Lest 26/11 come

Lest 26/11 come

Context

India needs to revamp its security architecture, reform and rejuvenate police forces

India is the third most affected

• According to the US Country Reports on Terrorism 2016, India is the third most affected country after Iraq and Afghanistan in the number of attacks perpetrated on its soil
• It is estimated that a total of 52 terrorist groups are active in different parts of India, which is higher than in any other country.

Question Raised

• Fortunately, there has been no major terrorist attack in the country after 26/11 (2008). Was it because we are much better prepared now and our law enforcement agencies have been able to prevent such an onslaught?

Conclusion: It would be difficult to give an affirmative answer

Factors

• Pakistan has been under increasing international pressure to rein in its terrorist formations The presence of a strong government in Delhi, which showed the courage to launch a surgical strike across the border, could also have been a deterrent factor.

Complacency seems to have set in

• The fact is that there has been no substantial accretion (increase) after the slew of measures taken in the wake of 26/11, when National Security Guard units were decentralised, an elaborate coastal security scheme was drawn up and the National Investigation Agency established

Police Force in Shambles

• The police, who are the first responders to any terrorist crime, continue to be in a shambles. The states have done precious little to reform, rejuvenate or reinforce the capabilities of the police forces
• The Supreme Court’s directions of 2006 have been treated with contempt
• The modernisation of police, in fact, suffered a setback when, following the 14th Finance Commission’s recommendations and increase in the share of states’ revenues, the Centre delegated the responsibility to the state governments
• The “SMART” police conceptualised by the prime minister is nowhere to be seen, thanks to the indifference of the state governments.

Condition of the Central Armed forces not the best

• There are rumblings of discontent, particularly in the BSF and CRPF, over the quality of leadership at different levels, promotional opportunities, irrational deployments, inadequate infrastructure in insurgency-affected states and aspects of service conditions

Intelligence in doldrums

• Intelligence at the state level is generally in doldrums
• Implementation of the coastal security scheme has been tardy
• The National Counter Terrorism Centre has been conveniently forgotten.

The threat from terrorism continues to escalate

• There is a concerted move to see that Assam is engulfed in turbulence in the same way as it happened in Kashmir in 1989
• The ISI is working on this plan and is said to be coordinating strategies with radical elements among the Rohingyas and illegal Bangladeshi immigrants in Assam
• Al Qaeda had declared its plans to intensify its activities in Assam as far back as 2014
• The Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh has been steadily setting up units in Assam as well as West Bengal
• Chief of Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, recently said that Assam will burn if 50 lakh Muslims were left out of the National Register of Citizens.
• In WB and Kerala, the ruling establishment has been following policies which have emboldened the fundamentalists
• In J&K, the Pakistan-sponsored terrorist groups, particularly Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Toiba, are determined to keep the pot boiling
• The release of Lashkar chief, Hafiz Saeed, on the eve of 26/11 is ominous and betrays Pakistan’s continued support to cross-border terrorism.

IS ideology

• The ministry of home affairs has been complimenting itself over the small number of Muslims who have joined the Islamic State but, as pointed out by several experts, even a small percentage of Muslims in India gravitating to the ideology would be a formidable number and pose a serious challenge to the security of the state

Suggestions

• It is high time that the security architecture is revamped
• The Government of India recently approved a Rs 25,000 crore scheme to strengthen the law and order apparatus
• It will have to be ensured that money is utilised for the purpose for which it has been sanctioned
• The Centre must initiate measures to move “police” to the Concurrent List of the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution
• The anti-terror law would also need to be given more teeth

Conclusion

India has repeatedly given a call at international fora for united efforts to combat terrorism. However, first we must set our own house in order. Even otherwise, the future of democracy and our capacity to sustain the momentum of economic progress would depend in no small measure on our ability to reinforce and strengthen internal security.