Resolution on Terrorism

Resolution on Terrorism

Thanks to the 'soft' approach of the UPA Government, India has emerged the terror capital of the world in the last three years. Since the year 2004, India has suffered 3674 deaths in terror related incidents, a number surpassed only by civil war torn Iraq. During the last 10 years, 53000 innocent Indians have fallen victim to terrorism. In contrast, all the wars, India has been engaged in since independence (including Kargil), has cost the country 8023 lives. Terrorism is seriously affecting 156 districts across 13 states.

Hydra-headed Monster

Terror in India is a hydra-headed monster. The different states in north-east are in grip of violence in varying degrees on account of the activities of several groups working for their respective agendas. ULFA  works in close co-operation with ISI inspired elements and is active in Assam, the largest state in the north-east. Congress had sought and obtained help from this terrorist organization just before the last assembly elections. Close to 1400 innocents have fallen victim to terrorist's bullets in North-east during   2005 and 2006.

Since January this year, the state has witnessed close to 50 explosions most of them at crowded places, mainly targeting the Hindi speaking migrant workers. Through this target specific violence, the terrorist are aiming to change the demographic profile of the state. While the infiltration from Bangladesh continues unabated, attempts are being made to drive out the Hindi speaking Indians.  The state Government has done nothing tangible to offer security and succour to the affected people. Instead there are serious allegation of mix-up between the ULFA and the politicians in power in the state. The BJP condemns the fact that the state Government is soft towards the anti-nationals with a view to consolidate its vote bank.

Jammu & Kashmir

Jammu and Kashmir, has earned the dubious distinction of accounting for the maximum number of casualties in terror related violence in the country. The terrorist activities in the state, which are a part of the proxy war launched by Pakistan against India, account for over 40 per cent of the 4000 odd terror related casualties recorded in the country, since January 2004. In order to appease their vote bank, the so called `secular' parties have been seeking reduction in the strength of the army in the state and its withdrawal from many crucial areas. In the name of violations of human rights, false allegations are frequently made against the security forces with a view to demoralize them.

The situation in the valley continues to be disturbed. It is really sad that it has not been possible to create conditions conducive for the return of the Kashmiri Pandits back to their homes. The fact that Pandits have been forced to remain as refugees in their own country for so long,   is a clear indication that the valley continues to be dominated by extremists and Pakistan inspired terrorists.

Left Extremism

Starting from across the border; Nepal, the Maoists (Naxalite) threat to the Indian state and civil society looms large over 137 districts spread in about a dozen states. The UPA Government's attitude towards the naxalite menace is not guided by national interest but by political expediency. After coming to power at the centre, the UPA Government promptly dismantled the centralized co-ordination net-work put in place by the NDA Government to deal with the naxalite challenge.

In Andhra Pradesh, Congress entered into an underhand deal prior to elections. After assuming office, the Congress Government paid back the debt by declaring a ceasefire. All police operations were put on hold, giving enough time to the naxalites to regroup and increase their capacity to hit at the Indian state and the civil society. The BJP ruled state; Chhattisgarh has been a special target of the naxal violence. The state Government and the people of the state through the `Salwa Judam'  movement have put up heroic fight to combat the naxalite onslaught. The national executive puts on record its deep sense of appreciation for this bold initiative on the part of the state Government and the common people of Chattisgarh. The centre, however, has been lax in extending the necessary help to Chhattisgarh government because of narrow political considerations. The latest tactic adopted by the naxal outfits is to engage in simultaneous multiple attacks in large number, particularly against police forces and police establishments.

Islamic Terrorism

India, along with rest of the world is a victim of pan Islamic terrorism. There has been a spate of violent incidents spread across the country. The blast at Hyderabad on August 25 last had left 42 dead and 54 injured. In fact this was second major incident in Hyderabad in less than 100 days. On May 18, last the blast at Mecca Masjid had cost the city 14 innocent lives. Besides over 100 were injured. The explosion in Samjuhauta Express, Panipat on February 19 this year had resulted in 68 deaths and injuries to 125 others. On July 11, 2006, the serial train blasts in Mumbai took a toll of 187 lives. Another over 700 suffered multiple injuries. New Delhi witnessed the death of 61 of citizens on October 29, 2005. Over 90 were injured. In the blast in the Shramjeevi Express, Varanasi on July 29, 2005 while 12 persons lost their lives, 52 their limbs. Besides there have been attacks on the ageless cultural symbols by India such as Sonkat Mochan temple in Varanasi, Ramlala temple in Ayodhya, IISE Bangalore and several such other places.

