India, April 25 -- Sir,

This is with reference to your Abracadabra column in SOM dated Apr. 23, 2025. While you flatter me by posting my photograph, I am constrained to point out some inaccuracies in reporting my remarks to a TV channel on 23.4.2025.

I made several remarks in that talk that there could be intelligence failure and, more importantly, security failure, as there were reportedly no Policemen or Rashtriya Rifles jawans in an area where hundreds of tourists had gathered in the Baisaran meadows of Pahalgam in Srinagar.

I attributed these two failures to the Central agencies, as they come under the Home Minister and the Defence Minister. In this context, I spoke of 'Sleeper Cells' in the Valley that have existed for several dec...