one more? ok, Chalta Hai!!!

 Chalta Hai!!!

September 7^th 2011, May 25^th 2011,  Sep 27th 2008, 13^th Sep 2008, April 14^th 2006, October 29^th 2005, May 22, 2005, June 18^th 2000, July 26^th 1998, Dec 30^th 1997, May 30^th 1997, Oct 26^th 1997….

Now before you all wonder why I am sharing these dates, let me tell you these were the dates, when the “most secured” city of India – the capital of our country was subjected to terror attacks. 12 in all! In just over a decade! In one city!

And not to mention the other cities like Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune, Malegaon, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Hyderabad that have been subjected to “major” and “minor” attacks. Isn’t it strange, though, of our media to coin terms like major & minor with respect to terror attacks? I feel the pain of a bereaved after a “minor” attack , if not more than one of a ‘major’ attack, is not less by any means.  But that’s a different topic altogether.

Isn’t it really questioning of our system, our government, our agencies and of ourselves that we have allowed ourselves to become a “soft target” or a “soft nation”. Why? Why have these incidents become, if I can call it, a part of our life? Why is it that our angst is vented out for a day utmost two till the time we get a new ‘deviation’? It’s time, coining the name of program on a media channel working 24X7, buck stops here. It’ time to hold accountability.

Then who is to be blamed?? The entire system or the people running it. A system is invisible but the people running it are visible. These people, have to answer the critical question of what is lacking in our system which makes us so vulnerable to these attacks. I think system can be evolved only when the right people are in place.

We need to dissect the whole scenario and identify the key stake holders/ opinon builders. In my opinion, the stake holders are in order of responsibility 1) The Government 2) Security Agencies 3) Politicos 4) The opinion creators i.e the media.

This article does not attempt to criticize the role of government in a negative way but when a country is held to ransom by some terrorists by openly killing residents of Mumbai or  many such repeated incidents, a natural question mark comes over the intent of the government in terms of it’s  willingness to accept this as the biggest challenge this country has been facing largely over the almost last 20 years. With Congress government ruling the country, for most part of this 20 years, it is but natural to wonder if it’s INTENT is in the right place. The government has to give confidence to the people of this country about their seriousness in combating this menace of terror.

Just making statements condemning the acts of terror or saying that “we identify terror as the biggest problem’ “we are doing our best, all intel inputs have been followed up” does not suffice. Words alone can’t rid us of the terror. The present Home minister said that “All states have been alerted” leaves much to be desired. Even an inexperienced but little educated person, upon having become a Home Minster of this big country, would have done the same. The time for making statements like “there three incidents are a blot on my career” is not going to get any empathy or sympathy from the listeners. He is much above these statements and we don’t need verbal martyrs.

At the same, time, we need to understand that the Home Minster is asked or looked upon by his government , to interfere, “take action’ in issues which does not directly concern his ministry. If a Home Minster devotes much of his time on such issues, I guess the country internal security will take a back seat.

Now lets look at the agencies. We have CBI, Raw, IB, SSB (I am not sure if it’s still functional) and the state police. Lets not include other paramilitary forces like CRPF who are per haps more involved in fighting the another menace called naxalism and many times with sticks. But the question is whether these multi agencies are working in tandem. A common observer like me should like to believe that it does. But then why such re-occurences. Government created NIA but still we have such attacks. So is NIA team being rendered useless? Are all the agencies sharing reports openly? Why I am saying this is because with these agencies being controlled by government (read politicos), some of these agencies will be more keen to keep their masters happy rather than sharing the information. If a robust system is inplace, then how did the most basic act of enabling security by installing CCTVs get amiss??? How did Delhi Police say that not “enough” intelligence was passed on to them? What is the definition of “enough intelligence”. We can not squarely blame any one but these calls for deep introspect.

