Establishment had wanted to destabilize Indira Gandhi. In 2016, the US wants India and Pakistan to join hands to counter the global Islamic terrorists whose increasing world-wide activities have become a cause of concern not only for both India and Pakistan but also for many countries. (IPA Service)