Internal enemy threat ignored for too long: Retd Lt Gen DP Pandey

Retired Lt Gen Devendra Pratap Pandey warns that the threat from the 'internal enemy' is a long-ignored problem in India. He stated the country's DNA focuses on external threats while internal dangers are allowed to manifest over time.

'Internal Enemy' a Long-Ignored Problem: Retd Lt Gen Pandey

Retired Indian army officer Lieutenant General Devendra Pratap Pandey on Friday said that the threat perception from the "internal enemy" within the borders needs to be addressed, adding that it is a problem that has been ignored for a long time. Addressing the ANI's National Security Summit, Lt Gen Pandey (Retd) said that the "DNA of the country is only to look at the external enemy, military preparedness", but the problem of the internal enemy has never been understood in a much more real sense. "Even when we have been attacked from the West or anywhere, we have been able to hold back, but Darwaze humesha andar se khule (Doors have always been opened from inside). It is the internal enemy which is difficult to identify. DNA of our country remains that we look at the external enemy, military preparedness, but the problem we never look at is the internal enemy, and that comes in some sort of DNA which is built into us, ignoring the problem which is manifesting in the neighbourhood. We don't look in the eyes of the enemy and call them out that you are the enemy of tomorrow, and when it starts striking tomorrow, we become episodic," he said.

The Army veteran said that it has become a common habit for people to blame the government and institutions of the day, without understanding that the core problem also lies within the enemy within the borders.

Red Fort Attack Linked to Long-Term Planning

Giving insights into the November 10 Red Fort terror attack involving a suicide car blast, which claimed the lives of at least 15 people and left several injured, Pandey said that the doctors involved in the terror attack had long been prepared for this through a calibrated approach. "Doctors who were part of the whole cycle were not some five-year old investment after the 2019 abrogation in J-K. These guys were preparing since 2010, where was the pressure cooker then? Terrorism in Kashmir did not start exactly 30 years ago, seeds were sown much before, but 30 years back, it started manifesting in your face, and the intel agencies and government tried to look away, thinking this problem would go away. They thought to seed in more funds, those funds were given to milk those snakes, which were coming back to bite you. The same funds are used against our institution and country," he said.

NIA Arrests in Connection with Blast

In a fresh lead to the deadly car blast near Red Fort in Delhi, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested a Faridabad resident for allegedly sheltering the suicide bomber, Dr Umar Un Nabi, shortly before the terror act. On November 20, the Special NIA Court at Patiala House Court granted 10-day custody of Dr Muzammil Shakeel Ganai of Pulwama, Dr Adeel Ahmed Rather of Anantnag, Mufti Irfan Ahmad Wagay of Shopian, all three from J-K; and Dr Shaheen Saeed of Lucknow (UP) in connection with the Red Fort terror attack.

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