Terror146;s twists

A Brazilian electrician, mistaken for a suicide bomber, tries to flee from the police and gets felled by their bullets at the London neighbourhood of Stockwell. Three schoolboys wander around after a wedding celebration in Bangargund, a Kashmiri village, and face a barrage of fire from an army patrol who take them for militants. Tragic and terrible events that have come to mark extraordinarily troubled times when bombs explode with sickening regularity in places around the globe 8212; even unlikely ones like Sharm el-Sheik.

Undoubtedly, those in charge of security cannot afford to allow frazzled nerves and knee-jerk responses to be a substitute for high-alert, effective and visible policing. And, of course, killing the innocent bystander in cold blood is an affront to policing rules and civilised norms. But as we 8212; quite rightly 8212; blame jumpy and trigger-happy security men, we need to remember that the terrorist is equally to blame for creating an environment of fear and mass panic in which normal due process is lost in translation.

Therefore, even as we set up inquiry commissions to investigate shoot-to-kill orders that go terribly wrong and demand measures to ensure that such tragedies never occur in the future; even as we commiserate with those who have lost their sons, fathers, brothers in incidents of this kind, we need to understand the great stress and tension under which those placed in charge of security have to operate in 8212; every single day of their working lives. Some years ago Britain, among other nations, had accused India of army excesses in Kashmir. Today, hopefully, there is a greater realisation that aberrations of this kind are a reflection of the enormously difficult situation in which security forces operate 8212; in India and elsewhere in the world.