Stamping
out terror
Joginder
Singh
When it is
a question of dealing with terrorism,
every body says that use of force or
violence is no solution. The terrorists
come, kill innocent and unarmed people
and run away, to strike again, at some
other target. The State use of force, in
a sort of academic way, may be no
solution, but then what is the
alternative?
When the
very life and existence of the State is
challenged and its authority undermined,
should the State sit back and not respond
with all its might when every successful
attack on it is intended to make it look
like incapable of protecting the
citizens? Should the State allow, the
terror brigade to strike at will and get
away with murders, kidnappings,
abductions and hijackings? Should a free
country allow the freedom it guarantees
to be misused by the terrorists who will
not think twice, before assassinating
political leaders cutting across the
party line, attacking installations of
National importance, Government buildings
or other critical installations? Should a
free democratic country keep quiet, when
its security forces and their encampments
are attacked?
We have to
live with our neighbour, Pakistan, the
cradle of terrorists, that unabashedly
encourages the groups and political
parties to outdo one another in stoking
communal fires in India.
All
Pakistani rulers, including the military
Colonels, sustain themselves in power, by
inciting anti-India feelings. They find
that anti-India propaganda is a good ploy
to divert the attention of the people
from the prevailing anarchic conditions
there.
Now that a
new Government is in place, Pakistan, as
usual, would create problem by strikes
like the ones at Ansal Plaza, the Jammu
Temple and other parts of the country.
Pakistan
has been providing, logistic support,
weapons, communication equipment and
training to terrorist groups such as
Jaish-e-Muhammed, Lashkar-e-Toiba and
Harkat-ul-Mujahideen based in its
territory.
The new
Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir wants
another unilateral ceasefire announcement
by the Centre, forgetting that the July,
2000, unilateral ceasefire was sabotaged
through more violence and massacres in
the State.
Prime
Minister's Ramzan ceasefire announcement
months ago was eroded through an
escalation of violence, including the
attacks by Pakistan - sponsored
terrorists on Red Fort in New Delhi and
the Srinagar Airport, apart from an
aborted assassination attempt on Jammu
and Kashmir Chief Minister and threats to
attack the office of the Prime Minister.
Pakistan suffers from compulsive
hostility to India and there is no
indication that it is willing to give it
up.
The
Samjhauta Express train and the
Delhi-Lahore bus service had to be
discontinued to prevent the misuse of
facilities to support cross-border
infiltration and terrorist operations in
India.
One fact
which has emerged is that the USA has not
shown any determination or seriousness in
handling the Pakistan-based outfits,
engaged in terrorist activities in India.
The
Americans are mollycoddling the
Pakistanis. The trouble with the USA is
that it's awesome military power makes it
forget that problems like terrorism
cannot be fought conclusively without
taking care of the ideological and
causative aspects and setting them right.
The USA
made a serious terror of judgement in
1999, when it ignored Russia's plea, to
fight Osama bin Laden's network, which
was involved with the Chechens at that
time. The Talibans were the creation of
CIA, which funded them to the Extent of
US $4 billion through Pakistani Colonels
and Generals.
America
felt that it could contain Russia through
al Qaeda. It forgot that it was riding a
tiger, who could pounce on it as soon as
it dismounted. The Americans realised the
blunder after a rude shock of September
11, 2001. But by that time it was too
late.
Now, even
though the international community
recognises the need for cooperation
against terrorism, national interests of
each country dominate the treatment of
the issue. The unanimity on the fight
against terrorism has been rhetorical,
rather than practical. At the
International level, collaborative
measures are proposed and accepted as a
reaction to events and never as advance
preventive measures.
There is
no doubt that sensitivity to the personal
or religious or sectional interests and
political implications, arising out of
the issue of terrorism has generated only
limited international cooperation.
War
against terrorism needs to be fought on
more than one front. Terrorism in the
modern world is no more a primitive form
of struggle by peasants and workers
against capitalism and by the liberation
movement in the Third World against
Western imperialism. It is also no more
an intense warfare between the
ideological superpowers - socialism and
capitalism and between democracy and
totalitarianism.
Now most
terrorist violence is indulged in urban
areas with a calculated political aim.
Fanaticism is one of the basic attributes
of the terrorist and is the sin qua non
of terrorist behaviour.
The
transnational terrorist group like al
Qaeda has successfully engaged in the
assassination of Government leaders, as
well as in sabotaging essential
facilities, bombing of embassies and
foreign corporations, skyjackings and
kidnapping of diplomats and business
executives for ransom. India has had a
first hand experience of their strikes.
Infact, al Qaeda is concentrating in a
big way in India, without our realising
its tentacles. Now the question arises,
whether India is ready to face the
challenge of terrorism?
Regrettably,
the answer is no. The present criminal
justice set up of the country was
conceived by the Britishers, who did not
have to face terrorism. So far, as the
legal framework is concerned we have a
fixed mind set that all is well.
Infact,
the Union Government, which is the
guardian of the sovereignty and
independence of India, has hardly any
role, in the fight against terrorism.
Dealing
with terrorism is treated as another
crime matter and falls within the purview
of the State Governments. It is left to
the local politicians and local police to
deal with it.
They have
no or little idea of what is happening in
the rest of the country except what
appears in the newspapers or the reports,
which the Union Home Ministry may share
with them. In States, which are not ruled
by the party in power in the Centre, it
is left to the States to act or not, as
the Centre may decide.
It is time
that suitable amendment was made to the
laws so that Central Government is not
only responsible for dealing with the
external aggression, but also for
internal sabotage.
At
present, there is no Central Agency,
which can legally investigate cases
against the terrorists and has a
comprehensive plan for sustained
investigation and follow up of such
cases.
There is
an urgent need to create one agency or
strengthen CBI, by giving it the required
legal powers as well as manpower, for
dealing with cases of terrorism all over
the country.
Terrorism
plagued Punjab almost for one decade and
it has been going on in Jammu and Kashmir
since 1989. The best way to deal with any
problem is to make one person or one
agency responsible for delivering the
results for the entire country as
terrorism is a country-wide problem and
not the problem of any State.
Proper
courts, laws, prosecution set up and an
investigation agency functioning in
tandem can only tackle the problem of
terrorism and not the adhoc approach and
knee jerk reactions, which are the
hallmark of the present dispensation.
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