Author: Chhagan Bhujbal
Publication: The Hindustan Times
Date: September 23, 2003
URL: http://www.hindustantimes.com/2003/Sep/23/printedition/230903/detPLA01.shtml
Of late there has been strident
criticism in the media and by some former IPS officers that the Mumbai
police have no clue to the chain of bomb blasts that have hit the city
and that there is massive intelligence failure in the force. I strongly
disagree with this perception. No matter how strong the intelligence network,
incidents like 9/11 will happen. But forget about the twin towers. What
about Israel? It has the best intelligence network in the world and yet
there is a blast there almost every day.
But that is not by way of justification.
People only know about the seven blasts that have happened in Mumbai. They
have no clue how many others have been prevented. But if our police were
genuinely clueless, I would like to have a tenable explanation from our
critics about how the police managed to crack the twin blasts case in just
five days and arrested everyone involved in planting the bombs at Zaveri
Bazaar and Gateway Of India.
Terrorism and terrorist attacks
are becoming a global phenomena. It happened in the US on 9/11, it keeps
on happening in Kashmir and please don't forget the attack on Parliament
and Akshardham. Would one label as intelligence failure the fact that Ghazi
Baba was present merely two kilometres away from the venue of the prime
minister's meeting with the chief ministers of the country and that he
could have blown up the entire nation's leadership at just one go?
No one can predict or prevent a
blast. It's all the more difficult because the terrorists plan it in one
country, get funding from another country, get explosives and weapons training
in a third and execute their plan here. We are helpless in this situation.
Israel, known for its intelligence networks, equipment and military training
to citizens, witnesses the highest number of terrorist attacks and blasts.
Moreover, the neighbouring nations
are jealous of our economic growth. Mumbai is the country's financial hub
and any terrorist attack there gives them global publicity within minutes
of their gory act. And it's easy for them to hide among the 150 lakh people
in Mumbai because they are ethnically similar to us and belong to the same
gene pool, unlike terrorists in the US.
What we need are more sophisticated
systems of detection to curb this menace. Two years ago, I had written
to the Union home ministry asking for a truck and container-carrier scanner
at the airport and the sea port. It's a huge piece of equipment meant to
be erected at truck terminuses so that contents of each truck and huge
containers can be screened for weapons, explosives and other smuggled goods.
This is absolutely necessary because terrorists usually bring in their
weapons in vegetable trucks hidden under baskets of tomatoes and physical
checking is not possible. But there has been no response from the Centre.
Now I have decided to get the Bombay
Municipal Corporation to take up this project. We propose to erect these
truck scanners at all octroi posts on a build- operate-transfer basis.
The BMC will use it to authenticate the contents of any cargo carrier without
having to fully unload it. This will certainly increase their octroi collection
as many carriers hide their actual cargo, even if these are not weapons.
Part of the octroi collection could be spent to set up the system that
would cost around Rs 10 crore.
While criticising the government
and the police, the media rarely ever focus on what we have been doing
for the force. I have been working day and night to modernise the police
force. I have made permanent the services of 65,000 temporary policemen.
I have promoted 22,000 police officials. The government has started a mass
housing scheme for the police in the state. The police have been given
new vehicles, weapons and equipment. We have formed a police Quick Response
Team and an anti-terrorist squad to deal with emergencies. I know it is
not enough but I am doing my level best. The Mumbai police are second to
none and it is the best force in India.
As far as Julio Ribeiro goes - it
is my personal opinion and I have no hesitation in voicing it - he is a
coward. Only cowards mask their actual motives behind self- righteousness.
It was during his tenure that the worst mutiny in the Mumbai police took
place. He has no moral right to criticise the Mumbai police and the home
department.
But the real reason why Ribeiro
comments on transfers of police officers in Mumbai is far less altruistic
than he makes out. Whenever officers are transferred, Ribeiro begins tom-toming
to the whole world that there is corruption in their transfers. I do not
effect the transfers alone. A long procedure is followed. The files are
ultimately cleared by the chief minister. The recommendations come from
police commissioners and the DGP. The home secretary's opinion in the matter
is valued. There is enough clarity in the process and there is no corruption
involved. Ribeiro's allegations of a greed-based force building up in Mumbai
are rubbish.
But Ribeiro's real problem with
me began when I transferred former commissioner R.H. Mendonca some six
months ahead of his term to the anti-corruption bureau. It was a good posting
and not an insult to Mendonca. But we could not have kept him on as commissioner
much longer because of his complicity in giving Raj Thackeray a clean chit
in the Ramesh Kini murder case. Ribeiro raised a hue and cry and has never
stopped since.
I was the first to ban the SIMI
despite opposition from all parties, including the BJP. The ban did help.
But when there is communal disharmony there will be responses. The blasts
are a reaction to the post-Godhra riots. The blasts are clearly targeted
at the Gujarati community. The accused arrested for the blasts have proudly
confessed to it. Until such riots stop, the blasts will continue.
(The writer is Deputy Chief Minister
and Home Minister of Maharashtra)