Terror and the weak state

How perceptive. The stupidest, most apolitical Indians have worked out that the men who plant bombs in the bazaars of our cities do not want peace. What they cannot understand is why we have a government that is powerless in the face of what it itself acknowledges is a proxy war. In the past six months bombs have gone off in Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Delhi and Guwahati. In the past four years there have been more people killed in terrorist attacks in India than in any country other than Iraq. Would the Prime Minister like to tell us why his government has been unable to defend us against terrorists who announce on every jihad website that their objective is to Islamise India?

Let me make it clear here that I do not think that our opposition parties have shown themselves to be any better at understanding or dealing with the problem. From the likes of Messrs L.K. Advani and Prakash Karat we hear nothing that indicates that they have national interest rather than their own petty political interests at heart. If this is a war against the idea of India, then it is time for our political leaders to put the country above politics. This has not happened. Nor was Advani8217;s record as Home Minister anything to be proud of.

This does not diminish the gravity of the Prime Minister8217;s failure to understand the threat to India8217;s security. Instead of condemning terrorism, what we want to know is what steps he has taken to prevent another Indian city being bombed? Do we have a national counter-terrorism unit yet? What steps have been taken to modernise police weapons and training? Do we have evidence that Pakistan or Bangladesh are involved in funding the terrorist groups that operate in India? If we do, what are we doing about this? Can we have details of terrorism cases that have been conclusively solved? The questions are too many to list here and in any case the Prime Minister never deigns to answer them. He just smiles and waits for public anger to die down.

There are signs that it is not going to die as easily as in the past. In Guwahati, enraged people attacked a police station last week. How long will it be before others start taking the law into their hands? As you read this on the anniversary of the Sikh massacres that followed the assassination of Indira Gandhi, it is important to remember that this was the first instance in which an Indian Government encouraged the police to desist from performing its fundamental duty of protecting innocent people. There are reports in which eyewitnesses have testified to this. As someone who wandered the streets of Delhi on those three terrible days in which ordinary people turned into killers knowing that nobody would stop them, may I say that never before or since have I seen the police more derelict or the state more complicit in violence.

We are paying for it today. Once the police are corrupted by politicians, it is very hard to stop the slide. In all our states we are fighting terrorism with policemen who not only lack the weapons or intelligence systems to deal with modern terrorism but who also lack the will. They are confused by the mixed signals they get from our political leaders. We must not target a community, they say, without realising that they do this by these very words. Why do they not say this when Hindu terrorists are caught? Only fools and fanatics would suggest that all Muslims are terrorists. But, equally we must acknowledge that nearly every act of terrorism on Indian soil in recent years has been by Muslims who are fighting a jihad against India. The police must target them but will do it only when they are backed by unwavering political will.