A flawed model

When people say that India is not a security conscious nation, they are probably missing the woods for the trees. It would be difficult to find another example of a nation rated as the second largest growing economy in the world also being among the most security slack countries in the world. Pulp analysts are wont to tell us that policing is so inadequate and the issue of peoples’ alienation so overwhelming that we may as well forget about saving ourselves from being blasted out of existence by a thoughtfully planted RDX at some supposedly safe public place.

The situation is far more complex. For a vast democracy such as India, the challenges of maintaining security is enormous — and prickly. The policing system is archaic and very short on resources. Just visit the local police station (thana) and judge for yourself whether it has the firepower to take on heavily armed and trained professional terrorists or the sophistication of intelligence to be able to bust a plot at the planning stage. At least three major terror plots were nipped in the bud in the US and UK in the last one year. That happened through sustained shadowing, decoding and interception. In one case in the UK, a group of suspects were sitting around the drawing board making plans when the police stormed in and picked them up, with all evidences intact. It is little surprise that US has not been hit since 9/11 while Britain has tightened security in a way that has made movement of suspects extremely difficult.

In India, policing is geared towards VIP security leaving the common citizenry hapless against terror attacks. In Delhi, since most VIPs live in heavily guarded elitist NDMC with their offices in close proximity, there is little concern as to what happens to the common citizenry. All encompassing police reforms on the table since civil servant Dharamvira proposed them in 1977 have been gathering reams of dust. The political class is not willing to let go of the police as an instrument to further their petty interests, a fact noted in abundant measure by the Dharamvira committee. Unless that happens and the police made more accountable, sophisticated and resourceful, India is going to be repeatedly embarrassed and its innocents killed and maimed. 

The police today is a caricature of the classical colonial police where native Indians could only be reined in with the help of brute force. This image — reinforced in daily TV grabs of police manhandling victims in various parts of the country — is hardly conducive to getting it crucial inside dope against those sponsoring terror.

Notwithstanding an aggressive media campaign, it is doubtful if members of the public are going to act as volunteers of information to a police which continues to be trapped in its pre-1947 mode. In the absence of timely and actionable intelligence, it is also difficult to make a fool proof case in a court of law. The number of alleged terrorists who have been let off by the courts only demonstrate that gathering information and putting it together to build up a sound case requires a sophistication not yet in evidence.

Should we have more stringent laws? That debate lends itself to other subterranean issues. TADA and POTA were seen to be too harsh and hence scrapped. So effectively what we have are 19th century legislations concerning law and order. Are they sufficient to match the wits, guile and daring of modern day anarchists? Your guess is as good as mine.

India’s geographical position makes it a special case. Hemmed in by two vast military oligarchies China and Pakistan — who also happen to be allies — it has roughly two fronts to tackle. If Pakistan by its own admission has been sending in terrorists to India, China’s provocative postures and hyperactive cyber militants have hacked into as many sensitive websites as they possibly can. 

The biggest challenge is to maintain the very delicate balance between intelligence and democracy. In non-elected governments, collecting information is easy, torture and tapping being two time tested sources of information. In democracies, no one can - and should - be harassed. There are well laid out procedures which are time consuming and which need resources. Unless India works on these two aspects, its security is going to be compromised. For a nation that seeks to lead the world in economic change, that is hardly a good sign.