Forgive the apparent levity and allow your correspondent a Hollywood reference point: In the 1990s Hollywood film Crimson Tide, the captain of the nuclear submarine, USS Alabama, when faced with near mutiny from the young first officer over his decision to launch missiles to prevent a nuclear strike against America by Russian rebels, explains to his crew: ?Gentlemen, I am here to protect a democracy, not to practice it.? In the film, the captain got the rules of engagement wrong. But his statement so beautifully captures the UPA?s response to terrorism. The UPA has confused protecting Indian democracy from terrorism with practicing democracy while combating terrorists.
The devastating assault on prominent South Mumbai addresses by what appears almost certainly to be a group of Islamic terrorists brings back all the questions about the UPA?s record on national security. At the time this went to press, security forces were still battling terrorists, who have taken hostages, and a city, a country and the world were watching.
If you look at the UPA you will see this: the unwillingness to combat terror without a timorous and usually action-sapping analysis of political cost-benefit. PM Manmohan Singh has addressed the nation and talked of a conspiracy against it. He is right. But he must be asked why the intelligence agencies fail so repeatedly to spot any conspiracy in the making. Not all attacks can be prevented. But to accept that no attack can be prevented is a national failure.
If the terrorists came by sea, and it appears they may have, will the Indian Navy and the Coast Guard that protect territorial waters be held accountable? Either the Indian Navy has stopped routine patrols using fast-attack craft or the vigil, like in the run up to Kargil war, was only mounted on paper. The terrorists? sea route landing becomes all the more intriguing as the Navy has just completed its annual exercises off the coast of Gujarat.
Also note the extraordinary lack of political direction to law enforcement authorities on the night of November 26-27. Mumbai?s under-equipped police force was taking on far better armed and trained terrorists unaided for hours?the Cabinet Committee on Security met 12 hours after the attacks began. Of course, this is an Indian disease that infects all political parties. Remember Kandahar, when the Crisis Management Group met after the IC-814 flight had already left Indian airspace. Why must national leaders wait for hours before even making an appearance for the sake of morale-boosting? For a whole night the world watched the in-effect absence of official India?s institutional response to an attack on India?s biggest city.
Manmohan Singh gave a free hand to his National Security Advisor, MK Narayanan, to organise the internal security establishment. So surely the NSA must be asked why an operation of this scale can be mounted with such ease. Experienced bureaucracy watchers have also long wondered about the effectiveness of the UPA appointees for heading RAW and IB.
The PM now seems keen about setting up a Federal Investigation Agency. This seems to be in the big-announcement-after-big-shock mould. Nonetheless a countrywide agency with enough resources and full remit to deal with terrorism has been a no-brainer for a while. TV images of Mumbai police fighting terrorists should remove all doubts. Throughout Wednesday night, policemen and officers, majority of them without bullet-proof vests, were patrolling Mumbai?s streets equipped with World War II .303 Lee Enfield rifles, revolvers and the ubiquitous stick. These men were up against professional fidayeens armed with a plan, automatic rifles and explosives to spare.
Mumbai and all other metros that have been terror targets have not responded to the changed security situation. Who?s to blame for this? State governments. Frequently, state politicians ignore their capital city because the vote comes from villages. The home minister at the Centre says he has repeatedly told states to beef up police facilities. But who can argue that the home minister inspires confidence?
So, yes, police reform, as the PM has said, needs to be implemented. Except that how much can one hope from a government that has a few months left and has spent four years playing a peculiar politics with terrorism. Mind you, the BJP plays it, too. So do the so called smaller parties. Politicising terrorism is now a level playing field. Terrorists know that.
?shishir.gupta@expressindia.com