Why you no down the drones?

Sleep tight, we are too

On no less than three separate occasions in January alone, the US drones violated the Pakistani airspace and managed to bomb our territory unopposed. Amid all the sensation surrounding the sundry exciting cases at the Supreme Court the nation on the whole has, understandably, not focused much on these violations. This can be concluded by gauging the unmistakable barometer of the public sentiment: our learned media anchors. So much so that the expected outrage on the part of proprietors of national sovereignty was also conspicuous by its absence. This writer however is of the view that this business is somewhat serious even if not threatening-the-security-and-sovereignty-of-this-country serious (like say, the Memogate was).

Now drone strikes in themselves are nothing new. In fact, three drone strikes a month would be considered pretty much par for the course if anything. What’s puzzling is that these strikes have come after the suspension of chain of command by the army chief regarding US invasion of any kind. Why were the drones not fired at then? What could have gone wrong? Let’s explore the possible explanations with an aim to get to the bottom of this mystery.

Could it be that the military higher-ups suspended the chain of command before issuing the order to suspend the chain of command? If that is so, the all-important message would never have travelled down the ranks and no blame can reasonably be attached to the guys at the business end of proceedings. Well to be honest, the fact that our army high command has traditionally comprised some of the brightest minds of the world (consider for example their exploits in such widely separated realms as realpolitik and real-estate alike), renders this explanation rather shaky I must admit.

Could it be that our defence forces don’t possess the hardware and/or expertise to down the drones? I think this is a non-starter, because if the primitive Iranians can do it, so should the one and only Muslim nuclear power. I won’t pursue this line of thought.

What could be the explanation then for the perplexing state of affairs? Why the guys at the business end – the button pushers, the trigger pullers if you like – didn’t so much as twitch a muscle when the drones struck – not once, not twice but three times? Surely they couldn’t have assumed that the drones – as opposed to helicopters and other manned aircraft – enjoyed immunity as per the constitution? Were they aware of the drones violating our airspace, or did they miss the damned things altogether? Were they preoccupied elsewhere when the invasions occurred? And should we be very harsh on them if so? These are some of the confounding questions that stare us in the face. We must find answers to these difficult questions; at any rate we must do our best toward that end.

A warning is in order, for here – for the first time – we leave hard ground and venture into soggy, uncertain terrain. What with Fawad Khan sweeping women (and many men) off their feet on the one hand, and another Khan charming (in the intellectual sense) his way into the hearts of the nation with his twenty seventh investigative report of the week on the other, the TV is pretty nigh irresistible these days. Even if one cannot be excused for being distracted, such an eventuality is at least understandable under the circumstances. Any wonder if the soldiers got caught slightly off-guard; for while our professional soldiers don’t yield to temptation as readily as the bloody civilians do, it will be unreasonable to expect them to be superhuman (except a few notable exceptions).

Please don’t get me wrong here: I love our brave troops as much as the next guy. By no means am I saying that they weren’t faithful to their oath of office; I am merely saying that prima facie they were guilty of negligence of their duty (well somebody was in the most organised and disciplined institution of the country); Well, I am sure a high level judicial enquiry commission will soon be set up and the truth will soon be out.

In the meanwhile, however, could we again ask our patriotic cable operator community to chip in for the sake of national security, on this occasion by blocking all the gripping and distracting programming from the cantonment areas? (They were very efficient the last time around when they nipped the evil of the BBC in the bud.) Patriotic songs and religious programs should of course be left alone. If ever there was a time necessitating 24/7 jaag uthaa hai saara watan on the airwaves, clearly this is it!

The writer is a member of the band Beygairat Brigade