India & the long shadow of terror

Defence minister Arun Jaitley said recently that Pakistan must make a conscious choice whether it wants dialogue with India or those working to break up India. The point about the government Mr Jaitley serves is that it seems to have not yet figured out how to go about dealing with terrorism, which receives help from Pakistan.

The Pakistan factor is crucial to the terrorism story in India. But terrorism has lengthened its shadow because the Indian State has failed to put in place systems and institutions to combat the menace, and failed to provide adequate budgets and manpower to the organisations charged with fighting the menace. At a basic level, it has not even brought about reforms that would empower the constable who is meant to be the eyes and the ears of the community.

On the wider plane, a crucial institution that would deal with terrorism on the basis of real-time information, and pursue terrorists across inter-state boundaries, was thwarted, in part, by the BJP when it was the main Opposition party acting in concert with the Trinamul Congress. The National Counter-Terrorism Centre was not permitted to be created, thanks to the specious argument that it would compromise the powers of states given to them by the Constitution. It is now evident that the National Intelligence Agency, created after the attack on Mumbai by sea-borne terrorists who had sailed out of Karachi, is languishing for lack of funds, personnel and expertise in this age of cyber-threats and other ways of attack that terrorists use.

Since the BJP came to power, terrorism has made a forceful appearance in a variety of ways, although — fortunately — there has been no major strike. West Bengal has emerged as a terrorist hub. In Burdwan, Bangladeshi jihadists had converted a house into an explosives factory and command centre. Last Tuesday, there was a Pakistani terrorist threat at Kolkata port. Consequently, two warships berthed there pulled out post-haste.

A suicide bomber caused mayhem on the Pakistan side of the Attari-Wagah border a few days ago, and the perpetrators threatened they would push into the Indian side too. The NIA has announced that Indian terrorists have been found to be in regular touch with Al Qaeda. The US recently confirmed what India has been saying all along — that Pakistan leverages terrorist groups against India to overcome its military inferiority against this country.

In the face of the complex threats we face, the typical response is to keep Muslim communities under surveillance, risking social and political discord. Ruling establishment elements think nothing of igniting the bush-fire of communalism. It’s time we grew up.