Ajay Lele
Ajay Lele is a research fellow at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA), New Delhi. He has Master's degrees in Physics and Defence and Strategic Studies, and a PhD from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He works on issues related to Weapons of Mass Destruction and Strategic Technologies. The author of two books — ‘Bio-Weapons: The Genie in the Bottle’ and ‘Weather and Warfare,’ he also contributes regularly to various websites, newspapers and national and international journals.
Post 26/11, terrorism is in India is showing no signs of abetment, the New Year attacks in Assam proves that. This time the source may not be Pakistan-centric, but that only demonstrates that the Indian state need to address the issue of terrorism on multiple fronts.
The first day of 2009 started with a positive signal: the President’s approval of two bills: one to create the National Investigating Agency (NIA), and the other the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Bill. These acts indicate that government is perusing its counterterrorism agenda extremely seriously.
Special:Mumbai Terror Attack
Terrorism in India perhaps came into its own after the huge blast at the Central Telegraph Office behind Lal Chowk in Srinagar, July 30, 1988. But it took 20 years for India to establish a central agency to address this threat. The reasons for this could be many. First and foremost, the nature of threat has become more perilous over the last two decades. What was earlier perceived as a routine law and order problem has now gravitated into a major crisis, where state machinery has been found wanting. Successive governments have been criticized for not setting up a central agency to address this threat.
It took the terror attack on Mumbai to finally galvanize the government to act. The new agency is expected to be formed along the lines of the American Federal Bureau of Investigation, which was established in 1908 with the stated purpose to “protect and defend the United States against terrorist and foreign intelligence threats”.
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But it would be naïve to expect instant results from this agency. It will could take months, perhaps even a year, to put the system and processes in place, before the agency really starts functioning. There is also going to be friction over turf, since under the Indian Constitution, law and order falls under the purview of the state governments, while officers of the NIA above the rank of sub-inspector will have special powers to pursue and investigate any offence related to terror across the country.
Taken together, the NIA and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) amendments finally gives the government some teeth to tackle terror. The agencies will now be able to detain suspected terrorists for 180 days instead of the 90 days allowed earlier. This significant increase will allow police forces to translate the information gathered from the terrorists into a legal case. Foreigners who are accused of terrorism will not get bail, and the process has been made extremely difficult even for an Indian suspect. NIA officers will enjoy same powers and privileges as that of the local police officers while handling terror related issues.
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The government has also decided to invest in human resources development (HRD) issues and increasing the fighting potency of the forces. There is a plan to strengthen Intelligence Bureau (IB) by filling up senior level vacancies. Ten senior officers have already been positioned in IB and they are expected to fill the leadership vacuum.
Also, 20,000 bullet proof jackets for central paramilitary forces are being procured. This could send the signal to the troops that the nation values their life and is expected to help them operate more freely during counterterrorism operations. Even though currently Indian government is continuing with its diplomatic offensive with Pakistan, obviously the government’s approach is not limited only to address Pakistan centric terrorism. Terrorism in North-East and the Naxal menace are also on the radar.
The other Indo-Pak war
Financial allocations have been made for the construction of 27 new border roads on the Sino-India border and the work is expected to commence from May 1, 2009. Rs 94.15 crore would be spent for securing critical infrastructure in Naxal infested areas.
The government is also expected to set up 20 counter-insurgency and anti-terrorism schools. Apart from Delhi- Mumbai, Hyderabad and Chennai have been identified as centers for regional hubs of the National Security Guard (NSG). This would allow trained forces to react faster to attacks in these cities and their neighbourhoods.
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Availability of actionable intelligence is one of the key weapons in the war against terror. The government has thus put in place a Multi-Agency Centre (MAC), which will collate intelligence related to terrorism. The need for such agency had been spelt out by the Kargil review committee report, and the agency was formulated accordingly. But it mostly remained a dormant structure. The revamped MAC is expected to share intelligence with all other intelligence agencies, including agencies of the individual state governments. State capitals are expected to establish subsidiaries of MAC (SMAC) for intelligence coordination at the local level. Unfortunately, over the years India has witnessed intense turf battle amongst the intelligence agencies and it is hoped that MAC will facilitate timely intelligence information decimation to various agencies.
The flip side of all these efforts is that it some of these powers could be misused by the government to crack down on political dissent. Politicians and journalists could be at risk. But such hypothetical situations should not deter the government. What is important is to allow these structures to operate freely without any political pressures.
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One major issue which is yet to be addressed is that of police reforms. Until and unless this is tackled, the situation on ground is not likely to change much. There is a need to establish an intelligence gathering mechanism which is the combination of technical and human intelligence. Even though most of the terrorist acts in India have a foreign footprint, there could be certain amount local involvement into such acts. An agile and professional police force would play a major role in intelligence gathering at local levels. There is also a crying need to modernize the police force- its criminal to expect them to fight 21st century terrorist with Second World War vintage weaponry.
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Today, India is surrounded by states like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka whose territory is being freely used by ‘non-state actors.’ Some of them have succeeded in developing certain amount cross linkages in India. More importantly there is a covert state support in regard to many of their activities. The formulation of agencies like NIA will not resolve the problem, but at least could create a mechanism to address the issues upfront, and may also create some form of deterrence for fence sitters who help the terror groups mostly for financial gains by helping them with money transfer, procurement of arms & ammunition, communication and other logistical support.
So while it is hoped that measures like this would strengthen the government’s ability to fight the war against terror, both central and state governments should use its provisions in a judicious manner.
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