Tack on terror - Civil Society Must Be Part Of The Security Apparatus

Saumitra Mohan
The Statesman, 10 April

With the march of time, the concept of security has undergone major changes. In the era of globalisation, when complex interdependence and enhanced multilateral cooperation should have led to greater coordination and enhanced security, the nation-state has suffered a sharp decline in its ability to defend its citizens against threats. The sovereign status of the nation-state has been severely dented due to a variety of factors including the forces of globalisation.

The non-state actors all over have operated with impunity, with the comity of nations finding itself helpless against their determination to wreak havoc in pursuance of their agenda. Today, the life of the common man is constantly under threat as it is not known when and where he may fall prey to such acts of violence as may spring from nowhere. So, instead of being caught unawares all the time, we need to go beyond the set pattern to tackle this can of worms as represented by the problem of terrorism.

‘Soft state’

India has often been described as a “soft state’ for its high level of tolerance, necessitated by its need to consolidate the character of a nation-state. This is done through various measures geared to accommodate all the components of the federation in different levels of development. But now that India is trying to shed this image by acting tough, the terrorists, separatists and fissiparous forces are still finding ways to strike at will. While we need to be cautious all the time and everywhere, they need just one chink in our armour in the form of a lowered guard or a complacent sense of security for them to exploit an opportunity to strike terror among the innocent, thereby cocking a snook at all our preparations to that effect.

But those who have wanted to bleed India through a thousand cuts are themselves bleeding as the Frankenstein’s monster, they created, has not spared them. Today, terrorist attacks have become one of the biggest problems of our internal security concerns, with serious implications for the overarching security network. Many serial bomb blasts in Mumbai, train bombings, street bombings, terrorist attacks on Parliament and many other such heinous acts of violence later, we have been forced to do some serious thinking about the ways to deal with the problem. Constant efforts have been made to deal with the fundamental factors, particularly those stemming from inegalitarian economic development and high levels of poverty, but experience suggests that under-development is not the only reason or the only way to explain such a problem. After all, the western countries including the United States, the United Kingdom and Spain have also suffered at the hands of terrorism despite high levels of development. So, we have to look at the problem differently and deal with it differently as well.

We should never lower our guard while dealing with the threat of terrorism. We should try to address the basic reasons or sources of such problems by ratcheting up our efforts to find a lasting solution through socio-economic, political and diplomatic means. We also need to think of innovative ways of tackling such non-conventional threats to the integrity and security of our country. The proxy war being waged has gone too far now to be allowed to interfere with the peaceful existence and continued well-being of this country.

Against this background, we need a multi-pronged strategy to deal with such threats on the ground. Efforts may be made, as already on, to initiate a dialogue with such estranged groups as and where possible to bring them aboard as well as to redress their grievances through special initiatives and coordinated action. More than that we now need to include the civil society in our overall strategy to tackle such threats. Since the threats are unconventional, the response also has to be unconventional. Today, every civilian in this country needs to be on his/ her guard all the time and has to act as the ears and eyes of the state for our security efforts to be effective.

Our national security apparatus and think-tanks need to give it a serious thought. Today, we not only need to further train and equip our police and para-military forces with better incentives thrown in to attract better quality personnel into such forces, we also need to harness the services of such agencies as the National Cadet Corps, the National Service Scheme and the civil defence wings in the interests of our internal security. We further need to find out, create and include more such groups to be a part of our extended security infrastructure.

The members of the civil society need to be made part of this overall strategy and as such, special awareness and training programmes may be organised to make them an inalienable part of the security apparatus. After all, everyone needs to understand that with the country being insecure, they can never be secure. After all, many countries like Israel have a compulsory module for the martial training of the citizens.

Besides, we also have to improve the ground infrastructure to be better able to detect and prevent such threats to the lives and property of our citizens. Installation of X-ray scan machines and close-circuit cameras coupled with regular checking with metal-detectors should be made compulsory at all railway stations, bus terminals, important private and government offices as well as important and crowded thoroughfares and locations.

Their own game

The services of sniffer dogs can also be employed as and where required depending on threat perceptions, but definitely at all crowded places. The costs involved may seem prohibitive to begin with, but compared to the potential threats to the lives and property of our nation, they appear trifling. With such threats and their unpredictability only increasing with each day, that seems the only way whereby such threats can be tackled in future. So, before the push comes to shove, we should actually get going and try all the measures as suggested.

Today, every citizen needs to be a soldier, at least, mentally if not physically to foil any such evil design of the terrorists. Also, every important location needs to be guarded and secured like a fortress. The way to deal with such non-conventional threats to our internal security is by taking such pre-emptive measures and by becoming smarter and thinking faster than the terrorists to beat them at their own game.

The author is an IAS officer presently posted as Additional District Magistrate, Hooghly, in West Bengal.