Where Life Is Cheap

Another day, another series of bomb blasts, another sixty innocent people lie bloody and dead on the streets of another Indian city. And yet again our nation’s Home Minister intones that “Indians are courageous and will never succumb to the nefarious designs of terrorists”. Sorry, it just isn’t enough anymore. Terrorist strikes on Indian civilians in public places (trains, temples, mosques, bazaars) have killed hundreds of people in the last couple of years. Last year alone there were four deadly terrorist strikes – in May, August, October and November. To my knowledge, not a single terrorist has yet been convicted.

Why is this? Indian opposition parties allege (with much justification) that this government is “soft” on terror. Unfortunately, this allegation is true. The country’s intelligence gathering machinery is in a shambles. There is no coordination between the police and intelligence forces in the Centre and the states. In such situations, “human intelligence” – agents on the ground, make all the difference. And these individuals are few and far between. There is no coordinated governmental strategy to fight terrorism – of any stripe. While terrorists from the failed states across our borders strike with impunity, the last few years have seen the ominous and swift rise of two new home-grown sources of terrorism – fundamentalists within the borders of India and the Naxalites (Maoists). The Maoists now rule about 15% of India’s territory – where the government’s rule of law is virtually non-existent. The territory ruled by Maoists is primarily in the poor Northern states – especially Bihar, Orissa, Chhatisgarh, Jharkhand and parts of Andhra Pradesh. Lately, they have been spreading their tentacles into other “developed” states as well, including Maharashtra and Karnataka.

This government, which has been in power for nearly five years, has no clue about how to deal with terrorism – from across the border or the home-grown variety. They have had enough time to put in place a comprehensive strategy to deal with both. But they haven’t. Why? Apologists for the ruling governmental coalition say that a strategy to combat terrorism in India does not exist because the current government is comprised of a “rainbow” coalition of political parties, and the Prime Minister cannot put together a strategy because there is no consensus. The Leftists, for example, view terrorism merely as a “law and order” problem. It is not a law and order problem. Terrorists (both the fundamentalist and Maoist varieties) want to destroy the country and the very foundations and principles India represents – diversity, tolerance, justice, religious harmony, a thousand separate streams flowing into one mighty river. This is not merely a law and order problem.

The solutions are simple.

1. Put together a centralized Homeland Security type of program that concentrates on recruiting and training agents that can gather and act on terrorism related information before an attack takes place. This is not very difficult. Other countries across the world have done this successfully. The Indian Prime Minister sounded very petulant and ineffective yesterday when he said that such a centralized program was desirable, but “the states were not willing to cooperate”. This is not something he needs to build consensus on. Even opposition parties will agree with this (in fact, they are the ones who have been stridently demanding it). For a government that has shoved several controversial measures down people’s throats in the last few years (the caste-based “quota system” in higher education is the latest example), doing something positive and widely regarded as desirable should not be difficult. Even if it is difficult, it needs to be done, whether or not the states agree. Governing a diverse country such as India is a difficult job. If he does not want a difficult job, he should step down. Whining about it in public is an excuse and unbecoming of a man of the Indian Prime Minister’s stature.

2. Enact or bring back stringent anti-terrorist laws such as the POTA (Prevention of Terrorist Activities) Act that allows for the interrogation of those suspected of terrorist activities and makes it a non-bailable offence. Some human rights activists have claimed that there have been gross violations of human rights as a result of POTA. That is possible. However, what needs to be done is ensuring proper implementation of laws such as POTA, not discarding them. That is like throwing the baby out with the bathwater. After all, laws prohibiting murder and theft have not been repealed because of the possibility of innocent people being convicted. The objective should be to ensure that no human rights violations take place, not the repealing of the law. The current ruling coalition cynically repealed the POTA law promptly after coming into power, in a bid to get votes from India’s minorities. The fact is that Indian minorities want the same things that India’s religious Hindu majority does – law and order, jobs, roads, education, healthcare. Terrorist bombs do not discriminate between killing Hindu and Muslim – they kill indiscriminately.

3. Set up “fast-track” courts to swiftly mete out justice to those convicted of terrorism. India’s judicial system is among the slowest in the world. Those terrorists accused in the 1993 Mumbai blasts were convicted only in 2007 – a delay of fourteen years, and this was a high-profile case in the full glare of the media!! This is simply unacceptable.

4. Get somebody who means business to implement the suggestions listed above. Our current Home Minister is an object of ridicule and contempt. He has no administrative skills or track record to speak of (can somebody name even one of his accomplishments after he has spent a lifetime in politics?), and spends his time reviewing police parades in far-flung rural districts and using the government airplane to visit his home-town when he gets homesick. His only qualification for the job is the fact that he has been a loyal Gandhi-Nehru dynasty sycophant for the last thirty years. The Home Minister is the second most powerful person in the country. The individual is entrusted with providing one billion people with internal security. It is a tough job and requires a tough, competent individual in charge. Surely, as Indian citizens, we deserve much, much better?

So why are these suggestions, which are so obvious, not being implemented? It is because in India, life is cheap. And it is not just our politicians to blame. All of us will forget last week’s Jaipur blasts soon. Unless, God forbid, someone we know or love is hurt or killed. We will forget it until the next time terrorists strike, killing another set of innocent people.

Do not forget. Hold your government accountable to do what is right by the people who elected them – the long-suffering citizens of India, Hindus, Muslims, Christians – all of us. India and its values, traditions and culture of religious diversity is unique. It deserves to be treasured and protected.