Memorable May
The old Hindu kingdom of Nepal gave way to a secular republic. Egypt brokered a truce between Palestine and Israel. The state of affairs in Lebanon looked up with the Army Chief being elected as the President. Pakistan struck a peace deal with the Taliban. It has been readmitted into Commonwealth. China invited Taiwan for resuming talks suspended for over a decade.
The terrorist scenario registered technological “upgradation”. Al Qaeda not only concentrated on recruiting children for forming suicide squads, they were also trying to rally women online. Apparently emboldened by their having entered into a truce with the Pakistan government, the Talibans in Pakistan were engaged in launching ‘media war’. The CIA has located Osam bin Laden in the “roof top of the world,” namely, Korakoram.
And, in India, the terrorists stuck at another metro-police, the peaceful tourist city of Jaipur. While the Maoist supremo in Nepal ‘Prachanda’ advised the Indian Maoists to shun violence, a section of them formally announced the first-ever parallel government of their own in tribal areas in Chhattisgarh. Their alliance with the insurgent groups in north-eastern India was reported. The Black Widow group continued to strike real terror in parts of Assam. The Intelligence Bureau of the Government of India has reported a tie-up between the SIMI (Students Islamic Movement of India) and the Taliban for operating in southern states of India. No wonder sleeper cells were detected in Bengalaru.
China constructed the largest (38 km long) sea-bridge. The US has planned for a Sun mission in 2015. The royal Mount Everest has been conquered by a mother-daughter duo as also by an Indian Police Service Officer. CIA has warned about population growth in areas prone to give rise to Islamist terrorist threat. Women power will be seen patrolling border between Pakistan and India. Robotic bugs will now spot enemies and a new technique has been evolved to users of cyber cafes. Beware!
It may be worthwhile at this stage to share with you an interesting piece on: “Security Challenges”.
May also like to go through the article – Next Terror Attack Could Be From The Sea.
D. C. Nath, IPS (Retd.)
Former Special Director, IB (MHA), Govt. of India,
Executive President & CEO,
International Institute of Security and Safety Management,
New Delhi, India.
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Security Challenges
What should be deplored more? The politically motivated controversy over the need or compulsion to replace the existing laws to fight terrorism with tougher ones, or that even 72 hours after the Jaipur mayhem on Tuesday evening, the Centre and the Rajasthan government are clueless about the perpetrators. Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram, candidly admitted, after national security adviser M.K. Narayanan briefed the Cabinet on Thursday, that our security apparatus was still groping in the dark to trace identity of the outfit or the combination of outfits that unleashed terror on the Pink City. Almost reminding one of the adage of the stables being locked after the horses have bolted, the state government has constituted a special investigation team to collaborate with the National Security Council and the Intelligence Bureau to probe the event. It also plans to form an anti-terrorist special task force after consultations with such units in other states. One fears that the state has passed when such routine responses were considered or were in fact adequate to meet terrorism’s challenges. Chief Minister herself has conceded that something potentially more effective is called for. “Today’s terrorists,” she said, “are well connected, use more sophisticated communication systems and have grown to be a very formidable enemy.” Her reading of the capabilities of the terrorists tallies with that of our security experts, who demand an entirely new, modern, sophisticated, well-designed, politically neutral and technology-guided counter-terrorism strategy consistent with patterns put in place by terror-prone nations globally. The security paradigm has to measure up to the expertise mobilized by terrorists and develop communication systems and channels capable of outwitting and overtaking them. In other words, our security system and personnel need to be a step ahead of those that challenge it. In a sense, the surprise Jaipur attack, like those in a few other states, brought home to the people and government of Rajasthan the serious threat terrorism poses to India’s internal security system. Till Tuesday’s evening, Jaipur’s citizens were unaware that the city was playing host to sleeper cells and training camps of branches of Pakistan and Bangladesh-based outfits working in cooperation with cadres of the home-grown militant outfit Students’ Islamic Movement of India. A new outfit calling itself “Indian Mujahideen” has claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s outrage, raising suspicions that it might be a proxy claim intended to divert attention. A radical change in the Centre’s approach to counter-terrorism strategies, including a serious and objective examination of the adequacy or otherwise of existing laws, is indicated. This must be undertaken as an out-and-out security-oriented exercise totally devoid of political overtones.
The Asian Age – May 17, 2008.
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