Who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it

Eternal Vigilance Is the Price of Liberty

India remembers 26/11 terrorist attack on Mumbai. Let us pay our tribute to the brave souls. But is India protected from such attacks? Is India equipped and informed to counter such attacks?


The Department of State of US reminds their citizens of the continued possibility of terrorist attacks throughout India during the current Indian holiday season. US have not witnessed any major terrorist attack on its soil after the series of coordinated suicide attacks by al-Qaeda upon the United States on September 11, 2001.

More than 600 people (figures may not be accurate) have been killed and hundreds maimed and devastated in terror strikes in India in the last eight years. The terrorist attack of November 26 on the financial capital of the nation has rather traumatically driven home the reality that threat to national security from the seas is no longer hypothetical or distant.

The ghastly attack on Parliament House on 13th December, 2001 has shocked the entire nation. The terrorist assault on the very bastion of our democracy was clearly aimed at wiping out the country’s top political leadership. It is a tribute to our security personnel that they rose to the occasion and succeeded in averting what could have been a national catastrophe. In so doing they made the supreme sacrifice for which the country would always remain indebted to them.
Following is a chronology of the major terrorist attacks on India since the attack on Parliament House:

Gandhinagar, Sep 24, 2002 the attack on the Akshardham temple.
Mumbai, Aug 25, 2003: two blasts including one near the Gateway of India.
New Delhi, Oct 29, 2005: three blasts on the eve of Diwali.
Varanasi, March 7, 2006: three blasts including one at a temple and another at a railway station.
Mumbai, July 11, 2006: seven blasts on suburban trains and stations
Malegaon, Maharashtra, Sep 8, 2006: two blasts.
Samjhauta Express, Feb 19, 2007: two firebombs went off on the India-Pakistan friendship train.
Hyderabad, Aug 25, 2007: two blasts, at a popular eatery and a public park.
Jaipur, May 13, 2008: serial bombings.
Bangalore, July 25, 2008: a low-intensity bomb explosion.
Ahmadabad, July 26, 2008: 20-odd synchronized bombs went off within less than two hours.
New Delhi, Sep 13, 2008: six blasts across the city.
New Delhi, Sep 27, 2008: a crude bomb was thrown in a busy market in Mehrauli.
Modasa, Gujarat, Sep 29 2008: a low-intensity bomb kept on a motorcycle went off near a mosque.
Malegaon, Maharashtra, Sep 29, 2008: a bomb kept in a motorbike went off in a crowded market.
Kanpur, Oct 14, 2008: bomb planted on a rented bicycle went off Colonelganj market.
Imphal, Oct 21, 2008: powerful blast near Manipur Police Commando complex.
Assam, Oct 30, 2008: 18 terror bombings across Assam.

In this context, if we reflect briefly on the conflicts that the sub-continent has seen over the past six decades, we will see that starting with the Pakistani invasion of Kashmir a few weeks after Independence, and the 1962 Chinese attacks in NEFA and Ladakh, right up to the infiltration into Kargil heights in 1999, our intelligence apparatus has invariably let us down.

During the terrorist attack on Mumbai in November 2008, one failure constantly flagged by the media in the initial stages was “this policeman has never fired a round in his life. What sort of police force do we have?” asked the reporter. I could empathise with the policeman who probably never got the opportunity to fire, with his bosses who possibly could not provide him the opportunity to do so. The second failure which has haunted us in the past many times resurfaced yet again with great ferocity - ‘Intelligence failure’ and what some termed as ‘lack of actionable intelligence’. Here too the experts blamed the system while the reporter and presumably the television audience continued to demonstrate surprise at what they considered as total incompetence.

Now it is not a simple issue at all. Because in order to be able to mitigate successfully and to thwart terror attacks, you first and foremost, need very good intelligence, so that you will be able to know what is going on far away from your borders, if somebody is in a process of arranging and planning a terror attack against India. The better you know, the farther you know, the better you will be able to cope with it.

It is not enough to find all of a sudden in the middle of the night a group of terrorists firing at the Railway Stations or any other Public building. Not enough to find out when a terrorist attack is already in progress. In order to avoid it, in order to prevent it, and in order to thwart it, before it comes to execution, you need intelligence. This is the most important element. The second element is rapid deployment forces, which are on high alert all the time, trained and equipped to face groups of terrorists and to win each and every of the battles against terrorism. This takes a lot of effort in order to prepare and build such a unit.

Firstly, we have to find the people. But we have to have a system how to choose the best people even before they start their training. Because we don't want people to start training and after a week to be withdrawn, to be dropped. They have to be equipped with most modern equipment and weapon systems, because in order to be able to fight a terrorist effectively, it is usually at very close distance. So it is a combination of training and technology. Technology is weapon systems. Technology is gear. Radio transmitters, Binoculars, for both day and night etc. Also need means of transportation like helicopters, fast means of transportation. Because if all of a sudden there is an attack at some places the forces has to be mobilized and transported. In Mumbai it took 10 long hours for NSG to reach.

The anti-terror warfare is something very, very complicated because, as in Mumbai, and as in many other places, those terrorists, once they were on the ground, they were ready to die. They came in order to execute a suicide type of terrorist attack. Which means that there is no way to deter them. You cannot deter somebody who is ready to die. You need to either catch them before they start their journey and before they start implementation or while they are on their way.

The problem with terrorism is that if you don't have an early warning -- which is again intelligence. Of course, once a terrorist brings out his weapon there should be a system that immediately will face him, which means not necessarily Special Forces, but the regular forces. The regular policeman should be able to at least contain and to prevent a terrorist from proceeding. The final one is intelligence. If you know, you can prepare yourself to mitigate.

India have more than One Billion Citizens. If they are initiated to watch over the happenings in the country; they can definitely supplement the Intelligence Network. The government should provide necessary infrastructure like Internet Portals, Toll Free Numbers and Mobile Numbers for SMS. The citizens can communicate to to the Central Intelligence Agencies and Respective Ministries including PMO with confidence. This will definitely enhance intelligence gathering.

No terrorist organization in Pakistan can exist without State complicity if not sponsorship, sanctuaries and funds. Organizations of Pakistan operating against India enjoy these three essential elements of survival in Pakistan. Now after the recent terrorist attacks on their soil, the Government and People of Pakistan should realize that the breeding grounds they provided to terrorists will end up in the destruction of Pakistan.