It was at about midnight on Sunday last that six militants aged between 20-24 of fair complexion who taking advantage of darkness around the boundary wall, sneaked into the PNS Mehran Base after climbing a twelve feet wall from three sides. Well trained, they were heavily armed with rockets, hand grenades and Kalashnikovs, a couple of them wearing the ‘jackets’ too.
When confronted by the Navy commandos, a fierce fight ensued that lasted for 17 hours. Eventually the armed forces retrieved control of the naval base after the militants caved in with three reportedly killed and one committing suicide. Two others are believed to have escaped and are still on the run.
Rockets fired by the intruders destroyed two planes, including P3 Orion surveillance aircraft. A Naval officer and nine soldiers were martyred though a much bigger disaster was averted by our courageous defenders.
Are such incidents avoidable? Do they occur because of security lapse? The questions that require answers from the Pakistan Navy spokesman are:-
i. Why the boundary wall of the naval base was kept dark at night and not lit up?
ii. Why big rotating search lights were not installed at the naval base to cover the boundary wall for pre-empting the entry of the criminals inside it?
iii. These search lights would also have facilitated the men on the watch towers to easily see any intrusive activity near the boundary wall, enabling the commandos to take immediate action against the intruders.
iv. And, how come with hundreds of commandos taking part in the operation, it took nearly 17 hours to retake the naval base and in the process only four militants lost their lives while our fatalities were at least three times more?
Enough is enough. No more security lapses please as the country cannot afford any more. So, it should be a norm for the government to have these deterrent devices installed at all important places which are vulnerable to terrorist attacks, especially the sites of our sensitive military assets.
FAROOQ ZAMAN
Lahore
(II)
It is mind-boggling how merely six terrorists were able to effectively pin down all Pakistani armed forces and paramilitary forces for 14 hours in PNS Mehran. Even more mind-boggling is the successful escape of two terrorists after this long and grueling gun battle and cordoning off of the area by all armed forces and paramilitary forces.
How were the terrorists able to bring with them so much ammo to fire-fight for 14 hours? How were they able to go past the PAF base Faisal and then destroy nothing else but the two specialised antisubmarine aircraft worth Rs6bn each? How were they able to know the naval and PAF airbase so well?
To me there is only one answer: our armed forces have lots of black sheep among their rank and file.
ALI ZAIN
Karachi