|
|
|
Rear Window
|
|
|
|
|
Combating terror - The general lament
We need strong action from the government, not homilies. And yet these are all we get
|
| |
 Joginder Singh
Former director of the CBI
What can the common man do to help combat terrorism? Candle light marches, seminars and protest rallies are all very well: they are ways of expressing the people’s extreme anger at the way the government works. And they do have an impact. But in concrete terms very little is achieved. This is because the government which keeps lecturing the ordinary citizen on his duties towards the nation itself does nothing about this most serious matter.
Terrorism as you know has any number of forms: Islamist and Maoist to name just two. Both are equally deadly – and both, it would appear, have come to stay. As Prime Minister Manmohan Singh himself acknowledged on September 14 while addressing the conference of police chiefs: “I have consistently held that left wing extremism poses perhaps the gravest internal security threat that we face. We have not achieved as much success as we would have liked in containing it. It is a matter of concern that despite efforts the level of violence in the affected states continues to rise.”
But being concerned is one thing, and finding a speedy long term solution quite another. What we get, though, are mostly sermons from politicians. Little or no effort is made to look into the root causes of why the terror graph keeps going up, or why the terrorists, time and again, are able to get the better of our police. Everybody knows why: the latter are simply not adequately trained, motivated and armed. The infrastructure we have to deal with terrorists is pathetic.
But the prime minister says Naxalism cannot be treated as a mere law and order problem, and that dealing with the Maoists requires a “nuanced” strategy. I am frankly foxed and quite unable to understand what it is that Manmohan Singh wants. Maosits and Naxalites continue to hold us to ransom, killing civilians and security personnel left, right and centre. So what is this “shift in strategy” that Singh is advocating?
Here is more from him in the same vein. Infiltration, he says, has stepped up, both across the LOC and along other routes such as Nepal, Bangladesh and the sea. “Encounters with armed militants have become more frequent in recent weeks and months... secessionist and militant groups within the state are again attempting to make common cause with outside elements and have embarked on a series of protest movements.”
|
| |
In such a scenario, what a common man can or should do remains a conundrum, because he has access to neither weapons nor the know-how to pre-empt a terror attack. And shockingly there is no government-run programme that can help the man in the street handle post-terror situations, or gather intelligence. But you might say – and you would not be wrong – that considering the police themselves are so ill equipped, how can one expect the ordinary citizen to be given such training? Remember, against the terrorists’ AK 47s the Mumbai policemen had only batons and sticks, and at best malfunctioning antiquated rifles. Indeed even the boats for patrolling hired from private parties were nowhere to be seen – because the bills had not been paid for years!
Every time I bring up the common man, I find that my audience gets disgusted. The lament is a general one: Criminals commit crimes in broad daylight without any fear of punishment; even when a genuine terrorist is killed the first thing the police do is to play safe and register a case against you; if the prime minister admits that there are anti-national elements, why is nothing ever done to eliminate them at the entry points itself?
I trust the following statistics will make my meaning clear:
India has one of the lowest police-to-population ratios in the world. Here is a comparative list. Per lakh population: India 142; Japan 175; UK 200; Germany 300; Australia 290; and USA 315.
In India we have just 1.13 lakh constables; 18,654 sub inspectors; and 2,099 deputy superintendents of police.
We urgently require 1 lakh level III bulletproof jackets. These will cost Rs 300 crore; 1 lakh helmets Rs 100 crore; 1 lakh automatic carbines to replace the .303/SLR rifles Rs 5,000 crore.
So these are what we need, and not homilies or discourses on what the general public can do to fight the menace. If the government is so fond of these sermons, let it go to the trouble spots and try these on the terrorists.
We are being told that there could be more strikes in the days to come. But we are not told what steps, if any, are being taken to to ensure that information on these is received on time. The prime minister owes this to the nation.
|
|
|
| |
Comments
|
|
| |
Leave your first comment
| |
|
| |
|
|
