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At the mercy of terrorists

At the mercy of terrorists

Author: Kanchan Gupta
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: September 8, 2011
URL: http://dailypioneer.com/home/online-channel/362-edit/4654-at-the-mercy-of-terrorists.html

An effete Prime Minister and his smug Home Minister mouth the same platitudes as India's citizens are wantonly slaughtered.

Macabre humour is often a measure of both cynicism and despair when confronted with death and destruction. It can also offer an insight into how people perceive those in power and authority who presume to rule - as opposed to govern - the country. For evidence, consider the text message that did the rounds soon after PTI put out a news flash, informing us to our eternal gratitude that the Prime Minister had announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh for the next of kin of those killed and Rs 1 lakh for those wounded in Wednesday's ghastly terrorist bombing at Gate Number 5 of Delhi High Court that left at least 11 people dead and scores grievously injured. The text message asked: And how much for the bombers?

That there should be such contempt for Mr Manmohan Singh who feigns to be in power and officially heads the Union Government whose primary task is to ensure the safety and security of all citizens of the country is entirely understandable. A limp-wristed Prime Minister who uses his (now torn and tattered) cloak of sincerity to slyly pass the buck so as to avoid admitting failure and owning responsibility deserves neither respect nor admiration. When Mr Singh, using establishment-friendly journalists accompanying him on his visit to Bangladesh as messenger boys and girls, says "innovative mechanisms to tackle terrorism after 26/11 have been put in place but there are unresolved problems and terrorists are taking advantage of those weaknesses" he only strengthens the distrust in him and his absent leadership.

Mr Singh was grossly wrong when he told a group of carefully selected editors earlier this year that his Government's dipping popularity was on account of mounting "governance deficit". What the ramshackle UPA regime he purportedly heads suffers from is trust deficit - and each time India bleeds, every time the blood of innocent men, women and children is spilled because the state has been debilitated to a point where its representatives can only watch from the margins and wring their hands in a show of manufactured concern while scheming how to blame somebody else for the wanton slaughter of its citizens, that trust deficit only increases further.

There's nothing remarkably new about what we have heard ever since the 'briefcase bomb', an improvised explosive device that was left outside Gate Number 5 of Delhi High Court which is used by litigants to enter the premises, went off at 10.15 am on Wednesday. Union Minister for Home Affairs P Chidambaram, in the statement he made in Parliament, and Internal Security Secretary UK Bansal, in his media briefings, have taken care not to go beyond the template that has been fine-tuned over several such terrorist attacks: We condemn the attack, we have issued a red alert, we shared intelligence report with Delhi Police in July, we have issued sketches of the suspects… So, what's new?

Nothing really. In a sense, Wednesday's terror bombing is of a piece with all terrorist strikes since Mumbai was attacked on November 26, 2008. There have been six such attacks - there has been no breakthrough in the investigations into any one of them - beginning with the bombing of German Bakery at Pune on February 13, 2010. Before Wednesday's bombing, Jhaveri Bazar in Mumbai was bombed on July 13; and before that mild explosives were used, possibly as part of a dry run, when a bomb went off at Delhi High Court on May 25. Since there were no fatalities on that occasion, nobody took note of it. In any case, life is cheap in India or else the Government couldn't get away with such criminal inaction and worse and the people, exercised over televised images of Wednesday's savagery, wouldn't settle down for the next episode of 'Just Dance' once the 24-hour news cycle gets over and news channels latch on to something more exciting and eyeball-grabbing.

It would be absurd to suggest, even if ever so remotely, that the menace of terrorism can be stamped out or that any Government, no matter how well-meaning and tough in implementing a 'zero tolerance' policy, can guarantee that terrorists shall not strike again. The US may have prevented mainland terror attacks since September 11, 2001, but it would be foolish for Americans to believe that the next time a car is packed with explosives and parked in a crowded place to blow up or be blown up, it will be detected before damage is done.

Yet, it would be equally stupid of us not to take note of the fact that the enhanced security system in the US has not only minimised the chances of terrorists succeeding in their faith-ordained mission to kill and maim, destroy and devastate, it has also increased trust in the Government and the state's determination to protect Americans from enemies at home and abroad. So also has Europe succeeded, preventing terrorists from achieving their objective even if that has fetched rebuke from Islamists, both of the closet and overt variety, and charges of Islamophobia. Political correctness is the other side of the coin with which politics of votes is conducted in our country: Appeasement and war on terror cannot go hand in hand.

The issue is not the Prime Minister's frivolous comments or the Home Minister's mock concern, despicable as both may be. The issue is what has the Government done to step up its vigil, crack down on sleeper cells of homegrown terrorists inspired by AfPak jihad and on the payroll of Pakistan's ISI, improve its intelligence-gathering mechanism, put in place deterrents by way of swift trial and harsh punishment, penalise the likes of Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh who is also the minder of the heir apparent, Mr Rahul Gandhi, for intentionally undoing whatever feeble attempts are made to fight the menace of terrorism thus further weakening a debilitated state, and instilling confidence in the country's citizenry. The answer must necessarily be rude and brief: Nothing.

Vacuous statements, pompous assertions, maudlin sentiments and treacly concern are not substitutes for policy though they suffice the need of news channels eager to cover up this Government's, more so the Congress's, follies. What we need to do is to raise some tough questions and demand convincing replies.

For instance, we should ask our effete Prime Minister, who is admittedly clueless of all that's happening under his watch, including the emptying of the till which he is supposed to guard, and his smug Home Minister as to what happened to the plan to set up the Criminal and Crime Tracking Network System that was conceived in May 2008 with the purpose of collecting, storing, retrieving, analysing and sharing data and information between police stations, police stations and State police headquarters, and State police headquarters and Central police organisations.

We need to ask what happened to the National Counter-Terrorism Centre which was supposed to prevent, contain and respond to terrorist attacks. We need to ask what happened to the NATGRID, the proposed over-arching organisation of investigating and intelligence agencies which was supposed to provide real time information on terrorists. We need to ask what happened to police reforms, bearing in mind that often the constable on duty is the first responder to a terrorist attack.

And, we need to stubbornly insist that these questions must be answered. Now. That would expose whatever little remains unexposed of this untrustworthy lot who presume to rule India.


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