HM made a statement that more support in the form of night vision etc are going to be worked out but what about HUMINT? Do we have enough of it? Are our borders and some madrasas being run at the borders being monitored properly? If yes, then how could the NIA remain clueless about sleeper cells of SIMI & IM in Jharkhand? For this HUMINT is required, just machines wont help. Only when we have right people to man and use the facilities, we can get enough intelligence. In this I must say that I am amazed by the articles of journalists who specialise in terrorism. When a Shishir Gupta can write an informative book called India Mujahiddin or journalists like Vicky Nanjappa write exhaustive reports on terrorism, I am sure our agencies can do much more. Then why not? Forget these terror attacks,  forget getting Dr. Hafeez Saeed or Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar, we have not yet got our hands or even any information on Tiger Mennon. Doesn’t  it smear of  lack of intent?

We look forward to western agencies for inputs or guidance. US created DNI after 9/11 and it was an umbrella body for all the security agencies including CIA. Similarly India created NIA but NIA hasn’t done enough. Moreover, if India is quick to look at western agencies for guidance, they should also learn how the lack of required action is dealt with. A case in example is how Admiral Dennis C Blair, the former director of DNI was asked to resign by Obama owing to the f acts that The Fort Hood shooting, the Christmas Day bomb plot and the Times Square car bomb (inn which the bomb fortunately did not explode and was disarmed) was  plot all took place during his tenure. Another contributing reason was the failure of DNI to to put Abdul Muttalib, who tried to blow the flight to Detroit, on the ‘no-fly list’. How many heads have rolled in our case? If we want to learn, we should learn everything. The Government is accountable and has to hold the HM responsible for these acts.

Now I look at few rather two cases.

Case 1) Parliament attack -  the person captured with all the evidence is still in jail and with certain segment of people asking for his clemency. Why? I feel that once a terrorist’s act is proven, as a judiciary rule, he/she should not be allowed to appeal for mercy petition.

Case 2) Malegaon blasts -  initially the needle of doubt is pointed at SIMI but over night a new name of pragya sadhvi (a female hindu religious leader) comes up and withn a few days she is arrested. A ‘very fast proactive action’ indeed but what after that, still now the case has not moved and no strong evidence has been presented by investigating agencies ( FYI, the evidence basis which she was arrested was that she had sold her bike to a person who was later named in the terror act and was murdered). Is it strong enough a reason to arrest or more importantly to keep her in prison for three years. Today she is barely able to move, so both the case and the ‘prime accused’ are not moving. This case smacked of political overtones with allegations and counter allegations by both ruling party and BJP the largest opposition. Doesn’t this case merit being solved as soon as possible?

These again raises the question mark on the role of our investigating agencies and their masters. Are the cases investigated in the right desired ernest? Needs to be seen

Media & politicos

Post every attack, media goes into a frenzy for scoring brownie points on TRP. Which media has , continuously, pursued even a single case for more than a week say 10 days after the act? None. How many media house have actually carried a proper “breaking news” w.r.t any attack. None. So what are they doing. They are debating and it is required but indian media has had the habit, post each attack, in conjunction with the government to make one statement – Let’s not politicize the terror attacks.

I think that a valid question on national security is NOT politicization. Then what is the accountability of the opposition leaders? Should they not question the responsibility of govt towards the citizens of the country. Should they not debate, question this menace. None of the opposition party have ever backed away from supporting the government or making a unified statement to condemn the act and support the government. It is required in the hours post an attack but sooner or later, these attacks have to be debated, so how is it bad.

Why does the government & media house give undue importance to people like Digvijay Singh & Arundhati Roy. What is their business in making unsolicited statements creating further confusion and mutual doubts? Why does the Home Minister allow such people to take his business in their hands? It’s time such people should be asked to shut their mouth and refrain from making confusing biased and statements which are their own personal figment of imagination.

It is time to develop the right perspective. Situation can change and we can counter this menace but what is required is the INTENT. If intent is in place, intel can follow. It is time the agencies are given a free hand without unwarranted influence from the politicos. Unless the system is not cleared of its rot, not much is going to happen and one more day and date will be remembered for some time and  then forgotten till the next act. Unless some action is taken, some heads rolls, the chalta hai attitude is not going to stop.