Author: Ashok K. Mehta
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: September 3, 2008
Tomorrow starts India's battle for the Nuclear
Suppliers' Group waiver for wining the 123 Agreement with the US. Never before
has so big a political investment been made for clean energy security. But
what good is energy security without internal stability and internal cohesiveness,
especially when, god forbid, the jihadi suicide bomber is marking time in
Pakistan to cross the red line
Given the situation in Jammu and Kashmir,
which is becoming just that, the Maoist takeover of rural heartlands, turbulence
in the North-East and terror strikes in cities averaging one every three months,
it is time to demand action from this Government instead of making a virtue
of India having become the oldest victim of terrorism, as if it is something
to be proud of. Our tolerance of violence and casualties is amazing.
From the ramparts of the Red Fort, Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh who is too much of an apolitical economist and too little a
strategist, at least admitted that intelligence and policing capacities had
to be strengthened to combat terrorism. Curiously, he did not mention the
fragility of law enforcement. A former director of CBI told me that the current
legal dispensation is the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. It is supine
and must at least sound tough like Anti-Terrorism Act, he added.
Regrettably, nothing worthwhile is likely
to happen as the Government goes into the 123 India-US civil nuclear deal
mode. A task force will later than sooner come up with a tinkering job but
terror attacks will not stop. Just to remind the Ministry of Home Affairs,
a counter-terrorism strategy paper was presented to the Government by the
Army in early-2000 and the Kargil Review Committee had recommended a federal
counter-terrorism agency in 2001.
IIT, Kanpur, at the behest of the Government,
came up with the blueprint of an Internal Security Centre in 2005 and twice
reminded the Government about the project. But the Home Ministry merely passed
it on to the agencies concerned to die a natural death. I believe the Supreme
Court of India has asked the Government to set up a Central investigating
agency in the interest of national security, but the idea was promptly directed
to The Ministries of Home and Law where the file got lost.
Article 355 of the Constitution stipulates
that the Union of India is responsible for protecting its citizens from internal
disorder and external aggression. While the external challenge has been effectively
met, internal threats have been grievously neglected. Terrorist attacks began
in India in 1985, post-Operation Blue Star and the reprehensible carnage targeting
Sikhs. The most serious terror strike was in June 1985 when the Babbar Khalsa
detonated 110 transistor bombs killing 85 people in Delhi and Ghaziabad. The
low-grade explosives used then were employed in the recent Ahmedabad and Bangalore
attacks. The perpetrators of the 1985 terror are still on trial, so lax is
law-enforcement.
The second turning point in the nurturing
of terrorism was post-Babari Masjid, 1992, which was followed by the third
in 2002 following the Godhra excesses. Unfortunately, instead of looking inwards
and addressing the root causes of internal disorder, we have chosen to blame
it entirely on external factors like the ISI, Pakistan and Bangladesh, rather
than also investigate the socio-political, economic and security-related deficiencies
within. We have kept raising the numbers of police forces without empowering
them with superior intelligence, especially human intelligence, policing and
investigation skills, coupled with stringent anti-terrorism laws leading to
quick trials and convictions.
The UN Committee on Counter-terrorism in 2007
faulted India for weak anti-terrorism laws. Anti-terrorism laws in the UK
and the US are to be read to be believed. These countries are no less committed
to the rule of law, democracy and human rights than India is. But they take
very seriously the task of protecting their citizens at home and abroad.
In Punjab, the Khalistan movement was defeated
despite cross-border linkages by competent and coordinated counter-terrorism
cells which were created by the Home Ministry in consultation with the State.
Actionable intelligence, which is the Ram Baan for a counter-terrorism agency,
was the key to success in Punjab. Mizoram and Tripura are two other success
stories, perhaps even Andhra Pradesh, which is combatting Maoism with Greyhound
teams.
On terrorist and terrorist networks, whether
we have a comprehensive data base, there is some valid doubt judging from
the entirely blank record of investigations after terrorist strikes barring
the SIMI connections post-Ahmedabad being revealed now. Usually, and at best,
only sketches of culprits are revealed but precious little is done to follow
the trail. No wonder Pakistan demands evidence.
With India's IT prowess we should have a first
rate terrorist network data bank connected to major counter-terrorism cells
across the country. Virtually all police stations barring a few still operate
manually with archived registers and leaking dot pens. Let's face it, we are
confronted with severe home-grown terrorism. Till recently we used to pride
ourselves over no Muslim linkages with international terrorism. That is no
longer the case. National Security Adviser MK Narayanan admitted recently
that 800 terror modules have been busted in the country. He also said though
there is a great deal of external support, one is looking for the mastermind
within the country..
It is high time we stopped the debate over
our helplessness to combat terrorism and got down to an action plan to do
it. The first item of any Government's future CMP must be adherence to Article
355 of the Constitution. A deterrent counter-terrorism policy and strategy
has to be defined in clear terms. Terrorism, according to a Supreme Court
judgement, is not a law and order issue and, therefore, not a State but a
Central subject. Ideally, an Internal Security Centre should be established
in the PMO but in the interim, a federal counter-terrorism agency will do.
We did, under Congress Governments in the past, have a Minister for Internal
Security.
Stringent anti-terror laws with safeguards
should replace the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, buttressed by fast
track courts. Strengthening intelligence and investigation and promulgating
police reforms ordered by the Supreme Court, including fine-tuning the terrorist
database for network-centric counter-terrorism operations, are a part of the
checklist.
The Prime Minister must show the same political
resolve in stamping out terrorism as he has in risking his Government over
the nuclear deal.
