Filmmaker JP Dutta, who completed his war trilogy in 2018 with Paltan, speaks to BT about the attack executed by the Indian Air Force during the wee hours of yesterday morning
Rachana Dubey (BOMBAY TIMES; February 27, 2019)

I woke up with the news that 12 Mirage 2000 fighter jets from India have struck and destroyed terrorist camps across the Line of Control (LOC) in Pakistan, killing about 300 terrorists. It shook me up and it also somewhere made me feel that we’ve somewhat avenged what we lost in Pulwama. Those were some 40 jawans, who were not on the border but sitting inside a truck when they were blown away. India as a country has never been the aggressor, but it does pick up the weapon in its defence. What makes me happy and proud is that we have not taken the Pulwama or Uri attacks lying down.

Paani sar ke upar se jaa chukka hai. Retaliation in equal measure is often the only option left. It’s important to retaliate because enough is enough. You can’t turn a blind eye and keep looking the other away when someone attacks you. It’s a reality that we have lost so many soldiers to several such attacks in the past. We have lost civilians on so many occasions — train blasts, Mumbai terror attack in the 1990s, the 26/11 attack… I mean how much more should India tolerate?

I have friends and relatives in the Armed Forces. From what I understand, if you want to make a strong impact, the attack has to be from the top, something that our Air Force officials did in the wee hours today. The terrorist camps were destroyed. Increasingly, wars will be fought in this manner because everyone understands the impact an air strike can have. It will just be boots on the ground.

Birender Singh Dhanoa, our current Air Chief Marshal, was my brother, late Deepak Dutta’s colleague and friend. Today, I feel proud of what he has pulled off. He and all the other armed forces chiefs are capable people and with their experiences, they know what they’re doing. They have a very clear mind and they’re tough officers.

In recent times, it was the images of those coffins carrying the bodies of those jawans that killed something in me. It reminded me of everything I’ve experienced from close quarters. Today, we probably have avenged the deaths of some of our soldiers.

Terrorism is like cancer in an advanced stage. It only needs chemotherapy. What is sad is that we have never attacked Pakistan or tried to create hysteria on their land, among civilians but they have only done that. Twenty years ago, we foiled their attempt to infiltrate through Kargil. They don’t seem to be affected at all, not even when children on their soil are killed in a Taliban-led terror attack. They have always refused to acknowledge the fact that there are terrorist base camps operating on their soil.

My brother Deepak had fought the Longewalla battle when Pakistan’s attempt to infiltrate India was foiled. That’s how I wrote the story of Border when I was still in college. I vividly remember my mother being glued to the radio to know what was going on, praying that her son is not one of the martyrs. She spent days sitting by the radio set. I had a song in Border, ‘Mere dushman, mere bhai, mere hum saaye’. I have never understood why can’t they live in peace and let us also be.

Today, while I feel happy that the Air Force officers put out an act of bravado in the form of the air strike, I also say a silent prayer, thanking god that no family today lost a loved one.