The Hindu Business Line : The security bug

Since the war against civil terrorism of all types must continue with the utmost resolve at the command of the nation's security agencies, strenuous and continual efforts must be made to make it a hard battle for the perpetrators of violence.

THE recent serial blasts in Delhi have once again focussed attention on the fact that civil society in India and abroad is at the mercy of terrorists and killers who are prepared to snuff out innocent lives with impunity whenever they wish to do so in aid of a cause which is increasingly becoming vague and unfocussed.

True, in the Delhi case, New Delhi has let Islamabad know in no uncertain terms that it cannot disassociate itself from the cowardly act, which took scores of lives, young and old. Indeed, the UN too has sent the same message, albeit somewhat indirectly, to Pakistan that any and everything must be done to control and curb the export of terrorist activity to neighbours.

While this has served to focus attention on those responsible for the October 29 blasts, the fact remains that, as a class of activity, these incidents are bound to take place whenever those with diabolical intentions plan to do so, the glaring inference being that the civil security agencies in the country are quite helpless in altogether preventing such activity.

To be fair to the people in uniform, they do at times stumble on information pointing to the imminence of "hot" terrorist activity which, more often than not, results in the momentary prevention of the violent act in question. But, of course, in view of the importance of the subject being discussed vis-à-vis the maintenance of peace and security for ordinary citizens in a democratic society, this cannot be enough to justify the existence of, and national expenditure on, the security forces such as the police, etc.

The crucial bit of action which the security agencies concerned must take to justify their raison d'etre is "prevention" of such occurrences altogether which, most people will argue and not insensibly, is quite an impossible task in a society as densely populated and porous as India's.

Even so, since the war against civil terrorism of all types must continue with the utmost resolve at the command of the nation's security agencies, strenuous and continual efforts must be made to make it a hard battle for the perpetrators of violence. The question to ask is: Is this being done today? The answer appears to be a `no' because if such action was indeed being taken by the authorities concerned, there would be little scope to tighten up on security arrangements in civil society after such incidents.

To take the situation in Kolkata, in the aftermath of the Delhi blasts, newspapers carried pictures of visitors to the Kalighat temple being electronically frisked by policemen. There is no question that such steps by the security agencies do make a crowded place like a temple a bit safer for ordinary citizens. But is it not rather silly to do all this checking immediately after an incident like the one at Delhi especially when, all the year round, such safety measures are conspicuous by their absence? Would it not be a trifle more sensible for the security agencies to allot more people and equipment (whatever the cost and staff-tension involved) for such duties throughout the year, which would accomplish the intended job before tragedy struck instead of waiting for some more lives to be lost?

The same sort of preventive action should be taken to reduce the risk of terrorist attacks in crowded bazaars and shopping malls, not to speak of crowded public transport such as buses and trains where the impact of such explosions could be maximum because of the closed physical nature of the environment.

Perhaps of equal social importance would be the publicising of such security steps through the media all the year round, the psychologically beneficial impact of which could be substantial.

After all, the major airports all over the country have stringent entry-check stipulations throughout the year, which have almost certainly made the job of terrorists more difficult. Terrorists cannot be wiped out from a society like India's. But certainly the pressure on them can be increased manifold. Can we expect the nation's security agencies — which exist for the people's welfare and protection — to fulfil this task as effectively as possible?

Ranabir Ray Choudhury

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