How can India guarantee its own security

[sampuran]

Till 2001 terrorism in India was mostly confined to Jammu and Kashmir. Then we had the aattack on the parliament. Though some odd incidents occured in Karnataka and Kerala, there were no international terrorist groups or funding countries involved. Bombay blast were one of its kind, may be by stroke of luck or because of limited objective of the perpetrators.

Since then there have been frequent threats to the business and academic centres all across India. The attacks on Akshardham, Delhi and Ayodhayaya saw involment of outsiders with full support from local people and co-ordination from across the border.

The Bangalore attack is perhaps the first one in which Bangladeshi connection has been fully established. Also the funding came from Saudi Arabia. (Though the Saudi King has been invited as chief guest for RD Parade) LeT is said to be the parent terrorist group, the cell mastermind was arrested in Nalgonda, a small town of Andhra.

So we have a complex network co-ordinating its actions to carry out the strikes. Earlier the terror bases were confined to big cities with sizable Muslim dominated areas. Now even small towns are afflicted with the virus. The thought of sitting next to a terrorist or his supporter, while travelling in a bus, Train or air plave is shuddering. It seems whole of India is fast becoming a playground for the misguided extremists. And worst is that fact that no body, absolutely no body can be trusted.

How can individuals ensure their safety.
And how should the Indian state tackle this cancer ?

[rkumar]

The problem is not only for India but for entire world. We will see more and more of such attacks all over India and rest of the world. Only way to deal with this cancer is that the whole world gets united and wipe out the countries supporting terrorism. However, in reality this will never happen. Many politicians get support secretely from terrorist organisations. Best one can do is to follow his own guidelines to save himself/ herself. Avoid crowred palces and peak hours, Avoid high proifile gatherings as far as possible unless sure of security arrangements.

RK^2

[pup030]

The problem is not only for India but for entire world. We will see more and more of such attacks all over India and rest of the world. Only way to deal with this cancer is that the whole world gets united and wipe out the countries supporting terrorism. However, in reality this will never happen. Many politicians get support secretely from terrorist organisations. Best one can do is to follow his own guidelines to save himself/ herself. Avoid crowred palces and peak hours, Avoid high proifile gatherings as far as possible unless sure of security arrangements.

RK^2

Hi friends,

Well to begin with, the reasons may be many but for sure the guidelines to save oneself cannot be called the ideal solutions. That approach would further lead to people in general avoiding gatherings and the message of fear having taken a seat in the hearts and minds of people would get conveyed to the extermist elements thereby such elements would gain a psychological upper hand and triumph. The psychological triumph is what we as a nation cannot afford to give to the extremist elements.

Participation of the masses in the security of the country is the key. As and when and if taken to its logical conclusion, we could see a sea change in terms of the extremist elements not being able to retain the element of FEAR which they are so easily able to strike in the hearts and minds of common folks.

Take away the element of fear and you take away the edge which the extremist elements have in their scheme of things. For greater participation of the masses what we need in the country is for the central as well as the state law and order and the intelligence community to be more open to the participation of the common people in their operation.

Another aspect which needs to be emphasised is the imperative need for the intelligence and other state agencies to convey the pride of particpation in the process of intelligence collection human as well as electronic.

I am of the firm belief that nothing can surpass human intelligence which has for some reasons not been participative in nature in our country. Give pride to people in being part of the process.

Withdrawing into shells is not the key whereas denuding the extremist elements of the key resolve of inflicting fear can certainly bring about some positive changes for the better.

Lets' face it, its time the intelligence and state agencies opened themselves up to the masses with open arms to enable collection. collation and analysis of the precise and timely information feed.

Participation of the masses is the key and the bottomline as well.

Let me know whats' your take on the this, my friends.

Dhiren Singh
Advocate

[dahiyarules]

So who is going to come up with a suggestion of "national draft." Most of the suggestions I have read sound like the realities of the "cold war era" Soviet Union.

Keep the suggestions coming in. I will comment later on.

[jagmohan]

Dear All,

The subject is too large to be commented upon in one go but the fact is that terrorism is here to stay: state sponsored or against the state, be it for a territory or for water, for oil or dominance. Terrorism is a Multi Billion Dollar business and keeps many players happy. Economies of few countries are sustained by the terror industry. Things that are obvious are not being mentioned.

