POLITICAL DIARY

New Delhi, 15 December 2007

Fake Police Encounters

NO USE FOR LIVE TERRORISTS!

By Poonam I Kaushish

In the wee hours of 26 November 2005, Sohrabuddin Sheikh was gunned down by the police on the outskirts of Ahmedabad. The Gujarat Government claimed that he was a member of the Lashkar-e-Toiba and was on a mission to kill Chief Minister Narendra Modi. In Allahabad a year later, Pintu Mishra, described by the police as a small-time criminal, was “bumped” off because of his terrorists’ links. In 2007 an 18-year old boy, Abdul Rehman, was killed in Srinagar by the security forces for being hand in glove with the Jaish-e-Mohammad.

All three killings made headlines. All had one tenuous common link: the three were killed in fake police encounters. In, fact, the Supreme Court is presently hearing a petition against the Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad Chief, DG Vanzara, for having Sohrabuddin killed as also for 21 other ‘encounters’ between 2003-2006. Modi has been hauled up for contempt for having spoken about Sohrabuddin and his killing during his controversial campaign for the Assembly poll.

Lost in the din of moral outrage against “fake killings,” is the larger picture: how does one combat the scourge of deadly terrorism which has enveloped India in its octopus-like embrace. Think. Of the 670 districts in the country, as many as 270 are terror-prone. Of these, 70 districts have already been ravaged by terrorists.

Terror has already cost India more than 72,000 civilians and 12,000 security personnel. Self-proclaimed Islamic terrorists alone have killed 5,617 Indians in the last three years. In fact, since 2004, India has lost more lives to terrorist attacks than the whole of North, South and Central America, Europe and Eurasia put together.

Each terror attack elicits a predictably standard State response, mostly soft and ritualistic. We continue to wallow in the false belief that wars are games born in the minds of men which can be won peacefully by merely waving the white flag. Or we promptly initiate a blame game. The BJP’s fake encounters vis-à-vis the Congress going soft on terrorism. Besides, terror has become a big yawn.

Indeed, Acharya Kriplani was ever so right. When he described Indians as the world’s biggest hypocrites and humbugs. We exhaust precious national energy, time and money on individual issues a la Sohrabuddin, but twiddle our thumbs when it comes to defying the Supreme Court verdict on Afzal Guru and not hanging the mastermind of the attack on Parliament in 2001. Why? Thanks to opportunistic political expediency. Tom-tomming human rights violations nets votes and helps score brownie points with the Muslims and their vote-banks.

Most sadly, the UPA Government has callously ignored the strong signal it has sent to the Muslims that the Government will not do anything which may even remotely hurt the Muslim sentiment, terrorism or no terrorism. Plainly, this is appeasement at its crassest worst. Moreover, there is no sense of shame or remorse that the families of those who laid down their lives to defend Parliament have returned the gallantry medals and monies in sheer and understandable disgust.

No amount of appeasement will change the intentions of the terrorists who are determined to bleed India whatever it takes. Forgetting that a war can be won only by a bigger war! Between 1998-2000, the special squads of Mumbai police ‘cleaned up’ the 300-strong Mumbai underworld with an average of 100 encounters a year. That is about eight a month. The police went by the Israeli strategy of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. The officers were feted as super-heroes. Bollywood even immortalized them.

In Punjab, mouthing platitudes that the law would take its own course, talking ad nauseum about the iqbal of the State and upholding human rights, did not end the Sikh militancy in the 80’s. In fact, these measures proved to be an exercise in futility. No witness was willing to give evidence and no judge a verdict for fear of the terrorists. Terrorism was finally snuffed out by hitting back with State terror. Today, KPS Gill who spearheaded the State terror is lauded as a hero and his advice eagerly sought.

In Kashmir, Indian troops and police are known to commit atrocities day in and day out. Most Indians are shocked by this brazen brutality but accept it as an unavoidable part of the battle against militants. Ditto is the case in West Bengal. In the late 1960s and early 1970s when the Naxalite movement threatened the State, both the ruling CPM and the Congress colluded in crushing the Naxals by counter State terror. In Nandigram too, the CPM has thumbed its nose at the rule of law and described it as “morally and legally” correct. 

Arguably, Modi is right in this milieu when he asserts that the Centre and its UPA rulers have adopted double standards. Fake encounters are bad and unacceptable in Gujarat but right and much-needed in Punjab, Kashmir etc. How does one draw a distinction between one fake encounter and another fake encounter? Is, the police more sinned against than sinning in dealing with ruthless terrorists who enjoy the advantage of choosing the target, the place and the time?

It is an open secret that the police time and again not only take recourse to third degree methods in order to extract truth from alleged criminals but also kills them with impunity. True, this is abhorrent and unacceptable strictly from the human rights point of view and should be used only in extreme circumstances. It is also true that the security forces have abused power to dispense their own brand of rough and ready ‘justice’ on innocent persons, dubbed terrorists. More often than not to earn a reward and promotions. Or to kowtow to their political masters.

However what does one do in a situation where a terrorist holds the State hostage? Can a nation afford to sit back and let militancy gain an upper hand? Where militants call the shots? Isn’t it an inescapable side-effect of the battle against militants. Clearly, when the State’s existence is in peril, the only way to hit back is to carry the fight into the enemy camp effectively.

At times State terror can be justified so long as it for the greater common good. Former Punjab Governor, the late Dharma Vira (ex-Cabinet Secretary), was ever so right when under a spell of President’s rule during the height of Sikh militancy in the State he directed: “I have no use for live terrorists!” Indeed, the Kandhar fiasco would never have happened if only the three hijackers, Masood Azhar, Omar Sheikh and Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar had been duly eliminated and not jailed.

Remember a terrorist has no caste or creed. For him terrorism is the religion. Be it a Hindu, a Muslim or a Sikh. He is an invisible enemy who uses our resources and freedom to hit us at will. An enemy that has no borders and no scruples. Adept in exploiting the latest technologies, he identifies and exploits our weaknesses. While we talk, he acts. Inflicting maximum loss at minimum cost. All at our expense.

Worse. We have failed to give ourselves stringent laws that security experts have been demanding for long. Like the defunct POTA, which is tough but provided for all the safeguards suggested by the Supreme Court in TADA. True, POTA was not able to end terrorism. Parliament was attacked when it was in operation.

Nevertheless, POTA helped in speedily tackling cases of terrorism and bringing terrorists like Afzal Guru to book. Such a revamped anti-terror law would send a much-needed signal down the rank and file of terrorists that India means business. But for obvious reasons, the Congress-led UPA Government chose to repeal POTA.

India needs to understand that when terror strikes, nations are expected to hit back with maximum force and carry the fight into the enemy camp. It is not enough to possess unrelenting, unremitting muscle power. On occasions it becomes necessary to display that power. Like the US and UK which have tougher laws than our dumped POTA and TADA.

Alas, the Centre continues to grope in the dark about how to deal with terrorism. This will go on and on till it is clear about fundamentals. The terrorism we face today is no longer terror in someone else’s backyard. Or the prerogative of spy thrillers. Terrorism poses a deadly challenge that can be met only through ruthless State power, not namby pamby platitudes. Remember, when our liberalism and freedom becomes the enemy’s Kalashnikov it is time for India to wake up and do some honest soul searching a la Mahabharat! ---- INFA

(Copyright, India News & Feature Alliance)