India isn’t well-prepared to handle terror attacks

Maroof Raza

Strategic Affairs Analyst

THE 26/11 attacks shocked the Indian security establishment due to the sheer audacity with which they were carried out, leaving India looking indecisive and helpless. It was a planned coming-out party for the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), which had decided to unseat Al-Qaeda, and to some extent, it did so in the region. But 15 years later, India has failed to bring Pakistan’s establishment to book despite US efforts and UN resolution 1267 that backed sanctions against terrorist acts. And the support to Pakistan at various UN forums gives it cover from prosecution as the West stands by helplessly.

The use of ‘terrorist attacks’ as an extension of its foreign policy is an article of faith that Pakistan’s establishment will not abandon. It has yielded results and continues to keep India on edge, despite the surgical strikes after the Uri and Pulwama attacks.

Successful intelligence operations are indeed the first line of defence against terror, and our intelligence agencies need to be commended for intercepting such potential threats. However, it is crucial to ask whether we are earnestly preparing to tackle situations that might escape their radar, and are we vigilant against the ominous clouds slowly drifting in our direction from Pakistan? Recent attacks from across the Line of Control indicate that the threat has not ceased. These repeated terrorist assaults carry an ominous message for India.

The lack of response from the Manmohan Singh government after the 26/11 attacks showed our total ineptitude. Although things have changed under the Narendra Modi government, the question remains: are we still prepared? In fact, since the 26/11 attacks, Western governments (particularly the US and the UK) have analysed the LeT’s ‘Mumbai template’ of assault on urban targets, devising protocols and rehearsing their responses. But in India, we appear far from prepared. Why haven’t our cities even begun to do the needful, at least the metros? Today, technological solutions are available for almost all security requirements and serve as valuable force multipliers.

Consider the latest reports highlighting Maharashtra’s Home and Police departments’ unprofessional approach to coastal security. Reportedly, in the past three years, the Mumbai police purchased 46 boats to safeguard Mumbai’s coastal areas; currently, only eight of these are operational. One reason Pakistan chose Mumbai as a target was the pathetic state of preparedness across the city. It showed India in a very poor light, with its police forces seemingly unable to operate even a .303 bolt-action rifle; handling an AK-47/56 is a tall order for them even now. Unfortunately, many who join the police force are not interested in battling terrorists or insurgents. A traffic challan is the best they are capable of issuing, which won’t deter a terrorist like Ajmal Kasab.

More importantly, while technology is being effectively used worldwide to counter terror, our city surveillance systems remain rudimentary, if not non-existent, even in our metros. Like the case of the amphibious boats gathering dust in Mumbai, police departments all over India keep getting their clueless political masters to sanction more new equipment, until they too rot. What little that exists barely functions. The concept of training and the maintenance of equipment is alien to the police, unlike the armed forces, which keep preparing for the worst with even outdated equipment.

Hi-tech police command centres are set up in state capitals and shown to the ministers, who then go home and sleep easy. But the beat policeman is left, often alone, to waddle along with his lathi without even a walkie-talkie to respond to give our cities and the people protection they desperately deserve.

Compare our state of affairs with that of the city of London, a prime example of intensive citywide smart surveillance, which can reportedly even establish hostile reconnaissance by suspicious individuals or monitor suspicious behaviour.

There are limitations, though. State police budgets are abysmally inadequate and can barely cover establishment costs. Chief Ministers must take the blame for this. Police modernisation is almost entirely dependent on Central Government handouts. Another problem is that we are seeking to impose solutions top-down by augmenting Central counter-terror capacities, whereas the constitutional and legal framework makes policing and public order a ‘state’ responsibility. Thus, the state police force is the primary mechanism for the prevention, detection, pre-emption and investigation of all offences, including terrorist attacks.

In how many cities can the National Security Guard (NSG) respond in time from its four regional hubs and headquarters in Delhi? It admits that it can’t. Consider also that multiple centres within a city may be under attack. Add to that the use of a crude radiological device (a dirty bomb, as they call it). Even if NSG units move with utmost expedition and airlift capacities and clear roads are assumed as a given, can we afford to surrender the initial few hours to the advantage of highly trained terrorists employing ‘special operations’ tactics against hapless civilian targets? In that event, a 60-hour repetition of Mumbai being held hostage may become inevitable, with large casualties and millions suffering vicarious victimhood as they remain transfixed to their TV screens. This is precisely what the terrorists want.

If the initial advantage has to be denied to the terrorists, the local police and the police station have to be prepared to be the first responder, equipped and trained for this tactical responsibility. While counter-terror capabilities in Delhi should be judiciously enhanced, the propensity to enlarge central fiefs without testing their efficacy should be eschewed. We need to honestly invest much more in our state police forces both for conventional policing and their initial response to a terror attack. For this, the onus must rest squarely with the state governments.

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