The only way to deal with this menace is ‘Good Governance’ (that is to foresee the problem before it become unmanageable), ‘Awareness’, ‘Education’ and ‘Tolerance’. Hopefully the government will now wake up to the terror threat in South India after the IISc attack in Bangalore. I am 200% sure that the Army Intelligence agencies had been crying hoarse for the at least the last decade and warned all concerned about the manifestation of this threat but then who listens in this country. They will wait till the problem spirals out of control before doing anything worthwhile to check the situation. And that is where the economics of terrorism comes in. Because then you will move forces from one corner to another, raise special forces, get them armed, buy foreign arms, construct accomodation for the forces, allot additional funds (most of them unaccountable) and generally procrastinate.

Only a leader with almost God like intelligence and administrative qualities can foresee the problem and solve it before it manifests itself into a cause for someone to spread terror.

In my view the key to the efficacy of any criminal justice system is intelligence. For example if the ‘Delhi Police’ wants to reduce crime and is given the ‘Go Ahead’ by its political masters, the crime rate can come down by 90% in one week. But no one wants that to happen because the present situation suits everyone.

The last point I want to make is that as long as we are as indisciplined as we are now, no one, repeat no one can do any thing. The casualties in Sarojini Nagar Market bomb blast would have been minimal had the administration not allowed refugees to run unauthorised shops on a public road. Go to any town and all roads are occupied by shopkeepers who have paid the Municipal and/or Police to run their illegal business. Try and pass through Modinagar on a normal day, forget during Diwali.

In my view terror has arrived in a big way in India and is here to stay, for the next 50 years at least.

Regards,

JS Malik

[devdahiya]

On this day, there is no place on this planet which guarantees 100% safety. Greed for dominance, power and money has brought the humanity to naught, where all is fair.....No strings attached....no logic applied. If you live on...you are lucky else perish like a sheep. Too deadly a scenario indeed. It is going to be this way for long times to come.....may be worst. Might is THE right.

[sampuran]

Hi friends,

Well to begin with, the reasons may be many but for sure the guidelines to save oneself cannot be called the ideal solutions. That approach would further lead to people in general avoiding gatherings and the message of fear having taken a seat in the hearts and minds of people would get conveyed to the extermist elements thereby such elements would gain a psychological upper hand and triumph. The psychological triumph is what we as a nation cannot afford to give to the extremist elements.

Dhiren Singh
Advocate

Dhiren Bhai,
Ram Ram. Welcome back to the forum! How is it in Karnal ?

You are absolutely right. You cant let the terrorist feel that he has been able to scare you. That is actually what they want, nothing more. Once terror sets in, their ultimate aim is easy to achieve.

All must have heart about this man Abu Bakr Ba’asyir, alleged Emir of Jamaah Islamiyah, Indonasia. Today he is one of the leading ideologues. What he said in an interview recently was this - Terror is not a weapon for us. Terror is the decision we want to impose on the Kafirs.
Full text can be found at www.sitemaker.umich.edu/satran/ files/atranba_asyirinterview020905.pdf

I expected Lt Col Malik, at least, to be able to understand the problem correctly. Even for LeT and JeM Kashmir is not the issue, it is just a pawn, a small battle in the wider war against Kafirs. Their ideological blue books clearly spell this out.
Kashmir is not even an issue for Pakistan. The Sunni establishment very well knows that it wont be able to rule the Kashmiris without organising massacre of Shias in the valley as it has been routinely doing in the PoK area.
Recently France burnt for weeks together. Whose fault ? French ? People of other communities have also been facing hardships and racial discrimination. Why did not the Sri Lankans or the Indians or the Buddhist migrants go on a rampage ? Why is it that all other people have tried to work hard, get education and imbibe the ethos of the country. But the muslim immigrants remained alooof or were kept aloof by the community leaders ?

The question is not as simple as beefing up intellegence, increasing security, good governance and avoiding crowded places.

[jagmohan]

Dear Sampuran,

Please read my earlier posts and you would know that I have a fairly OK understanding of issues that threaten our National Security & Survival. However, no one is a 'Know All' in this world and I am keen to be made wiser by those who have a deep understanding of this subject because this 'Jehadi' violence affects the people of India, including you and me.

I am cutting and pasting few lines from my post dated 03 Oct 2003.

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"Having served in the INFANTRY (The Jammu & Kashmir Light Infantry) for 21 years (9 years in J&K on the IB/LOC), In fact I retired in Aug 2001 and my last place of posting was KUPWARA (Hottest spot from 'Infiltration' point of view).

Let me inform my friends that the 'Battle in J&K' is being fought on a very different level and for the very survival of our nation. This kind of battle cannot be fought as per 'Geneva Conventions'. The values of democracy can't and shouldn't be applied to war with terrorists, whose aim is to see the flag of Islam fly atop every household in the world. And these 'Human Rights' advocates, please excuse me. You sit in your drawing room, take the maximum benefit from the International bodies and plan how you can get the next free crumb.

