Series of explosions which have hit different parts of the country including the national capital have brought home the need for urgency in devising a policy framework to tackle terrorism. This includes violence inflicted on the country by Jihadi groups trying to avenge the atrocities inflicted on minority community during Gujarat riots or eviction of tribals from their land in Orissa or jungles of Chhatisgarh. To stretch the threat further one could also include the groups indulging in violence in Kashmir in the name of freedom for the State.

The common denominator in all cases is that innocents are victims of this violence and they also bring out effectively that our police force and the legal system in place is in not in a position to tackle it. Our intelligence agencies at best issue general warnings in advance about possible strikes by such groups, but these are of little value as they do not provide any real help in preventing these attacks or in apprehending the outfits responsible for this violence.

Every time when such an attack takes place, we see some half baked solutions being offered to tackle such violence, but no comprehensive policy emerges to deal with this problem. The reason being that we refuse to admit that police force as it exists at present is ill-equipped to deal with the problem and our intelligence agencies lack the ability to get some real time information about the groups operating in India which have acquired the ability to strike at will. They have also given proof of the fact that they have sufficient manpower and technical skills at their disposal to hit anywhere in the country and no State or region is safe today or protected against the designs of these groups.

In this context we need to take some lessons from our own experience in tackling terrorism in the past or experience of countries like the USA and Europe which have shown how threats can be averted by taking adequate measures. The first lesson in this respect is that the agencies dealing or investigating terror outfits should have a specific brief and not waste their resources on gathering political intelligence for the parties in power.

There is also urgent need to realize that best form of intelligence comes from human intelligence and no amount of technical sophistication or aids like tapping of phones or wireless network can act as a substitute for it. We have to have men or women on ground who understand how minds of terrorists work and have the ability to infiltrate into their ranks. Such tactics have worked for us in the past and also in other countries and should be tried here also. The agency dealing with terror should not be restricted by State boundaries or other limitations which apply in case of normal policing.

The third requirement is that we should undertake modernization of our police force on urgent basis as a force equipped with vintage rifles, lack of mobility or motivation can not deal with terrorist who use most modern equipment and have the resources to operate with the help of highly motivated cadre. Above all we need to improve our border security. It is no secret that our country which has a vast coastline and land frontiers with countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and with old Burma has to improve policing of these frontiers. At present infiltration of men and equipment across our border areas is not only easy but almost a cakewalk which is even upsetting the ethnic composition in some States of the country. A nation which can not prevent illegal entry can not fight terrorism as there are many elements interested in creating chaos and insurgency in our country and live outside our borders.

The debate on security environment has been inadequate and based on lack of information. While some feel that laws alone can solve the problem others have laid stress on resolving the economic issues to tackle the root cause of unrest. What India needs today is a holistic policy which should provide for a modern police force, effective intelligence network, security of borders and effective legal system to deal with terrorists.

Any policy which deals with one aspect of the problem only is bound to fail. The biggest handicap at present is that while one section of our politicians like to be soft on terrorists being guided by vote bank politics, the other would like to use tough legal provisions to prosecute the minorities. These two diverse positions have not helped in resolving the problem, but only made it more serious. A time has come when the issue of terrorism be declared as a national issue with political parties making a common cause instead of concentrating on their own agenda only.

Threat of terror has brought about non-partisan approach on the subject in many countries. One hopes that same would happen in India also as threat has become real and unless tackled jointly could create serious problems for us. The only hope is that even though the leaders may lack the wisdom to join hands, the people in the street have seen through the game of terror and have given enough evidence that they will not tolerate half measures to tackle the problem.

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