Terror craft

The LTTE8217;s maiden air attack on a Sri Lankan military air base has rung alarm bells across the world.

The LTTE8217;s maiden air attack on a Sri Lankan military air base has rung alarm bells across the world. Confirmation of a fully-developed air force in the hands of a terrorist organisation has a tremendous fallout in terms of the future of terrorism. So far, security agencies across the world had focused on civilian air travel as a potential source of a terrorist attack. Having to monitor rogue aircrafts that could fly so low as to evade radars altogether is only going to make their job more difficult. The deed will certainly inspire similar action from other terrorist organisations across the world.

The situation also reflects a Sri Lankan failure to act in time and pre-empt the strike. The LTTE was perhaps the first terrorist organisation to ask its members to join flying clubs and learn flying, should the need arise for them to take an aerial suicide mission on Sri Lankan installations or public figures. The fear of the resumption of war prevented the Sri Lankan government from taking any action.

The lessons are there to be learnt for us in India. For the various large, foreign-funded terrorist organisations in India, getting aerial capability is merely a matter of successfully smuggling in small aircrafts in parts. We do not have a proud record in preventing hundreds of infiltrations across the border every year and if terrorists can smuggle in undetected, equipment is a small matter. If we are to protect ourselves, we must be prepared to pre-empt their attacks both swiftly and decisively.

Lost state

The Election Commission is the latest victim of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav8217;s tongue-lashing after it asserted a strict control over the state8217;s electoral process. The EC code may be too strict with restrictions on banners and even on the number of cars in the electoral caravan, but it is applicable to all political parties. Already in its bid to circumvent EC regulations, Mulayam8217;s party has floated fake organisations to run video raths chariots through the state and air party commercials worth hundreds of crores for television. This is for the first time that not even a single poster, banner or hoarding of any candidate is being allowed by Election Commission in UP. Amazingly, Mulayam8217;s brother and UP Minister Shivpal Yadav has made the statement that his party is not aware of funding for these advertisements. I hope the Election Commission finds time to discover the source of these mysterious funds.

Middle ground

The conference in Doha was unique in that the Americans had organised it with support from the Qatar government, and had invited people from across the continent to assess security in the gulf region. Incidentally, India was given more importance as separate delegations of both Congress and BJP were invited. Interestingly, the choice for the coordinator of Indian delegation was Washington-based Shekhar Tiwari, vice president of BJP Overseas. Yashwant Sinha was also a participant.

The writer is a Congress MP in Rajya Sabha