Are we ready for urban warfare?

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New Delhi: Are there more attacks in the offing? Will a federal agency to tackle terrorism help? The coming days India in general, and urban areas in particular, may well have to brace up for more deadly terrorist attacks, opine security experts. Unless some out-of-box surgical response is worked out, the urban areas may be heading for further terrorist attacks, they point out. And the concept of warfare has changed in the 21st century. Large-scale battles between neighboring countries will happen much less, because these might degenerate into the use of nuclear weapons.

According to Brig (retd) Gurmeet Kanwal, research fellow at Center for Land Warfare Studies, “This is our first taste of urban terrorism. In Mumbai, NSG, Marcos and the forces carried out complex operations as they had to go floor by floor carefully, in the rescue and clear-up operations.” He stresses that we need to tighten our laws, better coordination and be better organised.

Recently, army chief General Deepak Kapoor said the Indian Army’s involvement in the country’s internal security is more than normal. Notwithstanding its multi-front obligations, the Army is being called in to tackle many issues ranging from law and order to providing aid during natural or manmade disasters. “Due to external abetment, the Indian Army is involved in internal security functions on a relatively larger scale than is normal,” said Kapoor.

On the issue of more funds, research fellow Ajay Lele at Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA) says, “What India really needs at this time is a federal agency, and coordination among all the intelligence agencies across the country. Right now, the way it seems these agencies don’t want to share much with the other. There is no interaction, neither horizontally nor vertically, between these agencies. This has to change. “

Agreeing with him, former deputy director of IDSA C Uday Bhaskar says, “It is really a policy issue. There has to be a proper coordinated agency to tackle this menace. In fact, our security system has been deteriorating over the period. Our agencies failed to respond the way they should have.” The government should do stock taking and study all the police and intelligence reports and then take quick action, he adds.