beijing OLYMPICS

00:00:03, 00:00:02, 00:00:01...MADNESS!

Mumbai, Coimbatore, New Delhi, Jaipur, Lucknow, Varanasi, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru and Surat! Busy metros, crowded shopping malls, religious institutions, the Parliament, army depots, hospitals, railway stations, airports...terror can strike and cripple India anytime. Combined with the inefficiency and complacency of the police forces, vulnerability of civilian hotspots, the reluctance of the country's super spooks like the Intelligence Bureau,the Research & Analysis Wing and the Defence Intelligence Agency to share their intelligence with the state units and lack of awareness on behalf of the public...the vicious tentacles of terrorism have reached everywhere.

Everytime bombs explode in a city, the Cabinet Ministers rush to the affected area for a photo session with a grieving mother or an orphaned child and announce ex-gratia in lakhs to the deceased. Whether the next to kin actually receives the promised amount remains a mystery forever! The government stands united in branding such a meticulously planned crime as an “isolated act by misguided fundamentalists” and the Opposition will vociferously demand that POTA be brought back. Editorials shall once again emphasise on the miserable condition of Dr.Binayak Sen. A high-level meeting of Chief Ministers shall be scheduled to discuss counter-terrorism strategies shall be scheduled by the Union Home Ministry. If such a panel really exists and meets up remains quite a controversy again. The Defense Ministry orders a Red Alert and security arrangements are beefed up for a week with the names, the Lashkar-e-Toiba, Al Qaeda and the Students Islamic Movement of India being shouted from the IB to the South Block. Metal Detectors, Frisking, Flag Marches and Curfews soon become the order of the day. Bombs are defused in succession and a snap of brave Bomb Defusal Squad personnel aboard giant cranes occupies Page One in major dailies. Sooner or later, one or the other shop owner has a divine vision and the sketching personnel have a field day. The proud Director-General of the Police Department in concern issues a press conference and the suspects’ sketches are flashed for a while by the major news channels. Some go to the extent of calling up retired experts to analyze the incident. Eventually, an ambitious officer somewhere speculates a Pakistani connection with the prime culprit, the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate and New Delhi requests for a renewed crackdown on terror outfits and a curb on cross-country infiltration. Islamabad and Delhi will set up a two-party meeting and the Foreign Secretaries shall untiringly accuse the other country. Last but not the least, a Joint Mechanism on Counter Terror shall be designed and Indian counterterrorism would again return to its Stand By mode waiting to be reawakened by the next serial blasts.


The World Trade Center Bombings stunned the U.S.A into silence. The U.S reacted by enforcing a complete crackdown on terrorism with the formation of an elite counter-espionage agency known as Homeland Security. Needless to write, the combined efforts of the U.S.Secret Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Central Intelligence Agency and Homeland Security had borne fruit and terrorism hasn’t dared attack American soil since 9/11.

Time and again, terrorists have proved their superior military might, meticulous planning, striving for success and invincibility. The attacks on Bengaluru have proved that the roots of terrorism are deep and wide in our country. As our flummoxed defense personnel admit, hitting two metropolis in two consecutive days is no ordinary feat. This attack just illustrated the incapability of the defense forces in protecting the nation even when a high-alert has been sounded. It is time the politicians stopped using elite agencies like the Central Bureau of Investigation for satisfying political vendetta and let the smart guys carry on the job of apprehending the real masterminds behind such organized crime.

An Integrated Command aimed at promoting inter-agency sharing of Intelligence would go a long way in combating terror. If not, at least a Federal Intelligence Agency set along the lines of the U. S F.B.I ought to be institutionalized with free reins in defending the country against terrorism and allied crimes.

Merely condoning terrorism and expressing hope that such incidents do not happen once again aren’t enough. As long as there are holes in the system, such episodes are going to resurface with even more horror. The time is long past when these holes been plugged. Revolutionizing contemporary counterespionage infrastructure, increased surveillance using close circuit cameras, intensified patrolling in the borders to check external infiltration, maximum use of satellites and other sophisticated instruments to track suspected outfits, more efficient policing in the states, strict clampdown on the production of explosives, an elaborate national database of suspected criminals, international cooperation and state-of-the-art security measures at public places are the need of the hour.

The National Security Advisor has claimed that over 800 terror modules have been busted in the recent past. Imagine if with such shoddy policing over 800 modules can be destroyed, wouldn’t India be a terror-free zone when the combined might of the Indian Counter-Terrorism Agencies are employed against insurgency and cross-border terrorism?

High time India started hitting back hard and strong!

Wish you all a terror-free India @ 62!