I don't have time to explain here the Grand Design of Saudi Arabian theory of 'Darul Islam', 'Darul Harb' and 'Darul Aman'. You can then understand the seriousness of the problem and increase in Muslim fundamentalism.

I can also advise those who are interested in 'Military History', please read how the insurgency was controlled in Malaysia by the Britishers in the 1950s. Incidently, control of the Malysian insurgency was by the most violent means. Violence that is more gruesome than what the insurgent can throw at you. Unfortunately this is the language that the 'Jehadi' elements understand worldwide. (In whichever city the Hindus have massacred Muslims with greater hatred during communal riots, those places have remained violence free: Meerut, Moradabad, Mumbai)

My only question to my friends is "What answer do you give to the other soldiers of the Paltan when they ask for revenge?". Do we quote the Constitution of India, Geneva Convention, National Human Rights Manuel or Amnesty International Rules? We should be proud of an officer class that leads from the front and delivers. I am sure a young officer would have led this forey into POK, across the LOC and got those Paki heads. It is a necessity to do this otherwise these Jehadis will be roaming the steets of New Delhi, if they are already not doing so. Do you know the motivation level of these persons and can you imagine the kind of atrocities they are capable of on a captured or wounded Indian Army soldier? Most of these Jehadis are the product of these 'Madarsas' which teach them that if you die while fighting for the 'Cause' you would go to Heaven and Allah will give you 80 'Hoors' (Miss Universes) and 'Pani-e-Zam Zam'. How do you deal with these guys?

The avarage Kashmiri has been used by everybody for all these years. His condition has not improved a bit and the blame lies on everybody. India should be lucky to come out from this mess with lesser bloodshed. Our survival as a nation depends on this.

I know tit for tat is not applicable and agree with what Gandhiji said:Applying Tit for tat will make the whole world blind. But J&K and LOC is different.
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However, it is necessary to mention that there was a detailed debate on these issues earlier. Very knowledgeable inputs are available in the archives.

Regards,

JS Malik

[sampuran]

Respected Col Malik
I agree with what you have written as far as the level of military battle is concerned. And pardon me, I knew your experiences in Kashmir, having read some of your earlier posts.

But I am talking of the war, not battles. It is a fight for survival of India, not terrorism to snatch just Kashmir. Not terror to scare people and governments to give in to demands like release of prisnors and payment of money. Today terrorism, especially Islamic, has a different aim and a worldwide strategy. The war has to be fought at the level of ideology. Merely killing terrorists wherever possible and destroying their training camps in Pakistan and Bangladesh is not the answer. So may I request some brain storming in that direction.

[jagmohan]

Dear Sampuran,

The threat of Islamic Fundamentalism is known to the world from the time Islam came into being. What do you do or can do to people and governments that consider their religion supreme?

This topic was discussed in my presence by a very renowned TV reporter when I was undergoing a 'Media Course' at IIMC, New Delhi in 1999. I was shocked at the remedy proposed by him. He advocated 'Ethnic Clensing'. I thought that was pathetic and told him so.

We all know that the day is not far off when this threat of Islamic Fundamentalism would shake the very foundations of out country, yet again. I only hope it doesn't result into another partition. There are too many things taking place inside and around our country to stand up and take notice. The Naxalites problem, Maoist Violence, ISI Network, Bangladeshi angle, Nepal's inability to stop the mushrooming of Madarsas on our borders etc etc. These are all inter linked in one way or another and threaten our very existence as a secular nation. Then there is a total lack of sensitivity on the part of the government and political parties. They are too busy consolidating their vote banks by indulging in minority politics. What then is the solution?

The solution is 'Education', 'Population Control' and a 'Will to Implement' laws of the land. A strong military is a pre-requisite in any case. But with politicians now wanting reservations even in the Armed Forces, the future is anything but reassuring.

However, whether all this can be done in a democratic country is also doubtful. See the resistance to Patriot Act in USA and a similar legislation in UK. It is easy to issue a 'Fatwa' in Saudi Arabia nad Iran but not in a democratic country. Individuals can keep wanting what they feel like but the fact is that in a democratic country there are limitations of all kinds. Civil Liberties, Human Rights, Individual Rights and what have you.

I for one can't think of any solution that can remove this threat in a democratic set up. However, I have enough remedies that can be dished out by a totalitarian regime. But those can't be discussed in an open forum.

Let us hope other esteemed members have some solutions.

Regads,

JS Malik