The Hindu Business Line : Tackling terror

THE EXPLOSIONS THAT wreaked havoc in London's Underground and a double-decker bus on Thursday underscores the point that violent terrorism has come to stay and that the world will have to learn to live with it, including the loss of precious, innocent lives and property. There can, however, be no cowing down to the threats of the "sudden-death brigade" because that would mean surrendering to the forces of violence.

Coming after the attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York in September 2001, the Indian Parliament in December 2001, the train explosions in Madrid in March 2004, and the more recent Ayodhya suicide bombings, what the London blasts have re-emphasised is that rigorous steps will have to be taken to upgrade security for the average citizen to make life safer for him and more difficult for his potential killers. In the US, around 32 million people use the mass transit facilities daily and it has been suggested that the level of security provided to commuters is not what it should be. Some $18 billion has been spent on aviation security since 9/11, but rail and transit security received just $250 million, which is considered grossly inadequate. An amendment to the Homeland Security Appropriations Bill would allocate annually $100 million for both mass transit and rail security; it has also sought the doubling of fund allocation for bus security from $10 million to $20 million every year.

Clearly, this sort of investment scale is prohibitive for poor countries which only means that there should be some sort of an international cooperation to tackle terror. For, imagine the plight of Mumbai, where the suburban railway network ferries hundreds of thousands people every day. It is frightening to think of what determined killers can do if they ever decide to target this ebbing and flowing sea of humanity. Or, take the metro railway systems in New Delhi and Kolkata, where terrorists can wreak havoc with ease if ever they wish to. Whatever the intention of the terrorists, the London attacks, coinciding with the much-hyped G-8 summit at Gleneagles in Scotland, may have, unwittingly, had the effect of adding another point to the agenda of the meeting — how to help developing economies protect their citizens from terror.

This would in itself comprise a big step forward in the direction of effectively combating international terrorism. But, clearly, that would be a long-term process and it will not be surprising if the rich economies drag their feet on the issue as they have done in a number of other areas. While the world waits for some progress in this sphere, it will only be appropriate to take note of the resilience shown by the stock markets in the wake of the London blasts, firmly indicating that the votaries of violence will not have their way in destabilising the international economy.

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