Homeland Security

Why India is unable to prevent terrorist attack?
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Issue Vol. 26.4 Oct-Dec 2011 | Date : 16 Oct , 2011

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The fact that the terrorists could target Delhi High Court twice within months with ease, displays the unprecedented helplessness of the state.

Since the High Court is adjacent to the Parliament and North and South Blocks, located within the most secure and sanitized area of the Sovereign, this was ‘in your face’ kind of a terrorist attack.

Why is New Delhi unable to prevent frequent attacks by the terrorists?

Like Washington, New Delhi has been looking at the wrong end of the barrel. Instead of consolidating the gains on a single AF-PAK front, the Americans divided and thereby diluted their resources by opening another front in Iraq. This folly resulted in ‘neither here, nor there’ kind of a stalemate that ultimately led to the unprecedented economic recession.

The second mistake, and possibly a fatal one, was overlooking the problem, i.e., Pakistan.

Islamic terrorism is labeled as such because Islamic Republic of Pakistan’s Army and its ISI creates, nourishes and exports terrorism through its Irregular Forces, i.e. LeT, Al-Qaeda, JeM, HUJI etc. based on its religious beliefs.

The Western forces led by America mollycoddled Islamabad and attacked the periphery, i.e., Afghanistan. Latter was merely a training academy of the Jihad Factory funded, organized and exploited by controllers sitting in Rawalpindi. Therefore, the only way to create stable Afghanistan was to defang Pakistan.

These two mistakes were the undoing of the Western Coalition.

A host of similar reasons can be ascribed to New Delhi’s failure in tackling terrorism.

First, by not revamping and strengthening the ‘Beat Constable’ or the ‘Thana Police’ system, intelligence collection at the grassroots suffered. Second, instead of improving the existing resources, structures and organizations, the Home Minister imposed a super-structure called NIA to divert attention from the 26/11 and convey the impression of government’s seriousness in fighting terrorism.

A top heavy and ponderous Administration cannot take on the nimble footed terrorists.

…since a young man out of ignorance or bias told the Americans (as per the Wikileaks) that ‘Hindu Terrorism’ threatens the nation more than anything else, his colleagues dependent on his patronage began to fabricate Hindu Terrorism.

Third, since a young man out of ignorance or bias told the Americans (as per the Wikileaks) that ‘Hindu Terrorism’ threatens the nation more than anything else, his colleagues dependent on his patronage began to fabricate Hindu Terrorism. It does not exist. It is a ploy to create confusion for the purpose of vote-bank politics. These diversionary and divisive tactics have resulted in failure of investigations in the last six terrorist attacks.

Earlier, New Delhi, solely motivated by the ‘logic of convenience’ pretended that there was no religious colour to a terrorist – a terrorist was simply a terrorist. Defying logic and in order to balance terror for political expediency, “Hindu Terrorism’ is being manufactured and propagated. “Home grown terrorism” is another formulation to create escape avenues for Pakistan!

Islamic terrorism is labeled as such because Islamic Republic of Pakistan’s Army and its ISI creates, nourishes and exports terrorism through its Irregular Forces, i.e. LeT, Al-Qaeda, JeM, HUJI etc. based on its religious beliefs. This movement is funded by Islamic petro- dollars. While a few Hindus may react to these terrorist attacks, there is nothing that can be termed as ‘Hindu Terrorism’ for the simple reason that neither the Indian State nor Indian Army, unlike Pakistan Army or ISI, trains, nourishes, funds, or attempts to use ‘export of terrorism’ as a foreign policy tool.

For investigations to succeed, the focus therefore should not be diffused or diverted from the key issue. Internal security managers will have to completely revamp the ‘Thana policing’ to enable collection of basic intelligence. It is instructive to learn that after 26/11, a woman rang up the local police in Ahmadabad that her husband is going to kill her with a bomb. On arrival, the police recovered 11 live bombs in that house. This episode exposes the grave inadequacies in local policing which is meant to serve as eyes and ears in identifying terrorists and discerning terrorism.

A top heavy and ponderous Administration cannot take on the nimble footed terrorists.

It is necessary to make the policing system autonomous and totally depoliticized. The police reforms approved and enjoined by the Supreme Court must be implemented immediately. Instead of creating new super structures like NIA, existing structures must be provided with highly skilled manpower and modern resources to succeed against terrorists. It is pertinent to mention that there has been no fresh recruitment into R&AW for the past five years. This has eroded collection of human intelligence capabilities considerably.

Training new policemen is time consuming; therefore we do need to take immediate steps in short-term.

Fortunately every year there are 40,000 highly skilled and trained soldiers being released by the Indian Army (which includes officers) at a very young age and with experience in combating insurgency and terrorism. Their induction in the police will substantially enhance the capability of the security establishment in tackling terrorism head-on.

The external dimension is the one that creates the internal turmoil.

The Civil Administration barely functions in almost forty percent of the Indian Territory due to the presence of the Maoists. The Maoists, the Islamic Terrorists and the insurgents in Kashmir and the Northeast use each other’s resources to further their interests. The induction of military officers released every year from the Defence Forces into the Civil Administration can help in reclaiming the lost territory to the forces inimical to the Union of India.

India, unlike America, is located in the midst of the arch of terrorism in Asia. Internal and external security dimensions are interlinked. The external dimension is the one that creates the internal turmoil. To succeed, New Delhi cannot overlook the external factor. Therefore, neutralizing Pakistan is not a matter of choice.

It is time that the political leadership rises above its petty vote-bank politics to meet the security threat posed by the ‘Jihad Factory’. New Delhi cannot succeed by merely raising more ill-equipped and ill trained security structures, creating ponderous top-heavy administration, and fabricating new colours of terrorism.

To win, New Delhi and Washington need to refocus and degrade the ‘problem’ considerably.

This article first published in IDR Vol. 26 (4) Apr-Jun 2011.

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The views expressed are of the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions or policies of the Indian Defence Review.

About the Author

Bharat Verma

A former Cavalry Officer and former Editor, Indian Defence Review (IDR), and author of the books, India Under Fire: Essays on National Security, Fault Lines and Indian Armed Forces.

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