In a worrying estimation it has been found that India loses more people in terror attacks than any other country in the world.
Samjhauta, Mecca Masjid, Lumbini Park, Ajmer Dargah, the list goes on. It is common knowledge that terrorists are responsible for these strikes but beyond that there are no clear answers.
Until two years ago, there were blasts but they were solved. But since the attacks on the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore on the 28th of December 2005, despite clues, none of the blasts have been solved.
Insiders say that one of the reasons they’ve had no success with solving recent blasts is the change in the way terrorists’ function now. Terrorists have stopped using telephones of any kind, at least to communicate, so chaining or tracking phone calls doesn’t work now.
Today terrorists more often use human couriers and this means intelligence agencies have to build sources and penetrate terror networks which is far more difficult to achieve.
But perhaps the bigger problem is the anti-terror mechanism in India, both at the centre and in the states.
”We don’t have the basic terror tracking methodology right. State police can’t tackle terrorism as they are transferred every 3 years. Intelligence branches are neglected. There are problems of co ordination between different agencies,” said V Balachandran, Former Additional Secretary RA&W.
Revamped strategy
Clearly terror networks are better organized and have in the past two or three years managed to penetrate even the smaller towns in India. Blasts are no longer limited to crowded markets in Metros and smaller towns, which also supply operatives and logistics.
”We have to accept that India is a major target. They are very committed and thus it is very difficult to penetrate their modules, difficult to build sources, it takes a long time. We need to have a Federal Agency to tackle terrorism,” said V Balachandran.
But most states have always refused to agree to a Federal Investigating Agency, even though individual states admit they aren’t equipped to deal with terrorism.
”These plots which are hatched across the border and the state does not have the wherewithal to deal with such things,” said Y S R Reddy, CM, Andhra Pradesh.
Recent efforts by the UPA government to set up a federal agency have gone nowhere.
”There were objections from the state. We have sought suggestions from the states and for the present shelved the project,” said Sriprakash Jaiswal, Minister of State for Home.
The result was an ensuing blame-game between the centre and the state after each attack. While the centre and states point fingers at each other, the body count is rising and it is just a matter of time before India has more blasts than Iraq and Afghanistan
Leave Your Comments