Author: Times News Network
Publication: The Times of India
Date: December 30, 2007
There is no point chest-thumping that Gujarat
has been successful in its war against terror. If terrorists did not damage
Gujarat to the extent feared after the 2002 riots, they targeted Gujaratis
in Mumbai.
There is a view in the establishment that
the reprisal for Godhra in 2002 was so strong that terror networks are not
finding local support. If this is to be believed, then the hard-line on terror
taken by chief minister Modi and executed through lynchpin D G Vanzara did
work as a large number of suspects who could have served as local links for
radical organizations, developed cold feet.
While the efficacy of Vanzara's tactics are
debatable, the fact that he and his aides are now in jail is hardly solace
for those who believed these tactics were right.
Security experts say complacency among citizens,
which comes after believing that the politicians are probably doing the right
job in the fight against terror, is even more dangerous. Even Gujarat cops
would tell you that the security apparatus is in tatters.
Experts TOI spoke to said what is needed here
is consciousness among people that they have to be on guard as the security
network has gaping holes. In countries like Israel, such alertness is ingrained
in the psyche of the people.
Who knows there are no 'sleeper cells' in
Gujarat, terror modules that remain dormant as they mingle with the society
till the time to strike? Even if it is presumed that local Muslims are scared
of supporting terror, experts said terror networks can easily blend with society
without arousing any suspicion and wait for orders before they get active.
Supercop K P S Gill, who was security adviser to Modi after the post-Godhra
riots, told TOI over phone, "Modi's security needs to be on a high".
Gill gives utmost importance to intelligence gathering in tackling terror.
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10 REASONS WHY GUJARAT COULD BE A SOFT TARGET
Disturbing political events in Pakistan have
a huge bearing on Gujarat which has just elected a Right-wing government in
power. TOI examined the security concerns for the state if Pakistan were to
face a bout of anarchy and ascendancy of extremists to power
* Gujarat has a porous land border with Pakistan
* Has huge investments along the country's
longest coastline
* Has a CM who often taunts Islamic terrorists
* This is where 2,000 Muslims were killed
in riots in '02
* Larger society, Gujarat Inc have condoned
this Hindu backlash
* India's economic interests can get hit if
Gujarat is targeted
* Politicians have Z-grade security, not the
common man
* Public spaces, crowded areas have no protection
* The police force is ill-equipped to deal
with terror
* There is hardly any intelligence on terror
sleeper cells
