Forget US attacks, Bangalore ‘safe’ with one-man team

RAMU PATIL

BANGALORE, SEPTEMBER 18: THE terrorist attacks on US cities have struck many homes here, with several infotech firms losing employees, but the state police seem to be unmoved. While cities around the world have been forced to rethink their security setup since the horrifying attacks last Tuesday, the police in South Asia’s infotech capital is still making do with a one-officer anti-terrorist squad.

The onus on this lone warrior is big, considering the fact that the squad was set up to deal with ‘‘Naxals, LTTE and other such outfits’’, as M.D. Singh, Additional Director General of Police, puts it.
But right now, all that the ‘anti-terrorist squad’, headed by Inspector-General of Police K.S. Mendegar, can fire off in its ‘‘efforts to combat terrorism’’ is missives; it has just enough clerical staff and equipment to push paper, says a police officer.

With this ‘‘arsenal’’, the squad is warding off LTTE Tigers, Veerappan and other assorted paper tigers. Recently, it has also had to fight off criminal elements sneaking in from across the border. Pakistan-based Deendar Anjuman was involved in the church blasts in Bangalore and elsewhere in the state. Mumbai mafioso, backed by the Pakistan’s ISI, is believed to have been active in the city during 1998.

With the rise in crimes related to real-estate business, a spread of underworld activities cannot be ruled out even now. Occasionally, some old-fashioned Naxalites also cross over from Andhra Pradesh to escape the heat there.

Set up during the time Veerandra Patil was chief minister in 1989-91, the anti-terrorist squad does not have a force of its own to conduct raids or staff to gather intelligence. State policemen with no special training double up in these roles with predictable results.

‘‘The state should not wait till terrorism makes its presence felt in a big way,’’ warns a senior police official. ‘‘It should have a ready force of trained personnel.’’ Even if they get vital intelligence, the local police force, which is burdened with crime-busting, law and order and security responsibilities, will be stretched too thin to chase terrorists, the official notes.