It is time we demanded from our political leaders a response to terrorism that goes beyond mouthing the same worn-out cliches they spout every time there is a new horror. Terrorism is breathing its last few breaths. It is only ‘‘frustration’’ at the Government’s success in fighting terrorism that has caused this new act of violence. Our dushman (better known as Pakistan) is responsible and we will defeat this enemy in this ‘‘proxy war’’ just as we defeated him every time on the battlefield.This time we heard these words from the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister outside the Swaminarayan Mandir in Gandhinagar. But, I can remember hearing almost these very words after the attack on Parliament, after IC-814 was hijacked, after every massacre in Kashmir and—if I throw my memory back—I can remember them from the early ’80s when terrorism first became part of our daily reality on account of the political problems in Punjab.What I also remember is that no sooner do the images of horror fade from public memory than our political leaders slink back into their high-security homes and offices and do absolutely nothing more to make the lives of ordinary Indians more secure. The Vajpayee Government virtually began its current tenure in office with the hijacking of IC-814 from Kathmandu. At that time, if you remember, there were a lot of passionate words about fixing the enemy and fighting the war against terrorism and then our External Affairs Minister graciously escorted Masood Azhar and Omar Sheikh to Kandahar and all that has happened since is that they have gone on to become bigger and bigger heroes in the annals of terrorism.Meanwhile, what has the Vajpayee Government done to ensure that terrorism is defeated? Nothing. Zero. Shunya. And, the man directly responsible is our Home Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, Lal Krishna Advani, the very one who was the first to arrive at the temple last week to tell us we would ‘‘defeat the enemy’’. If he were asked what steps his ministry has taken since the hijacking to ‘‘defeat the enemy’’ he would find it hard to list a single one.Allow me to list his failures. Our intelligence agencies remain so bad that it is only after the event that we hear about the ‘‘leads’’ they had been following and the vital information they have gathered from intercepting terrorist conversations. Worse still, even after the event the only ‘‘proof’’ they have made public of Pakistani involvement in acts of terrorism on Indian soil is that the terrorists, for mysterious reasons, always have on them some item that links them to Pakistan. Cinema tickets from Lahore, Pakistani food items, Pakistani numbers on mobile phones and, this time, letters written in Urdu. Surely, if the purpose of this latest massacre was to re-ignite communal violence the letters would have been in Gujarati to identify them clearly as local Muslims?Besides, why would terrorists who in every other matter exhibit extraordinary professionalism overlook such things as cinema tickets and letters in Urdu? If our intelligence agencies were as well-trained as the terrorists we would by now have definite proof of Pakistani involvement instead of less than credible conjecture.If there has been no effort to retrain our intelligence agencies there has been even less effort to set up special anti-terrorist forces. All those trained so far, as this column has pointed out before, spend their time mostly protecting VIPs and their progeny. Why do we not see National Security Guardsmen in the streets of Ahmedabad, Mumbai and Delhi? Why are they not patrolling our neighbourhoods, airports and railway stations watching out for suspicious strangers? There is no point expecting ordinary policemen to do this since they do not even have weapons as sophisticated as those the terrorists carry.One act of terrorism on American soil and a Department of Homeland Security was immediately set up to concentrate on fighting terrorism. In India we have had countless acts of terrorism since the early ’80s and to date there is no sign of a special ministry to deal with the problem. If the Prime Minister is serious about fighting this war, let him begin by appointing a Minister for Protection of Bharatmata. What about K.P.S. Gill?It has to be someone who understands the problem or we will end up with no better results than we have seen from the Home Ministry. We do not want another ministry filled with officials and politicians who are more concerned with their perks, foreign holidays, official houses and cars than with the job at hand. We need the government to act before the images of the massacre in the Gandhinagar mandir fade from public memory and return to haunt us when there is the next massacre and the next.Meanwhile, can we please be spared the speeches? It does not matter if the terrorists were motivated by ‘‘the success’’ of the election in Kashmir or by some lunatic interpretation of Islam or by revenge. All that matters is that too many people have died for nothing and we need to know that our government is taking steps to ensure that no more innocents die. No more crocodile tears, VIP massacre tours and no more cliches.
