The Hindu Business Line : Jaipur blasts

“Has anyone thought why there has not been a single instance of terror in the US, post-9/11, unlike India where such attacks occur almost everyday? The difference lies in the desire to study the problem scientifically and take remedial measures.... We do not have the political will to fight terrorism....” — Chief Justice R. C. Lahoti of the Supreme Court

How many more terrorist attacks should occur, and how many more lives should be lost, before the powers-that-be in India awake to the reality that practically the entire country is within the cross hairs of the terrorists who kill for attaining martyrdom? The rabid motivation for murdering anyone within sight has ceased to have anything to do with policies pursued by this or that country; it is rooted in inhuman hatred, all-consuming ill-will and raging fanaticism.

The Jaipur blasts, like all the previous ones, form part of a carefully masterminded operation that has managed to hoodwink the elaborate intelligence structure and police machinery.

In the face of the terrible prospect confronting the country, underplaying the mortal danger from the advancing tide of jihadi terrorism is to cause irretrievable damage to national interest. Any Government that displays smugness and complacency becomes an unwitting party to the execution by the jihadis of their murderous designs with still more ruthlessness.

The situation calls for firm handling. There should be no vacillation in expelling all the illegal immigrants who not only rob the genuine citizens of the due fruits of economic development but also pose grave danger to the country. Their numbers have swollen to huge proportions thanks to unchecked infiltration and political connivance precisely in those areas of the country which are breeding grounds of anti-national elements. The only place for them to go is back to where they came from, and all steps must be taken to that end and the operation completed within a specified time-frame.

Special law

Next, analogous to the CBI and the IB, a new Central Counter-Terrorism Bureau should be established, vesting it with the entire range of duties and responsibilities to extirpate terrorism, and with power and authority to override State jurisdiction in its best judgment. To make it strong and effective, its functioning should be made totally independent of, and fully immune from, political meddling, manipulation and machinations, except for the Government’s right to institute inquiries into any abuse or misuse of authority.

Finally, the Government owes it to their sovereign masters, the people, and to itself, to put on the statute book a special law for curbing terrorism, providing for summary trial akin to military tribunals, and detention without bail until the trials are completed. There should be only one chance to appeal and that too only on substantive points of law, and on conviction, the perpetrators should be given deterrent punishment of death or life-long incarceration.

The no-holds-barred measures against terrorists adopted by the world’s two tested and long-standing democracies, the UK and the US, must be equally good, if not even better, for the world’s most vulnerable and fragile one.

The emerging scenario, in fact, calls for a law stronger than the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) which has been misguidedly repealed. A more rigorous law strengthening the hands of the investigative agencies providing for quick and deterrent punishment will certainly help prevent terrorism from assuming more deadly proportions. As regards the possibility of its misuse, the civil society should be trusted to exercise constant vigilance so that instances of harassment are taken up for inquiry and appropriate remedial action without delay.

B. S. RAGHAVAN