India Fights Terror but half heartedly
- In
- 12:29 PM, Sep 22, 2016
- Col. N Bhatnagar
There is no other Nation in the history of human civilization which has been taken by surprise by its adversaries so often & with such remarkable regularity. We were taken by surprise in 1947 by the tribals from Pakistan & lost half of Kashmir, thereafter the Chinese surprised us in 1962 & took away Aksai Chin. In 1965, the Pakis once again surprised us, in 1989-90 we were surprised by the uprising in Kashmir and then started the long saga of surprises; the Kargil intrusion, bomb explosions and fidayeens. This is not ancient or medieval history but recent history.
The terrorists have already carried out daring assaults against military camps, our major religious centres and national emblems of power viz., Parliament and the Red Fort, but because we Indians lack self-esteem, all this does not disturb us. Our political leadership, surrounded by the Black cat commandos, care little for the ordinary citizen and prefer to respond with bold empty words after each terror strike;
- We condemn this cowardly attack/
- We will not tolerate terrorism/
- We will never give up.
After each attack, the government in order to display its seriousness towards dealing with this menace beefs up security at IT companies in Bangalore, IITs, IIMs and R&D establishments and after few days the Police goes back and We are back to square one. And wait for the next strike.
The terrorists have a wide choice; numerous shopping malls and markets, prestigious Public Sector undertakings all over the country, huge rail network; with its overcrowded Railway Stations, bridges and tunnels, numerous temples, 5 Star hotels, tourist centres and airports. The initiative is with the terrorists who are at liberty to decide the target. This kind of security can only be sustained for a few days. One does not have to travel very far; just visit Nizamuddin Railway station from Sheikh Sarai side and take a casual drive through Janpath, Akbar Road, etc and one would appreciate our counter terrorism strategy. Almost each bungalow on these roads has its own water tight security. We prefer to work on individual security rather than collective security. Consequently, more than half the Police and Black cat commandoes are utilized guarding the Bungalows of the ministers instead of providing collective security.
The US might have faced the worst terrorist attack in its history on 9/11, but Indians have faced so many of them in last 20 years that we have now lost the count. However, despite being targeted repeatedly by the terrorists, we have hardly learnt any lesson from these attacks. Our media, the political parties & Government machinery not only seem to lack vision but are also unprofessional in their approach.
The moment the news of a terrorist attack breaks out, the media instead of inquiring & examining the effectiveness of Security arrangements, relief measures & emergency arrangements undertaken by the administrative machinery, prefer to seek statements from those politicians who have nothing to do with the security of the people & the nation. The aim is somehow to politicize the issue. The serious issues, therefore often end up with accusations and counter accusations. The so-called secularists would blame the BJP for demolishing the mosque and Gujarat riots and BJP would blame the Secularists for being soft and an important issue, is once again politicised. This is how most of the debates on INTERNAL SECURITY end up.
Almost all the news channels organize debates with large number of participants, so as to intentionally confuse the issue for the people. Congress leaders when cornered would refer to Kandhar fiasco and parliament attack and BJP would blame them for removing POTA and being soft and pleasing the Muslims/playing vote bank politics. Consequently, the nation as a whole is unable to synergise its efforts. The people have really got fed up and it is high time that the political parties who are indifferent to our security must realise, before it is too late; our patience is running out.
Our response to terrorism as a result of this internal bickering and vote bank politics lacks teeth and focus. Rather, we do not respond at all and inaction is our response to terror attacks. It, therefore emboldens the terrorists to carry out more attacks. How could it be that after Mumbai attacks in 2008, which were the result of indifferent attitude of the State Government, Congress- NCP won the elections again. I find it difficult to understand that ‘How could the Party whose Government did not bother to act on intelligence, whose response was slow and hardly did anything thereafter to beef up security, which did nothing to improve security apparatus in the state despite having faced bomb attacks since 1993 in which around 257 died, 713 injured, In August 1997: in which three killed , in January 1998: one injured, in February 1998: which killed nine. In December 2002: A powerful bomb exploded in a bus outside Ghatkopar railway station, a central Mumbai suburb, killing two persons and injuring 31. In December, 2002: Mumbai Central railway station blast injures 25 people. In January, 2003: A crude bomb planted in a bicycle exploded at a shopping complex outside Vile Parle railway station, In March 2003: Blast in a ladies special train near the eastern suburb of Mulund killed 11 and injured 65. In April, 2003: Bomb at Bandra, a northwest suburb, kills one. In August, 2003: Two blasts one after the other at the Gateway of India and Zaveri Bazaar kills 46 people and injures over 160. At both the places, RDX was planted in taxis. In July 11, 2006: Seven powerful bombs rip through local trains, killing about 181 people and injuring 890. In November 26-28, 2008: About 166 people, including 28 foreigners, killed in the siege of Mumbai by Pakistani terrorists.
The response in UK and US where the terrorist attack led to loss of life was much more professional. The administrative machinery, the security forces, the relief workers carried on with their work as if they were trained for years to deal with such calamities. There were no politicians on the screen shooting off their mouths unnecessarily and blaming each other. Yes, a few leaders blamed the intelligence agencies for their failure to provide timely information but there were no controversies as far as measures to be taken to deal with the terror machinery.
Back home; firstly, had an incident of this magnitude like 9/11, taken place there would have been riots. Secondly, had Indian PM given such a statement the media and opposition would have crucified him. Thirdly, our administrative and security apparatus is still not geared up to deal with such crisis situations and there would have been total chaos.
China was also ravaged by colonialism, but it has defined a clear objective for itself - and is therefore enhancing its capabilities; both militarily as well as economically in order to improve its International status. India on the other hand strives more for external recognition than to build its own strength. It is the only country that moulds its foreign policies to win International goodwill and as a result has not taken any stringent steps to deal with terrorism.
We have lost thousands of brave security men, and countless innocent civilians due to bomb attacks, fidayeen attacks including on Red fort, Parliament, Indian Institute of Science, but even then, we have not taken any step in last 20 years to deal with terrorism. Our Intelligence agencies are not geared up. There is no counter terrorism strategy in place. Whereas, In US, which is 7 times larger than India with a huge migrant population from all over the world, the 9/11 attack made the nation more determined and focused to deal with this menace. There were more stringent Anti-terrorism laws, the Intelligence agencies were given more powers. Sadly, In India, there has been no institutional backing up, only the innocent civilians and the security men have sacrificed their lives. The Indian Security Forces have been left alone by their own countrymen to fight terrorism without the support of the media, the political parties and the Government Institutions including Judiciary. .
A nation with 1 billion population, aspiring someday become a super power is not expected to respond to difficult situations in the manner it has been doing so, for last 3 decades. Probably corruption, dishonesty, degradation of moral values, political and social decay is gradually eating up the system and as a result the media, the Judiciary, the political parties and the security forces are gradually becoming incapable to perform to the best of their potential.
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