The Hindu Business Line : No abating of terrorism

The gruesome attack on the convoy of Ms Benazir Bhutto at Karachi makes one wonder why terrorism is showing no signs of abating and, on the contrary, is able to perpetrate such horrors at will and at the time and places of its choosing.

I understand from one who is a tireless seminar-hopper himself that about 100 seminars are held daily round the globe on terrorism.

Besides, thousands of tomes, tracts, papers and articles are being spewed out from Commissions, committees, think-tanks, academia and the media expatiating on the nature of the beast and the strategies and steps to put it down. The electronic media, the Internet and the Blogsphere too never let a day pass without debates, interviews, talk shows and prolific comments on the grisly subject.

Huge amounts are being spent by governments everywhere on intelligence agencies, surveillance activities, security infrastructure, technological equipment and devices, and inter-country joint mechanisms. In short, terrorism is keeping everyone busy mulling, talking, writing and holding and wringing hands about it, without all of that translating into any perceptible impact on the ground. There is no denying that terrorists take every one by surprise every time with tragic results.

Of course, it is the constant refrain of apologists in, and for, government agencies that they do not get due credit for the terrorist strikes that they had stopped from happening by timely action and are unfairly judged by the ones that hog limelight. One likes to believe them, although there is no way such claims can be cross-checked.

It is true that terrorists are indistinguishable from the average persons, have no fixed abode, work for, and in, no structured outfit, and are ideology or grievance-driven fanatics prepared to go to any lengths, even to blow themselves, in pursuit of their barbaric goals.

Soft target

The question, however, is: Have governments done everything that can, and should, be done, as laid down in the UN Security Council Resolution adopted soon after 9/11, by way of further intensifying efforts relating to security and intelligence, strengthening the hands of the personnel, and speeding up the retributive justice system to make the terrorists think twice before embarking on their demoniacal designs?

There is plenty to learn by making case-studies of countries which have been relatively free of terrorism.

For instance, how come, Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Japan and the US, with Britain and Russia not far behind, have managed to curb the menace, while India is still continuing to be the soft target?

The former set of countries is determined to fight terrorists to the finish, with neither qualm nor compunction, neither apologies nor regrets.

They have forged special laws, legal systems and investigative procedures, even going counter to their liberal traditions, in order to deny any quarter to terrorists. Their Courts too have consistently upheld the validity of those laws and procedures.

The situation in India is complicated by Pakistan’s doublespeak, if not active encouragement to terrorist outfits, as also the Government’s vulnerability to pressures from human rights activists, libertarian groups and weak-kneed idealists.

This is the time when the nation needs a law analogous to what the US, more of an open society and more of a democracy than India, has on its statute book — a law that, in many respects, is more stringent than the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA).

The Government should show itself to be single-minded and firm in extirpating the venomous vipers striking at the root of the nation.

If it does not shake itself out of its complacency and deploy and use all the resources at its command now, the forces inimical to the nation will see to it that it does not get a second chance.

B. S. RAGHAVAN