WEEK OF FEAR AND ANXIETY

Sudipta Bhattacharjee

The past week was full of events that invariably induce fear and anxiety: serial blasts in Assam, killings in Bengal and ambushes in Jharkhand and Manipur, apart from being the first anniversary of the terror attacks in Mumbai. Characteristically, the powers that be went into an overdrive, triggering off a blame-game and petty exchanges that overlooked the collective psyche of the nameless multitude comprising the world's largest democracy.

That the views of the man on the street are inconsequential is evident at every step. Damodar Tandel, the chairman of the National Federation of Fishermen's Co-operative in Mumbai, was one of the first to tip off the police about the possibility of firearms and terrorists landing on the Maharashtra coast, having been alerted by Devabhai Bhagat, a fisherman from Gujarat. A year later, Tandel lamented, "I passed on the information to DCP Madhukar Kohe. Had the security forces acted promptly, an attack like 26/11 could have been averted."

Since then, one would have expected maritime surveillance to be near foolproof. The Maharashtra government proudly displayed its Force One combat squad and new firearms on Thursday; it has issued identity cards to its fishermen, but it has not been able to match Gujarat's efforts in securing the shoreline. Gujarat has installed a Rs 100 crore tracking and warning system on 10,000 boats. The commendable patrolling by boat and hovercraft along the Kutch coast, with its proximity to Pakistan, must be seen to be believed. Though the terrorists sailed to Mumbai from Porbander, incursions into Gujarat have been kept in check.

After the trauma

Tandel's regret that the police did not act on information deserves scrutiny, given that delayed dissemination of data is one of India's weaknesses. Whether it is an utter lack of cooperation between crack commando units like the NSG and the local police or the army/Unified Command and security agencies, intelligence inputs are seldom acted on. In contrast, in the United States of America after 9/11, the rigorous frisking, especially at airports, while inconveniencing passengers, did manage to deter attacks of similar proportions. As the former Texas police officer, Patricia Spencer, puts it, "This is about intelligence and monitoring suspicious chats on the Net. A great deal of data is obtained from confidential informants as well. Also, the military overseas is constantly working on information."

Once there is synergy between the security and intelligence wings, it should be 'leakproof'. A reporter's craving for a 'scoop' may put national interests at stake. Sometimes, operational data is divulged to the media by politicians and security heads hungry for quick fame, jeopardizing defence strategies and putting thousands of lives at risk.

For a country with an unwieldy population, India could use its citizens to act as the eyes and ears of its defence. The problem is the rampant corruption and utter lack of accountability, leading to more hoax calls than genuine alerts. It will require true maturity to prevent our society from living in perpetual fear.

After 9/11, Vamik Volkan, professor of psychiatry, said: "Regression is an inevitable and necessary response to certain levels of trauma, threat or stress." Surely, with a defence modernization allocation of $40 billion (till 2012), India can do better than to allow its citizens turn regressive. We boast of counter-terrorism schools that train foreign soldiers, including US marines. Surely it is not too late to devote our resources to equipping the jawans and police with the skills, weapons and technology that will save their lives and those of our people. After all, candle-lit cathartic exercises do not bring back the dead.