The 2019 India-Pak Standoff : What should we, the citizens, do.

This post is being posted on 28-02-2019. A bit of background for the readers who are seeing this much after the date mentioned above.

• On 14th February 2019, a suicide attack was effected by a terrorist by name Adil Ahmad Dar, a resident of Kashmir and associated with the Pakistan based terrorist outfit, Jaish e Mohammad. The site of the attack was Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir. 40 brave jawans of the Indian Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) were killed by the suicide bombing, and many more were injured.
• Subsequent to the inaction from the Pakistan government on the terrorist outfit, despite proofs shown by India; the Indian Airforce (in 12 Mirage 2000H jets), with the backing of the country's government, performed an air raid on JeM terror camp on 26th February 2019. The site of the raid was Balakot in the KPK province of Pakistan proper.
• Pakistan attempted a largely unsuccessful retaliation on Indian Airforce bases near LoC on the morning of 27th February 2019. But, the attack was successfully repelled although PAF were able to drop some bombs on Indian soil. However, one of the IAF pilots, Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman had his aircraft shot at while chasing out the infiltrating PAF crafts. Unfortunately, his escape parachute landed in PoK, and he was captured by the Pakistan military.
• Bowing to international pressure, Pakistan  PM, Imran Khan, finally made an announcement (in the Pakistan Parliment on the evening of 28th February 2019) that they would release Wing Commander Abhinandan, but as a "peace gesture", and asked India to de-escalate the conflict. 
• After much drama and delay, and making a 90 second propaganda video, Pakistan finally handed over Wg Cmdr Abhinandan to India on 1st March 2019, around 9 PM.
  

However, the situation is not back to normal now.

From the Indian perspective, the Jaish-e-Mohammad chief, Maulana Masood Azhar, still enjoys the shadow support of Pakistani Establishment. A clamp on the Pak-sponsored terrorism is still not tightened. However, India had made an emphatic statement of its intent to go after terror camps in Pakistan, if Pak govt is unwilling to do it.

Pakistan, on the other hand, even though heavily constrained, has also displayed that it has enough mad elements in high enough positions to mount an attack. Elements who still espouse the "We will eat grass but build bombs", "1000 year war with India" ideas of the days of yore.  And these elements would not stay quiet, as they would have felt the blow the bombing of the terror camps had done to their egos, and the 27 Feb attack and its aftermath did not help to boost the egos.

Thus, ends the background and brings in the context of the post ...



For the next six months at least India is under threat of retaliation by our enemies. Here are some ways to behave as a responsible citizen during this time. 

1. What's done is done. Forwarding jokes is fine but the situation is grim. So let's come back to senses and ask ourselves, "What is my responsibility in a crisis". 
Understand that  This is an hour of national high alert in India. 
STOP and THINK for a moment.

2. "Loose lips, sink ships". 
Your Facebook, Whatsapp and Instagram messages could go to our enemies within minutes. 

3. If you have friends in defence, DO NOT share their messages to civilian groups. 
Just be silent for a few months on security matters. Your brilliant insights may be just what the enemy needs to understand the Indian psyche.

4. Do not photograph or take videos of anything related to local or national security. No selfies with tanks or jawans.  
The enemy is monitoring social media activity, city by city and tracking our forces.

5. Do not take pictures in airports, railway stations, government facilities, etc. or circulate them.
The enemy will try to gather as much information as possible from various sources. Don't become one of the sources.

6. Do not forward any sensitive videos and if anyone sends it in a group, caution the sender and insist on the admin removing it immediately. 

7. Be on high alert personally,  in public spaces and in case of any security threat,  alert local authorities immediately ( suspicious packages, panicked drivers near sensitive facilities, etc.) Become the eyes and ears of India's security forces.

8. If you have a flight/train to catch, arrive early and help make the security checks smooth. Don't throw tantrums and become a headache for the CRPF/security teams there. Instead greet them with a Jai Hind or Thank you, and receive a broad smile.

9.  Prepare yourself to be useful to the country in its time of need. 
What can you offer:  Learn first aid. Or traffic management. Or volunteer somewhere. Become useful in real life.

10. Sensitize others - family, children, youth, drivers, maids, friends, -  that this is a time of national emergency. Make them feel their responsibility.

 Be a responsible Indian citizen.

Jai Hind!