By Dhaval Valia
 The last few days have been traumatic for all Indians. The visual impressions of the savage terrorist attacks in Mumbai are vividly replaying in everyone’s mind.
It is indeed shameful that a country of one billion that aspires to become a global power can’t protect its citizens. Isn’t the safety of its citizens the primary constitutional responsibility of every government?
For a long time our governments have failed us in providing this most fundamental right. India is probably the biggest victim of terrorism in the world. One-sixth of our territory is infested by Naxals, in Kashmir we have cross-border terrorism, and in the north-east we have the ULFA and other groups.
Despite this, our political leadership is yet to arrive at a common definition of terrorism. To meet their political ends, they have communalized and regionalized the issue.
Every time there is a terrorist attack, our political leadership blames the neighbor. Agreed, we have a neighboring country that is considered the epicenter of global terrorism, but does this mean that for every ill in the country we should blame the neighbor? Isn’t ensuring internal security the responsibility of the Indian government?
After every major terrorist attack, for a few days our politicians talk about working unitedly, but soon all the promises are forgotten and the finger-pointing starts.
Then again, in a democracy, aren’t political leaders supposed to be as good or as bad as the people who vote them into office? Clearly, we too are to blame for choosing the leaders we select. After every terrorist attack we express shock and grief for a few days, then do a lot of analyses, blame our political leaders and security forces, and believe our job is over.
For a country that is considered a global IT hub, our leading commercial institutions, the Taj and Oberoi in this case, lack basic security and surveillance systems. If the two attacked hotels had proper surveillance systems, it would have been easier for the security forces to track the movements of the terrorists inside the hotels, tackle them effectively, and thus save several lives. Also, can anyone explain why our intelligence agencies still don’t have automated IT systems to collect, archive, analyze and share intelligence?
Finally, if our politicians lack the aptitude, attitude, and most importantly, the will to fight terrorism, can’t the private sector and citizens put their heads together to evolve ways to counter terrorist attacks?
Too many questions, too few answers. But if we don’t act now, our dream of becoming a global economic power will never be achieved. |