Political Diary

New Delhi, 1 August 2015

Terror Strikes

SITTING DUCKS YET AGAIN

By Poonam I Kaushish

The more things change, the more they remain the same. If one wished, that India has the wherewithal to neutralize terror post 26/11 we got a rude shock as terror struck Gurdaspur’s Dinanagar police station early 29 July morning, taking 12 hours to kill three terrorists. Underscoring yet again, measures to strengthen deterrents against terror strikes has at best been under-executed and at worst India’s counter-terrorism response consists mainly of tall talk. The country is as vulnerable as it was five years ago and worse our leaders are clueless about tackling it!

Indeed, pathetic was the Government’s response. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh mouthed the country’s ‘resolve’ to defeat terror and asserted ‘zero tolerance’. Even as he accused the ex-UPA Government of “weakening India’s fight against terror by coining the term Hindu terror.” Predictably, the Opposition came down like a ton of bricks indicting the NDA Government of dereliction of duty.

Besides, terror today has become a big yawn. Each terror attack elicits a predictable and misdirected State response: Pakistan’s ISI and their jehadi cahoots. Our polity cocoons itself in the mistaken belief that terrorism has seeped into our psyche so deeply that it no longer scares. Reduced to becoming an inane excuse for incompetence and dubbed as an intelligence failure.

Or the Centre and the affected State conveniently fob off their responsibility on each other. A ritual drama with an identical script which draws the same cynical reaction ---- more and more of the same. Notwithstanding, guns which send a chilling reminder that all is not well with India.

Fire-fighting measures and quick-fix solutions are put into force without either understanding the issues involved. Myopic in its introspection, the Centre unfortunately ends up mostly reacting, instead of looking ahead and acting. Crisis over, it is forgotten like a bad dream till another crisis erupts. Merely curing the symptoms, not the disease.

Remember, a terrorist is faceless, casteless and creedless. An enemy whose whereabouts are unknown. Who subscribes to only one religion: kill and perpetrate maximum damage at minimum cost. Adept in exploiting the latest technologies, he identifies and exploits our weaknesses. His sophistication keeps changing, keeping him miles ahead of the security forces. While we talk, he acts.

Think. Of 670 districts as many as 270 are terror-prone of which 70 have already been ravaged by militants. Terror has already cost India more than 82000 civilians and 13000 security personnel. In fact, since 2004 the country has lost more lives to terrorist incidents than North, South and Central America, Europe and Eurasia put together. So much for fighting terror!

From Kargil to Gurdaspur the story, comments and diagnoses have been heard before. Questionably, why has no attack taken place in the US since 2001 or the UK after 2005? Simply, because its leaders and police concentrate on fighting the ‘terror enemy’. Not each other.

Bluntly, the terrorist know they would have to pay with double measure. We need to learn from them. Post 9/11 Washington destroyed Afghanistan, then “smoked out” Osama bin Laden and continue to bomb Pakistan’s North-West tribal belt to flush out the jehadis.

Till India gets serious about tacking terror it will continue to be under assault as not only is our security infrastructure abysmal, we are renowned to be a “soft” State.  Interestingly, Ajit Doval prior to becoming Prime Minister Modi’s National Security Advisor in various articles had blasted as “a myth the widespread belief that the terrorists strike anywhere, at any time and any target.”

In his view, they strike where their intentions and capabilities meet the opportunities. Hence, the success of counter-terrorism lay in degrading their capabilities, forcing them to change their intentions and denying them opportunities to strike.

New Delhi, he felt needs to think of ways and means to neutralise their fast-growing domestic base, availability of hardware and human resource, collaborative linkages with organized crime, gun runners, drug syndicates, hawala operators, subversive radical groups et al.

Further, Doval spelt out what he believed should be the broad approach: “For any anti-terrorist operation to succeed one needed to be focused on the vitals, keeping a watch on the essentials and leaving the desirables till the vitals have been achieved and essentials addressed.” He also had a timely message for India’s polity. “For those who govern, let political interests, at best, fall in the category of desirables.”

Doval was dead on. The tragedy of India is that we have our priorities badly mixed up, indeed, upside- down. Today what may be viewed by some as “desirable” (read minority appeasement) have become vital and essential and what should be “vital and essential” (read eliminating terrorism) has been relegated to merely desirable.

Alas, over the years we have politicised terror to such an extent that it has become the biggest hurdle to crafting a uniform approach to security and fighting terror.

If the battle against terror has to be won, terrorism will have to be de-communalised. Political considerations, communal pressures, administrative and police lethargy and a weak legal-judicial regime will have to be negated. New Delhi must realize that normal deterrence doesn’t work against a faceless and fearless enemy. Especially when terror comes packaged as a suicide bomber

What next? In a milieu where tensions on the Line of Control are rising, terrorists across the border are resurgent and fissures within are throwing up vicious challenges to the State and civil society, the breathing space to address these challenges diminishes.

Clearly, the time has come for the Government to smell the coffee and wake up. The Prime Minister needs to urgently pick up the gauntlet. It is not enough to make fiery speeches and pulpy talk of pro-activeness “we have might and muscle.” When push comes to shove one has to display that power. Prime Minister Modi desperately needs to restore India’s Iqbal, his 56 inch chhaati has to permeate authority.

The Government might have to launch major offensives across the border and bomb out the militants’ camps in Pakistan to drive home the message that terror is not a zero-sum game and that India has the wherewithal and capability to carry the fight into the enemy camp effectively.

Our security forces need a clear chain of command because anti-terror squads in States are not fully equipped vis-à-vis wherewithal as well as mindset to combat terror. Alongside, a policy document to guide police modernisation, a road map for intelligence reform and capacity-building. Given that terrorism is sudden for inflicting maximum damage, both physical, psychological. To counter this preparedness is vital.

In the ultimate, our polity should have a single united approach to fight the scourge of terror. Else, India will remain at the mercy of terrorist organizations which will always have the upper hand in choosing the time and place of the next attack. We need to stop this terror dance. Else, we will continue to be remain the same, even post 26/11 --- sitting ducks. ----- INFA

(Copyright India News & Feature Alliance)