The tragedy is that the government refuses to recognize the role of the terror. It dismisses this enveloping threat to our polity, to our democracy and to genuine secularism, as no more than the silly behaviour of some misdirected boys or at worst prompted, planned and financed by Pakistani intelligence. The signs of this tragedy are everywhere.  On September 11, the United States throughout that country observed the anniversary of the death of over 3,000 people in the jehadi destruction of the World Trade Centre.  In India the Government did not even have a word on the anniversary of the jehadi killing of 187 people in the train blasts in Mumbai.

Laws Against Terror

Every country, under the threat of these jihadis, has enacted tough laws to nip terrorism at the bud stage itself, giving no quarter to those who not only perpetrate terror but also those who propagate the jehadi extremist mentality. In liberal democracies in the West, even promoting the extremist cult has been made punishable; with some of them extending the punishment to a 30-year imprisonment as most European countries have no capital punishment. Following the tough provisions of the `Patriot Act' in the United States several other democracies from Australia to Canada have similar deterrent legislations.

In India alone the Government refuses to have any such law with the Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil turning down in Parliament the demand for such law, as it is "draconian". That the jehadis are turning against Muslims themselves seems to have lost on our Government despite a succession of blasts at Malegaon and Hyderabad on Muslim congregations and then again in Hyderabad last month at a leisure spot.  Neither in these or any other recent terrorist incidents has the real perpetrators been picked up.  In fact in the first attack in Hyderabad, those who were picked up were released after a Muslim political party termed these arrests as harassment of the community. There was no follow up after six persons belonging to one community two of whom were Pakistanis were picked up in Mandari port of Gujarat. They confessed to sending Rs.24 lakhs to Hyderabad.  The second blast in that city occurred soon after.  In Parliament the BJP raised the issue of three suspects in the Mecca Masjid blast having been arrested and then let off under political pressure; the Government chose not to reply to this charge.

Not a single Terror Incident traced

That so far in the last three years of the UPA rule not a single terror incident was traced to its roots is another telling expose of the state of affairs under this government.  The people has not been told what happened to the trail of the Bangalore incident that led police to Nalgonda district of Andhra Pradesh.  The perpetrators of the serial trail blasts are reported to have fled the country.  The Malegaon and Hyderabad blasts are attributed to the jehadi organization HUJI operating from Bangladesh.  The trail of the perpetrators of these events has gone cold.  The UPA Government has instructed the police to be sensitive about the trail if it touches an area dominated by the minority community.  That has effectively killed all police initiative to track down terror planners.  The release of suspects held in the first incident in Hyderabad and subsequent handing over of the investigation to the CBI has silenced the local anti-terrorist forces.

When the political parties like the Congress and the Left compete for public demonstration of loyalty to an extremist leader like Mahdani of Kerala whom the earlier governments and courts considered too hot to be left off even on bail. He was the main accused in the Coimbatore serial blasts of 1999 (he was let off by the courts only because of lack of evidence but most of his co-accused got various prison terms). The entire administrative apparatus was silent at the public call to exterminate a Danish citizen by a Minister in the UP Government. The Union Home Ministry is sitting on the execution of the court ordered death sentence on the Parliament attack accused Afzal Guru. What is the police to make of the situation? Can we blame the security forces alone for repeated terrorist attacks when they get specific instructions from the government not to follow up investigations if they touch particular community members? Can we ask the police to follow up on any suspicion when even the Prime Minister of the country spends sleepless nights just because one Indian has been suspected of involvement in terrorist attack in the UK and is detained in Australia but does not shed any tears for hundreds who die in terror incidents in our own country?

The Bharatiya Janata Party believes that it is the UPA Government's policy of treating the roots of terror with velvet gloves and covering up for these terror merchants with some myths that are responsible for the nation being disabled from making the right choice.  Thereby we condemn ourselves to be at the mercy of the terror merchants and all those who have sympathy for the aims of these jihads even if they are ambivalent on the methods.

Withdrawal of POTA

The UPA sent the signal that it would be a soft state soon after it took power and annulled POTA.  That this is linked to its attempt to gain votes of Muslim minorities is obvious. From deferring a decision on the hanging of the Parliament attack accused Afzal Guru to raking up the Sri Krishna Commission Report on Mumbai riots of 1993 as a counterweight to the law taking its own course on the perpetrators of Mumbai's serial blasts, and by turning a Nelson's eye on the glorification of terrorists and extremists by various parties who are part of the UPA and the Left that keeps the government in power, the goal has been to gloss over the reality of jihadi cloud over the world and the country.

