Author: Kanchan Gupta
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: April 30, 2006
Maoists Enemy No 1, says State Deptt docket
---- The scrapping of the Prevention of Terrorism Act by the UPA Government
to gratify Islamists and Communists has begun to reflect in international
assessments of India's capacity to combat terrorism.
The US Administration, which has been monitoring
efforts by individual countries to combat terrorism in compliance with UN
Security Council resolutions post-9/11, is of the view that the Government
of India lacks the legal wherewithal for an effective counter-terrorism mechanism.
This despite, says the US Country Reports
on Terrorism released on Friday, "in previous years, terrorists (having)
staged hundreds of attacks on people and property in India."
Without mincing words or indulging in subterfuge,
the report identifies the "most prominent terrorist groups (as) violent
extremist separatists operating in Jammu & Kashmir, Maoists in the 'Naxalite
belt' in eastern India, and ethno-linguistic nationalists in India's north-eastern
States".
Commenting on India's response to terrorism,
the report, prepared by the US State Department, says, "India's counter-terrorism
efforts are hampered by its outdated and overburdened law enforcements and
legal systems. The Indian court system is slow, laborious, and prone to corruption;
terrorism trials can take years to complete."
Apart from the absence of an effective legal
system based on a counter-terrorism law, India's efforts to fight terror are
also weighed down by ill-equipped security forces, says the report. "Many
of India's local police forces are poorly staffed, trained and equipped to
combat terrorism effectively," it adds.
While the UPA Government conveys the impression
of being clueless about the alarming dimension of the threat posed by Maoists
and is unable to decide whether the Left extremists are "boys gone astray"
or "terrorists", the US report succinctly presents the case for
immediate action.
"Naxalite terrorism, which covers a broad
region of eastern, central and southern India, is growing in sophistication
and lethality and may poses a significant long-term challenge," it says,
adding details of massive Maoist attacks during the latter half of 2005.
Conceding the fact of cross-border terrorism,
the report makes an interesting revelation of how jihadis in Pakistan and
Pakistan-occupied Kashmir have stepped up their efforts to infiltrate Jammu
& Kashmir following the setback caused by last October's earthquake.
"After the October 8 earthquake in Pakistan
that reportedly killed many Pakistan-based terrorists, however, the terrorists
launched a series of high-profile attacks across the degraded frontier defences,"
the report explains.
The Country Reports on Terrorism is a significant
document because United States law now requires the Secretary of State to
provide Congress, by April 30 of each year, a "full and complete report
on terrorism with regard to those countries and groups meeting criteria set
forth in the legislation".
