Events & Issues

New Delhi, 13 October 2008

The Cult Of Terror

LET’S FIGHT THIS WAR UNITEDLY

By T.D. Jagadesan

“The dust will never settle down”, was a warning issued by the Indian Mujahideen (IM) in a recent terror manifesto. For the past several months, some intelligence and police officials had been warning that the IM -- a terrorist group that is linked to the Lashkar-e-Taiba and Harkat-ul-Jihad-e-Islami and draws its cadre from the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) -- was planning new attacks.

But the failure to locate key members of the group and thus prevent the horrific bombings in New Delhi, and elsewhere has demonstrated that India’s police and intelligence services simply do not have the resources they need to confront an urban terror offensive, unprecedented in its scale and significance.

Recall, in the wake of the Ahmedabad bombings, the UPA Government did move to address some of the most pressing constraints crippling India’s counter-terrorism response. For example, the Multi-Agency Centre, which maintains counter-terrorism databases, received long-due funding for hiring several hundred new staff.

But the action comes far too late and is too little in scope to solve the problem. India is still years away from possessing a system for real-time intelligence sharing across States, or an online national crime database. Not one State Government affected by the recent bombings had so far invested a single rupee in upgrading its police forensics facilities, hiring counter-terrorism experts or creating teams of specially trained investigators.

A successful counter-terrorism policy also would need to address a far larger problem --- a problem no numbers of well-equipped police officers can solve. In many areas scarred by the appalling communal violence, SIMI is seen as an armed militia defending a besieged and vulnerable community --- not a criminal organization that must be crushed.

While this perception is profoundly misplaced, its sheer existence points out to the wellsprings of rage, fed by India’s depressing failure to act against the perpetrators of Hindu fundamentalist violence. Both the Central and State Governments have, for the most part, failed to ensure the equity promised by the Constitution to Muslims, a reality driven home by the so-called secularists time and again.   

No great intelligence is needed to see that the jihadis are working against the interests of India’s 160 million Muslims. Islamist terrorism, as pointed out by the cleric Mehmood Madani in a recent interview, threatens to snuff out the hard-won gains of a new generation of Muslims, who have defied the odds to emerge as successful entrepreneurs and professionals.

But the stark fact is that there can be no peace without justice --- a proposition civil society, administrators, and policy-makers must reflect and act on if India is to win the war against Islamist terrorism.

Many complex causes have led some of our youth to terrorism, among them a sense of injustice arising chiefly from questions raised over their faith. Some of this is paranoia, but some of their sense of grievance is not without justification. Mere acknowledgement of this is likely to claim fears. The Muslim minority rightly resents being dubbed terrorists by Hindu communalists, but not all among them lose their heads.

After the recent Jamia Nagar shootout, between the police and terrorists last month, some Muslim residents of the locality raised anti-police slogans. But Radio Jamia, a FM radio station run by the Jamia Millia Islamia University, helped maintain calm. Arifa, a Ph.D scholar and an impromptu announcer, appealed on the air-waves: “We need to be united and fight these forces. What happened is not related to any religion or creed, the issue is between the police and the anti-social elements. Don’t believe in rumours. There is no danger to you.” This is the authentic voice of modern Indian nationalism.

Other than this voice, the Jamia Nagar shootout, to some signals a ray of hope in the dismal scenario. That after a spate of terrorist bombings in the important cities including the nation’s capital, the police could if it wanted, put its act together and get success. The trick being that it would act in unison with colleagues across borders.

Well, while the shootout may have mitigated the misery of the UPA Government, which had come under scrutiny for not delivering on terrorism, the Delhi Police, which lost a brave officer with an outstanding record, in dealing with desperadoes, fully deserved the credit that came his way.

But it cannot be gainsaid that the busting of this terrorist nest only became possible with the coordination as between the police forces of several States--- Delhi, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh and their purposeful interface with the Intelligence Bureau and the National Security Guard, whose men were associated with the Jamia Nagar action.

Stung by criticism, the security agencies have shown they can rise to the occasion. What they need to remember is that they must make a habit of doing so. Only sporadic success against terrorism are no proof against that menace which, in recent years, has grown  in its geographical spread, and has also become more sophisticated over the years. Success attained on coordinated action as between States once more does underscore the need for a national federal agency to tackle terrorism which, it is now acknowledged all round, has the whole country in its grip.

State Governments run by different parties, including the Congress, have been squeamish about endorsing a federal agency to check terrorism and other trans-State crimes, as they jealously guard their turf. Law and order is, after all, a State subject and States are chary of encroachment by the Union. In order to allay fears about constitutional propriety being bruised, the UPA Government should perhaps take the initiative to invite leading national and regional parties to brainstorm on this issue.

The Delhi shootout, some feel, marks a watershed and perhaps is the much-needed step towards action. Local terrorists have planted bombs but have rarely engaged law enforces in a gun battle. This points to an increased confidence on their part, attributable perhaps to access to better training and resources from outside the country. It is well to keep in mind that the region we live in is the epicenter of international terrorism. ---INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)