Internal insecurity

Just a couple of days back,cultural warfare over Valentine’s Day and a Shah Rukh Khan movie was the debate du jour — until the Pune bomb blast violently jolted us out of that lull. And as they do,the perpetrators hit the city where it is its most open and welcoming.

The most frustrating thing about the attack is that we don’t have anyone to turn on and blame. The area,including the nearby Osho Ashram and Chabad House,had been closely watched by the police,after it was intimated that David Headley had scoped out the place. This was a clearly vulnerable spot,and,in fact,mock-drills had been conducted in some of the bigger establishments. However,as the Union home minister pointed out,this was an insidious bomb planted in a backpack. Despite the fact that all intelligence inputs were heeded and every care taken,the terrorists still got away. Mumbai was a case study in organisational incompetence,of intelligence and operational failure — for three days,India’s vulnerability was writ large in the world’s eyes. But our internal security systems are much changed since then. The home ministry has even announced cutting itself to size,and streamlining chains of authority so that it can concentrate exclusively on security challenges.

After the Pune attack,it is easy to surrender to an apocalyptic current. It is harder to acknowledge and truly internalise the fact that we live in a tough neighbourhood. The Pune attack is not the return of terror — terror had never gone anywhere,though it had been staved off for 15 months by a determined security establishment. Instead of childishly casting around and feeling betrayed by our protectors,a more adult response would be to understand the tremendous odds we are up against. Flailing and paranoia won’t help,nor will using the attack as political fodder. India must appreciate the extent to which it is impacted by the churning in Pakistan. As has been noted,the grim truth is that terrorist modules have sneaked their way into the country,and there are sleeper cells that must be thwarted. The need is for every level of our security apparatus to be primed to anticipate and respond to danger.