ENOUGH BE ENOUGH

Joginder Singh, IPS
(Retd.)Former Director CBI

India and Mumbai or Bombay , as you may like to call it, have been attacked (at 14 places) on November 26 th , 27 th and 28 th , 2008, by one of the most terrible wars unleashed by the terrorists. AK 47s, Grenades, Bombs and explosives, apart from a satellite phone, have been used in the attack, on the most posh areas and hotels of Mumbai. The encounter with the terrorists lasted for nearly three days. 174 innocents, including 14 policemen and six foreigners as well as 7 staff-members of the hotels were killed in the terrorist attack and over 400 were injured. All this was the work of 10 terrorists, who had wreaked havoc on the mercantile and business capital of India . The terrorists came via sea, to Mumbai, despite the heavy presence of Navy and Coast Guard, which have obviously failed in their duties. If Mumbai sea border is not safe, then imagine the position elsewhere along the coast.

It makes no difference, what label terrorists have, whether you call them, Fidayeens, or Deccan or Indian Mujahideens or any other well known self- proclaimed terrorists outfit. An outfit calling itself Deccan Mujahideens has claimed responsibility for the attack calling the Indian Army and ATS as weak outfits and mocking at them.

With population of nearly 18 millions, the city has been more than once attacked, each attack being more evil than the previous ones. Hitler once said that strength lies in attack and not in defence. The terrorists have been operating with precision and secure in the belief that they would be successful in their objectives. Their attacks have been repeated ad nauseum literally from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. Such is the laxity of our system, that forget about getting advance intelligence, not even one terrorist has been sentenced to the capital punishment, in our system. Most often they get away, when the different sections quibble about the human rights of the terrorists, as if the killed had no human rights.

Following is a chronology of some of the major attacks in India in the past five years:

March 13, 2003 - A bomb attack on a commuter train in Mumbai kills 11 people.

August 25, 2003 - Two car bombs kill about 60 in Mumbai.

August 15, 2004 - A bomb explodes in Assam , killing 16 people, mostly school children, and wounding dozens.

October 29, 2005 - Sixty-six people are killed when three blasts rip through markets in New Delhi .

March 7, 2006 - At least 15 people are killed and 60 wounded in three blasts in the Hindu pilgrimage city of Varanasi .

July 11, 2006 - More than 180 people are killed in seven bomb explosions at railway stations and on trains in Mumbai.

September 8, 2006 - At least 32 people are killed in a series of explosions, including one near a mosque, in Malegaon town, in Maharashtra .

February 19, 2007 - Two bombs explode aboard a train heading from India to Pakistan , in Haryana, at least 66 passengers, most of them Pakistanis, burnt to death.

May 18, 2007 - A bomb explodes in Mecca mosque in Hyderabad , killing 11 worshippers.

August 25, 2007 - Three coordinated explosions at an amusement park and a street stall in Hyderabad kill at least 40 people.

May 13, 2008 - Seven bombs rip through the crowded streets of Jaipur, killing at least 63 people in markets and outside temples.

July 25, 2008 - Eight bombs hit the IT city of Bangalore , killing at least one woman and wounding at least 15.

July 26, 2008 - 16 bombs explode in Ahmedabad killing 45 people and wounding 161. “Indian Mujahideen” claims responsibility for this attack and the May 13 attack in Jaipur.

September 13, 2008 - Five bombs explode in crowded markets and streets in the heart of New Delhi , killing at least 18 people and injuring scores more. The Indian Mujahideen again claims responsibility.

October 30, 2008 - Eleven bomb blasts in quick succession ripped through the main city of India 's troubled north eastern Assam state and three other towns, killing 76 and wounding at least 320.

The Prime Minister has said that the Government will not cow down and will bring the guilty to book. He has also said that the laws will be tightened, to ensure that the terrorists do not take advantage of the loop holes in the law. The security of the people will not be compromised.

It is easier said than done, if the past experience has been any guide. With the passage of time, the gravity of the crime gets reduced and with the elections around the corner, the coalition partners would not like to be seen supporting any tough measures against the Jihadis. More than anything, the official laughable stand of the Government has been that the existing laws are enough. This naturally sends a wrong signal to the terrorists and their supporters, that they can do anything and get away with it. The Prime Minister, the gentleman that he is, has more than once pointed out the gaps in intelligence. Instead of saying that there has been a complete failure of intelligence, he has used the word ‘gaps'. There is no doubt that there has been a complete failure of intelligence, whether it was July, 2006 train bomb blasts in Mumbai or 2008 September serial bomb blasts in Delhi or the latest in Mumbai. The merchants of death have illustrated that they can strike at will, even in the supposed safest area and inflict heavy damages.

Whatever may be the quibbling of words, there is no doubt, that it is very much the responsibility of the Central Government to maintain the integrity of the country, both against aggression, from without as much as, from within. It is a fact that the reach of the Central Agencies is not only wider, but also broader, as they have the total overall view of the situation existing in the country at any given time. The truth is that we do not have a clear anti-terrorist policy or strategy. What we have is only a knee jerk reaction to the events, as they happen. Even that is forgotten, till the next incident. A stage has reached now, where media does not take notice of less than a dozen deaths in terrorist attacks. The standard response, reactions and even the language, of the leaders, after terrorist attacks can be anticipated, like it is a cowardly attack, and that innocents have been made target and that very strict action will be taken against the perpetrators. But the ground reality is that after a visit to the scene of terrorists attack, a few statements and announcement of compensation by the Government to salve its own conscience and to pay for its failure, things are back to the square one.

All this about negligence and failure of intelligence and security agencies has been said again and again and since nobody listens, it must be said again. No accountability is enforced. Intelligence agencies take shelter by sending vague, inactionable and unspecific information or guess work, which they call or pass off as intelligence. Some of the suggested steps are the use of high technology like the use of CCTV cameras, stricter border patrolling, having a National Citizens Register and involving the Muslim community in the fight against terrorism, by enlisting them in intelligence and security agencies. If there is a will to fight terrorism and create a federal agency, the Government can do it overnight by an Ordinance. India is governed by the rule of law and not by statements of the leaders, unless they are converted into law.

Unfortunately, we do not have even a tough law in place to fight and eliminate terrorism. Here in our country, the Central Government is doing the hair splitting, whether Gujarat or Rajasthan need a tougher anti-terrorist law. Not only these two States, but also the entire country needs tough laws. The fight against terrorism is in the domain of the Government, as it has the man power, intelligence agencies, however rudimentary and ineffective, and weaponary. It is the conservative policy of the government not to arm the citizens. Not one percent crime is committed with licensed weapons. Indeed, the criminals and terrorists do not need any license to bear arms and kill people. It is the innocent, unarmed people who have to bear the brunt. Licensing of weapons should be liberalised, so that if the government is not able to protect the people, the people themselves can do so. Private security agencies should be involved in a big way and the weapons licensed to them to protect private and even Government estab lishments. The Government should stop giving the impression of being soft on terrorists.