Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has told the Indian Army commanders to “expect the unexpected” after the October 7 pogrom in Israel by Hamas even as the national security planners have analyzed the terror strike and are studying the IDF’s ground offensive in Gaza strip.
It is understood that the Indian Army has done emergency purchases running into several thousand crores in two phases to acquire anti-drone systems, logistics UAVs, loiter ammunition, ground sensors under the “Aatmanirbhar Bharat” to secure the Indian borders from asymmetric strikes and how to neutralize them. Even though Pakistan-based terror groups are active in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir, efforts are being made to stop the infiltration from across the LoC and neutralize the jihadists within Jammu and Kashmir.
The Hamas terror strike in Gaza with a simultaneous barrage of rocket attacks into Israeli cities was discussed during the Army Commanders’ Conference last month with select groups with armed forces, intelligence and Ministry of External Affairs studying the outbreak of war and its impact on the future of the Middle-East region.
In line with this, the Indian Navy also conducted audits of all the vessels on the western coast to ensure that they are radio-tagged and heavily penalized those who did not have proper papers. In the background of the 26/11 Mumbai terror strike, the Navy is taking all steps to patrol India’s 7500 km coastline and ensure that the 2008 strike is not repeated again. One must remember that Pakistan based Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) jihadists had targeted the Chabad House at Nariman Point and brutally massacred six Jews after torturing them. The Nariman House was attacked after the Pakistani jihadists gunned down innocent revelers at Leopold Café. Fifteen years after the attack, not one of the LeT jihadists or ISI rogues have been punished by Pakistan.
The Indian assessment is that the Israeli war against Hamas will only end after the cadre of the Sunni Salafi group are decimated in Gaza and its leadership neutralized on the strip. The bigger worry is that Iran will be drawn into the war if Shia Hezbollah opens the northern front with Tel Aviv. In that event, the entire Middle-East will be signed as the Arab street sentiment is being instigated by Islamist nations like Turkey, Qatar and Syria in the name of Ummah. Fact is Qatar is not only home to Muslim Brotherhood, banned by Egypt, UAE and Saudi Arabia, but Hamas leaders like Ismail Haniyeh are taking shelter in Doha like Taliban leaders in the past.
