Expertise and ego

Terrorism, the world over, has assumed a high-tech dimension for some time now and India is not insulated from the ramifications of this process. It has become almost a cliche to state that the weapons, equipment and technology available to modern terrorist groups and individuals are intrinsically superior to those held by a country’s security forces. It is inevitable, therefore, that counter-terrorism must also look for better technology in the prevention, investigation and fighting of terrorism. Our anti-terrorism and counter-terrorism policies and campaigns have no doubt had to address these concerns. But there is never an end point where knowledge of weapons, and technology in this field reaches saturation point.

It is in this context that the US offer to get the FBI to assist in investigations into the bomb blasts in Assam and Nagaland must be seen. India has been, and is, a partner of the international coalition to combat terrorism globally. We had offered full co-operation to the US after the tragic attacks of September 11. A UN resolution requires all countries to work together in counter-terrorism. An Indo-US joint working group on counter-terrorism has been in existence since ’98 to work out mutual cooperation. Bhutan has recently helped to decimate the militant/terrorist groups who were using its territory as a sanctuary without bothering about any “big brother syndrome”. The purist may object to the US ambassador, David Mulford, writing to the Assam chief minister. But he only seems to have repeated the offer of help that he had already extended to the Union home minister.

If some of our bureaucrats or leftist leaders are now ready to burst a blood vessel because the US has offered FBI co-operation in investigating the recent bomb blasts, they need to think again. Should India deny itself world-class expertise and technological assistance to scientifically investigate the technical aspects of the bomb blast, including the forensic analysis of explosive residues that would help identify the origin of the explosives? Won’t such data help us get a better understanding of the sources of weapons and equipment of terrorist groups operating in the Northeast? Should we reject an offer of technical support, obviously made in good faith, and risk more casualties in future just because we are hyper-sensitive as a sovereign state? If India had the forensic techniques and technology that the FBI has, it would have been a different matter. But given the country’s obvious shortcomings in this field, we need to seriously consider the US offer of technical support.