The attack on PNS Mehran, the
naval airbase in Karachi, is indeed the third attack on the Pakistan Navy during
current month, though the first after the killing by US forces of Osama bin
Laden in Abbottabad, and has been the bloodiest so far, as not only were two PC3
Orion aircrafts destroyed, but eight naval officers were among those killed. The
attackers also seem to have not just tried to take revenge for Bin Laden’s
killing, but have also tried to show something that the militants were trying to
do by attacks even before Bin Laden was killed. If one keeps in mind that the
attack on the Navy has come after the PAF was attacked by the Abbottabad raid
itself, which it says its radars failed to detect, and after the Army’s GHQ
itself was also attacked in a parallel fashion to the raid on the airbase, it
seems increasingly obvious that the attacks are aimed at the armed forces of
Pakistan, and aims not so much to cause damage to them, as to make it seem that
they cannot protect themselves. That would imply that they are unable to perform
their task of defending the country. Though the PAF has not had any
installations attacked, the Abbottabad raid showed that it was not able to
detect the American intrusion, and thus the skies were not safe for the
citizenry.
While the tragedy is clearly of huge dimensions, it is also obvious that the
attacks could not have been carried out without state involvement. There are two
countries which have an almost instinctive desire to damage Pakistan, and wish
to damage its armed forces: India, as well as its main backer, the USA. India,
after having duly informed the USA, would have carried out action. It should
also be kept in mind that India has an intense dislike of the PC3 Orions, and
has already shot down one over the Rann of Kutch when it was on a routine
flight. The Orions, apart from being surveillance aircraft, are also equipped
with a Harpoon anti-ship missile, which India sees as a challenge to its command
of the Indian Ocean and to its ability to force Pakistan to do its maritime
will.