Make haste slowly

I was in Mumbai on Friday, March 12, 1993. In case you have forgotten, it was the day the Memons rocked the city with fifteen massive explosions. Odd though it sounds, my abiding memories are of the sheer resilience of India’s commercial heart. Dalal Street reopened on schedule, and the staff at the Air-India building summed it up in a defiant banner announcing business as usual. I remember wondering at the time how other cities would handle such an experience (while praying I should never know the answer).

Well, Delhi handled the December 13 attack with panache, refusing to grant terrorism its desired fruit — panic. (Part of it, I suspect, was born of a dislike for politicians and a certain amount of indifference to their fate.) Perhaps the most surprising fact to emerge from the attack was this: the system worked!

Over six decades ago, Stanley Baldwin announced in the House of Commons that ‘‘the bomber will always get through!’’ He referred to German aircraft rather than suicidal maniacs, but the principle has always been accepted. But the bombers did not get through on December 13. All the twelve gates of Parliament House were closed in a trice, there was no aimless firing, and the members themselves did not panic. (The United States House of Representatives fled at the mere rumour of anthrax.) Parliament and its members still stand to defy the fundamentalists.

(By the way, I should point out that the writ of the Union home ministry stops at the threshold of Parliament House. In a tradition dating back to Charles I in the 1640s it is the Speaker who has the final say in such matters. While there is a case for strengthening the police cordon, I am not sure that time-honoured rules — such as not permitting anyone to carry arms in Parliament House — should be altered.)

While saluting the fallen constables and other victims of the attack on Parliament, may I add that I am astounded at the amateurish incompetence of the terrorists? Please remember that they had succeeded to an extent, fooling the outer ring of security with a red light on a car and a forged piece of paper. Yet, they then lost their heads, failing to use the RDX — all with warnings in chaste Urdu — in their car.

Failing to rip off those Urdu labels was just one of mistakes by the bushel. Even worse — from the point of the puppet-masters anyway — was the misuse of cellular phones, a huge security blunder. Their calls have been traced, to Pakistan, to West Asia, and even to Germany. (That last-named nation, as you may recall, is where some of the fundamentalists behind the World Trade Centre attacks lived and trained.) Suffice it to say, that there is excellent reason to believe in Pakistani complicity in the December 13 attack.

I am loath to speak of the complicity of the Government of Pakistan itself. In fact, I would be amazed if it turned out that General Musharraf himself was involved with the planning or operation; this was not a Kargil attack — except to the extent that once again the nominal chief executive of Pakistan was taken by surprise.

It is idiotic to deny that the assault was carried out by Islamic fundamentalist organisations based in Pakistan. But if we know the ‘‘who’’, the ‘‘what next’’ remains to be answered. Does General Frankenstein have the wits, or the guts, to tackle his monster before it turns on its creator? If not, how should India react, and when?

Mulayam Singh Yadav spun on a coin to turn from dove to hawk. This is indeed Saul among the prophets! Is this the same man who once opined that ‘‘Pakistanis are our brothers’’ and we need not worry too much about illegal immigrants?

The CPI(M)’s response of choice is that the Government of India place all its evidence before the United Nations. Had they consulted him before braying, Grandfather Marx could have told them that history repeats itself only as a farce. Jawaharlal Nehru ensured Kashmir would be a chronic wound when he referred Pakistan’s invasion to the United Nations in 1948; why should we ape his folly?

Nor should there be any dewy-eyed illusions about the world body itself. On December 7, 1971, the United Nations essentially condemned India’s actions in the Bangladesh conflict by 104 votes to 11. All our beloved non-aligned brethren deserted us when we needed them. Has anything happened in the thirty years since that disgraceful day to restore belief in the United Nations that India should submit herself to judgement?

I don’t mean to suggest that India should hoard the massive amounts of evidence that it has amassed on Pakistani support for terrorism. Sharing information is one of the strengths of a democracy, one that far too many administrations have chosen to ignore. So, by all means reveal all the proof we have. But don’t tie the country down by appealing to the United Nations, the United States, or any other entity.

The brutal fact is that the world — the United States above all — is aware of Pakistani backing for Islamic terrorists. But a single-minded focus on Osama bin Laden means everyone shall turn a Nelson’s eye on Islamabad until it is too late. Short of bin Laden himself turning out to be in some Pakistani refuge, there is little chance of wisdom dawning in the near future.

India — the nation, not just the government — has three tasks. First, provide evidence of Pakistani complicity in terrorism until the most blind nation must swallow the truth. Second, enhance internal security, ruthlessly hunting down the worms within even if they hide in the groves of academe. Third, prepare to take action.

I for one am content to wait a while before the government acts. If nothing else, whom are you going to hit back at? Does anyone believe that the militants are still waiting smugly in their camps? Is anyone suggesting that we bomb Islamabad?

Let me end with just one prayer: the Bombay blasts case is still wearily trudging through the courts after eight and a half years, let us hope the men behind the December 13 attack are brought to justice a little sooner.

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