The terrorist attack at an army base in Ballian Pul, four km away from the headquarters of the 4th Corps shows that the defence forces have not learned any lesson from the attacks at Pathankot and Uri. Three heavily armed terrorists in police uniform stormed the base and killed two officers and five soldiers. The three-for-seven kill ratio does not reflect well on the army, either. India resorted to surgical strikes in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir after the Uri attack and mortar and artillery fire across the border with Pakistan in retaliation for terrorist attacks, but it needs to beef up defences of army bases, which seem to crumble in the light of a terror attack. Soon after the Pathankot attack in January, a committee headed by a retired Lt-general was constituted to plug loopholes. The committee submitted its report to Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar in May, but since then few steps have been taken. There is no doubt that security at military bases and infrastructure need to be tightened and the response to such attacks needs a more robust and quick. In the Ballian Pul attack troops reacted fairly quickly to prevent civilian deaths, but a holistic and comprehensive response alone will minimize the number of deaths. Pakistan has shifted the focus to military bases and appears to be attacking and killing at will. The Defence Minister must ensure that recommendations made by the committee are implemented to thwart attacks in the future.
