Postmortem of terrorist attacks on Mumbai

I guess thousands of articles might have already been written on terrorist attacks in Mumbai on 26th November 2008. The combined size of these articles might be bigger than that of Encyclopedia Britannica. I hope what I am going to write may make the readers analyze the incident with a different view point.

The terrorist attacks in Mumbai have once again proven that no city in India can claim that it is safe for its residents. I am worrying about two things. The first and the foremost is the ease with which the terrorists carried out their operation. It gives one an impression that intelligence system is dormant. The second and the more serious thing is the frequency of terrorist attacks on major cities of India. Terrorists have virtually targeted all the major cities of India including Mumbai, Ahmadabad, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Delhi, Jaypur in last 2 years. It seems that terrorists these days are more trained than ever. They carry out their operations methodically. They have designed their plans meticulously. They have increased the frequency of their attacks possibly because they have more strength than ever. They seem to be well-trained and well-equipped these days. Their organizations are also growing in number.

What is the solution to eradicate terrorism? It is now proven that most of the terrorists in India have their roots in Pakistan. Is war against Pakistan a solution? War is never a solution to any problem. Rather it just avoids one problem to create more problems. A war will push India 50 years behind the other countries when India is racing with them on the path of progress. Terrorism is a disease. The first thing a patient does is to cure the disease. Afterwards he does the cleaning job to ensure that the disease doesn’t attack again. India hasn’t been doing the cleaning job thoroughly because of which the disease of terrorism attacks frequently. After 9/11, USA did the cleaning job really admirably. They did not start a war against Afghanistan. But they counter attacked the militant shelters in Afghanistan even though they did not get any support from the host country. India should also do something similar in Pakistan directly like USA or indirectly like Israel’s Mossad. In my view, the second approach is even better. India can engage its RAW which is an intelligence agency like Mossad. RAW’s specially trained team can secretly conduct the ‘selective cleaning’ operation in foreign countries too. This indirect approach is very peaceful and very economical too. Apart from this, India needs to increase the security on the border. There should not be any Samjhauta Express or Thar Express between India and Pakistan. India also needs to secure its coastal boarder. Indian fishermen must be allotted IDs without which they shouldn’t be allowed to do fishing. Huge trespassing is reported to take place through the coastal borders under the disguise of fishermen.

In summary, we don’t need to have good relationship with Pakistan. (Similarly, we don’t need to have good relationship with Bangladesh either). It is a lose-lose situation for India. We are not going to gain anything by improving relationship with them after all we don’t do a great deal of trading with them. But we are certainly putting our security at stake by continuing relationship with them.