Role of Pseudo Secular Elements

Unfortunately this Government derives strength also from the psuedo secular elements and the Left fellow travelers in academia  to obfuscate the horrifying face of reality behind the bomb blasts and other swings of terror.   These political, academic and journalists are trying all the time not only to soft pedal the terror threat but also to ignore the link between these terror merchants, the jihadi mindset and the breeding ground that promotes and supports what the mindset is taught to consider as divine command.

It is not a set of mislead boys who are in this deadly business. Jehadi terror is a global phenomenon and almost every country, including many Muslim countries like Indonesia, Malaysia. Egypt, Jordan have taken strong steps against this spreading virus.  The latest two tapes around the September 11 WTC destruction anniversary have called for "caravan of martyrs to fulfill their promises to God" and most important Osama has called on Americans to convert to Islam or face extinction.  It would be comforting for us to believe that this call is ignored by the bulk of the Muslim community.

While India must fight back jehadi terror unitedly and seek to change the mindset that prepares an under current of sympathy for its objectives even though sometimes opposing its methods,  the constant propaganda of the secularists and the support the mindset receives from certain political parties including the Congress and the Left, only generates a contrary result.  The UPA Government calls on the world to join its campaign against terrorism but one of its own Ministers carried a look like Osama bin Laden in the Bihar elections for gaining support of "minorities" for his party.  None in the Government pulled him up for this public denouncement of the Government's international stand against terror.  Many political parties joined in to ask for commuting death sentence on the main accused in the attack on Parliament.  No official literature on terror has ever spoken about the high priest of terror, Osama bin Laden.

The Role of Left Parties

The Left that keeps the Government in power wants Indian foreign policy be supportive of and catalysed by Islamic extremism whether in Iran or in Palestine. In its campaign to persuade the UPA Government to shun Israel, the Left plays out to be more Islamic than the Palestianian authority itself where the Muslim President and Israel PM are trying to revive the peace process that was wrecked by extremists like Hamas.

The obvious contradiction between the Government claim to international community that it fights terrorism and its support to people and mindsets that promote Jihadi religious extremism, confuses the administration that should implement any anti-terror policy.  The soft state syndrome that baulks at tough measures to locate and destroy terror cells and isolate its sympathizers,  ensures that more and more terror events would be perpetrated on a wide swath of the country in future, also as has been happening so far.

The security forces, particular the police, is the main instrument available to the civil society to effectively combat the highly motivated, expertly trained, and adequately funded zealots. In this desperate situation, the police is unequal to the task. The   report of the Task Force on Internal Security, says, "the studies carried out by the Bureau Of Police Research and Development in regard to the living and working conditions of State police forces reveal,   an alarming picture. The report says "Twenty-five per cent of the police stations and 50 per cent of the police outposts do not have regular buildings. Over 37 per cent police districts work from makeshift police lines. Over 70 per cent police districts do not have a proper control room. Superintendents of police in 34 per cent police districts do not have official accommodation. Seventy per cent of the constabulary is without residential accommodation. Mobility deficiency of the Indian police is approximately 43 per cent". The report records, "In many cases there is only a bicycle".

The report further says, "The weaponry available with the police forces is outdated and inadequate". As regards their training, the report adds, "Only one per cent of the Police Budget goes for training, for keeping up with the new crimes and new tactics deployed by the terrorists".   About the communication system, the report says, "the less said, the better".

So we are in a difficult situation. The monster of terrorism – in various avtars  Naxals, ULFA or Jehadi – has waged a war against India. They work separately and also in tandem with each other. The dispensation at the centre and most of the states have ostrich like attitude. For short term political gains, they have no compunction to compromise national security. The security forces – the main instrument to combat terrorism – suffer from many handicaps, including   political interference in favour of terrorists. The BJP demands of the Central Government to take immediate steps to adequately equip the security forces in light of the observations made by the Task Force on internal security.

BJP is convinced that by its very nature, the current dispensation at the centre has no political will to meet the massive challenge. The UPA's Government record on the issue of dealing with mounting terrorism has been dismal so far. The opportunistic alliance forged on a negative plank of keeping the BJP out of power and depending on the left for its survival can not appreciate the threat posed to the Indian state by foreign trained and highly motivated and resourceful terror groups which have enough local support. A policy of zero tolerance to terror is a pre-condition to win the war. The UPA just cannot do it. It's time that the UPA Government and its remote, the left, are thrown out of power.