Is India really weak at Border strategy ?
In recent LOC incidents starting from Jan this year Pakistan has killed many Indian soldiers in brutal manner. While Indian army retaliation is mostly in defensive mode.We must understand the technicality of this problem. The wide spread LOC is guarded by BSF on Indian side which is predominantly a police force. While Pakistan is guarded by its elite and special northern light Infantry. This force of Pakistan is its best. It was the same force which created initial havoc on Indian army in 1999 conflict. But now every citizen would be concerned why Indian government must guard its boundary by a police force when elite army units are deployed in Kashmir. The reason lies in the Geo-Political situation of Kashmir. Geographically Indian side of Kashmir is mostly a rough terrain with natural hideouts. As Tiger hill controls the entire economical activity of Kashmir by giving a direct control over NH 1 each hill in Kashmir controls the near-by Key Pakistan and Indian roads. Fortunately or unfortunately Indian army has control of most of these heights. When a war breaks out these hills provide the army at height with a strategic advantage by enabling them to bombard nearby enemy supplies. For example Siachin glacier controls the plain nearby which is a main land link between China and Pakistan.Hence army must be always present in these regions to effectively counter attack at war times.Otherwise these hideouts would go to terrorist hands which is what exactly happened in 1999 thus enabling Pakistan to attack India from top of Tiger hill. This means most of Indian units are in strategically important position with little units left for border patrol. This leaves the BSF a police force to guard the border.Even with advanced weapons an army unit response to an attack is different from a police response. Police is structurally a maintenance force and not an attack force.Pakistan taking advantage of situation tries to push more terrorist in border.While terrorist cross at a point Pakistan army attacks from other point to create a diversion.This creates some confusion thereby enabling terrorists to sneak in through weak points.There is a electrified fence on Indian side. But not along the whole LOC. Also there are some posts 2 to 3 km to the front of this post. Mostly intrusion attacks take place while shift changing. For information on this Pakistan relies on ISI the best intelligence agency in world.Indian RAW agents are giving alerts to their superiors. But before they could analyse and pass info through Indian government tedious mechanisms it is too late. Once an attack has happened before India could deploy units from near-by army posts the situation goes worse.This is what happening in Kashmir. But overall Indian security agencies are handling the best of situation with available resouces.But friends what are you getting from this is up to you of Indian army's position in Kashmir. I expect comments from you on this burning issue.
