This refers to the article, “Cost of complacency in Pampore” (July 4) by Deepak Sinha. It may not be correct to single out this incident as the only serious lapse. In the past, there have been instances of security forces having been ambushed in the North-East and Jammu & Kashmir. At the root of such fatal ambushes, there is always a casual approach, complacency, violation of drills/laid down standard operating procedures. Most of the incidents are avoidable, but monotony, overconfidence, tendency to take short-cuts, creeps in.
The suggestion of the Central Reserve Police Force to procure armoured protection vehicles for conveyance of troops is ridiculous. Such vehicles are okay for operations, but not for the transportation of troops. The answer lies in active domination of the area, good intelligence and more targeted ops. Over the years, the Army has been involved in policing duties. There is a grave danger of the Army being pushed into jobs for which it is neither designed nor trained. The pitfalls of such employment and its ramifications must be grasped.