SITUATIONER: some similarities and differences between two operations

"At 4 pm on 5 June, Indian army officers called upon the civilians inside the Golden Temple to come out, and for the armed extremists within to surrender. None of Bhindranwale's people emerged, but 126 others--worshippers, pilgrims and moderate Sikhs--did. That night the Indian army commandos forcibly entered the area of the temple where the Akali leaders-but not Bhindranwale-were hiding. Throughout the raid Bhindranwale's gunfire rained down, and more than half of the ninety commandos were killed or seriously injured before they reached their goal," writes Katherine Frank in her highly acclaimed Indira-The life of Indira Nehru Gandhi.
Although the Lal Masjid Operation bears no hard resemblance to Operation Blue Star that Indira Gandhi launched 23 years ago to eliminate her own Frankenstein, Bhindranwale, the two events have a lot in common. The most striking resemblance between these two is the place of worship the extremists chose to put up a defiant resistance to their respective governments.
In the case of Indian Punjab, it was Golden Temple and its storming which was preceded by violence on a mass scale while it is an Islamabad mosque from where extremists have been challenging the writ of state since February.
In the case of Golden Temple, however, the Sikh insurgents put up a very strong fight before they were killed by the Indian army, while the Lal Masjid extremists have also dug in their heels but they are expected to finally agree, albeit reluctantly, to surrender.
Although there are no ethnic and religious considerations in the planning and execution of Lal Masjid operation unlike what happened in the case of Major General Kuldip Sindh Brar-led Operation Blue Star in June 1984, the other major common factor between the two operations is the deployment of armed forces to achieve the goal. In the case of Islamabad, it is said that troops have been called out to spearhead the operation because of the low morale or lack of capacity of Islamabad police.
According to Katherine, the Indian soldiers were sitting ducks for the Bhindranwale's men, hidden behind their heavily defended and sandbagged positions. More than a hundred soldiers died in the initial attempt to gain entry to the Golden Temple. After their failure tanks and artillery rumbled into the temple complex that afternoon. The army fired on the Akal Takhat, inflicting great damage to the shrine. In Sikhs eye, this was tantamount to sending tanks into St Peter's in Rome or the Holy Kaaba in Makkah.
"...when the army finally entered the shrine, they found Bhindranwale's body along with those of thirty-one men...the fighting came to an end with Bhindranwale's death. But the cost of exterminating him had been high. It had exceeded all estimates made to Indira by her intelligence sources, by the army and her advisers; it was far higher than she herself imagined. Operation Blue Star was a horrendous debacle..."
But the operation in the Pakistani capital has yielded valuable dividends to the government much before it was actually set into motion. It has not resulted in the number of casualties one would have earlier feared given the deaths and destruction that normally go along with such actions. In the case of Operation Blue Star, however, thousands of civilians and a large number of armymen were killed.
According to various historians' accounts, Indira Gandhi had found to her chagrin and dismay that her government's intelligence was poor while Bhindranwale's spies were more efficient and their information was exact and 'minute-to-minute'. The Indian army did not know how many extremists were in the Golden Temple and the nature and varieties of their arms.
However, in the case of Lal Masjid, five-month-long government-Lal Masjid tiff provided the Pakistani intelligence agencies ample time to gather information that they needed before initiating any action. However, the possible presence of scores of suicide bombers inside the mosque is indeed a grim outlook for the security forces in contrast to what Indian army soldiers encountered against the otherwise tough and sturdy armed Sikh insurgents who were not endowed with spirits of suicide bombing. Moreover, unlike Sikh insurgents, the extremists who are holed up in the mosque and madressa stand to take full advantage of hundreds of female students' presence till the dying moments of this battle.
It is said that days before the Operation Blue Star was launched, the entire Punjab was virtually cut off from the rest of the world. Besides, all foreign correspondents were expelled; rail and train links were halted; telephone and telex facilities were severed and even the border with Pakistan was sealed.
However, nothing of that sort is taking place in Pakistan. Not only are foreigners, including diplomats and journalists in their usual numbers, there is no extreme action on the part of administration to seriously paralyse capital's life (except for the G-6 Sector under focus).
Indira was also handicapped on account of lack of consensus that she failed to build ahead of operation. Not only had the opposition parties, but her own ministers later said that they were not taken into confidence.
For example, PC Sethi, the home minister, had assured the parliament weeks before the operation that no force would be used in Amritsar. It is said that Sethi had perhaps made this promise in good faith as he had no inkling about the invasion Rajiv Gandhi-Arun Nehru team was planning. But the disclosure made by president Zail Singh was even more surprising. According to him, he was not informed of the invasion plan until the end of May 1984 or one month before the launch of the operation.
However, in the Lal Masjid case, Musharraf has been keeping his cards close to his chest. By taking full advantage of Lal Masjid brigade's political isolation, he has chosen an opportune moment to strike a blow on them. For him, everybody is on board.
His action even enjoys the alleged backing of Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal with the tacit support of religious alliance's largest component JUI of Leader of Opposition Maulana Fazlur Rahman. This operation has overshadowed all major developments such as CJP's issue and the havoc created by monsoon rains in the country, particularly in Balochistan.
While Indira Gandhi had accused Pakistan of training Sikh insurgents weeks before she launched anti-Bhindranwale operation, we needn't lay a finger on any neighbour for dealing with a highly demoralised Lal Masjid brigade, which is still reeling from the shock of chief cleric Maulana Abdul Aziz's arrest.