Pathankot was a cold-blooded effort by vested and motivated interest to derail the start of the comprehensive "dialogue" between India and Pakistan, and in that they have succeeded, at least temporarily. The moot point is, was it contrived by "State" actors and/or "non-State"actors, or a mix and match from either side? Receiving "actionable intelligence" the Indian National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval immediately sanctioned 50 commandos from the elite "National Security Guards" (NSG) alongwith other elite units to augment the airbase security several hours before the terrorist attack. Instead of following the SOP of having the local commander exercise command and control, why did Ajit Doval retain control over the counter-operations from New Delhi? On killing the four terrorists, the "all clear" was sounded with great fanfare within 24 hours. Unfortunately everything did not go according to the script, two more terrorists infiltrated separately and managed to paralyze the large Indian air base for almost four days more.
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