The epicentre

The epi-centre is defined as the point on earths surface where an earthquake or underground explosion originates. Iam not talking about the earthquake, but the epi-centre of terrorism in today's world; as the Indian Prime minister says about its neighbour, Pakistan.

This country which at the time of independence had all the ingredients to make a powerful state. It had fertile land, rivers, natural& human resources and above all the newly found nationalism as a result one common religion binding the people.

How come in six decades the country has gone from a potential powerful state to the 'rouge state' of the world. What has led Pakistan to being such a failed and lawless state in the world? Iam not a political or strategic analyst to answer that. As many analysts say this could be a contribution of factors including the virulent motives of the army, its blind Anti-India attitude, its proxy war against India and other countries, state or non-state terrorism (don't know what 'non-state actors' means as the present president of that country repeats all the time) or corruption and inefficiency of its rulers.

Madeline Albright, Former US Secretary of state says, Pakistan is an International migraine; "It has nuclear weapons, it has terrorism, extremists, corruption, very poor and it’s in a location that’s really, really important to us".

British prime minister, Gordon Brown says that three-quarters of the most serious terror plots being investigated by UK authorities have links to Pakistan.

Armed tribesmen supported by the army from Pakistan's north-west frontier province invaded Kashmir in October 1947. Since then Pakistan has lost 4 major wars against India. It also lost about half of its original state when Bangladesh was formed in 1971 going against the 'two-nation' theory propounded by the nation's founders that Hindus and Muslims were two separate nations by every definition, and therefore Muslims should have an autonomous homeland in the Muslim majority areas of British India. But in reality it was a partition between Hindus/Muslims and Sikhs in the north and eastern India. It didn't affect South India that much as North. The Muslims in the Indian Sub-continent were divided among the 3 countries ie one third each in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh(formerly east Pakistan). It has been the agenda of the Pakistan army that as they cannot win back the state of J&K, the alternative is to have state sponsored terrorism , though they deny this vehemently (as is the case with any statement against Pakistan) even in the presence of solid evidence.

Its interesting to read the cover story in Newsweek recently (July2008) about Pakistan...."The whole world knows that today no other country on earth is arguably more dangerous than Pakistan. It has everything Osama bin Laden could ask for: political instability, a trusted network of radical Islamists, an abundance of angry young anti-Western recruits, secluded training areas, access to state-of-the-art electronic technology, regular air service to the West and security services that don't always do what they're supposed to do. These Islamist fighters now operate relatively freely in cities like Karachi—a process the U.S. and Pakistani governments call "Talibanization."

Wikipedia says; The Islamic Republic of Pakistan has been branded frequently as a 'Haven for Terrorism', supporting terrorist organizations and is considered amongst the most dangerous nations in the world.

Pakistan is a "failed state" as Islamabad does not have complete control over its own territories and its land is being used by terrorists to launch attack against other nations.....But is it just Pakistan and its rulers or military to blame?

Everyone knows who first sowed/sown the seeds of hatred in British India by their "Divide and rule" policy. When the partition occurred eventually; why was it done in such a haste leaving about 1 million dead?...Wikipedia says "Partition was accompanied by one of the largest and most rapid population transfers in history, with 17.9 million people leaving their homes. Of these, only 14.5 million arrived, suggesting that 3.4 million went "missing"...

We cannot change history but we have to learn from the lessons it has given us. Isn't US/ former USSR responsible for the state of affairs in Pakistan at the moment in one way or another when they intervened in Afghanistan in the late 70's and early 80's for their own hidden motives... Infact almost every country has a responsibility in some way or other for Pakistan to be in the present state including India.

No one seem to have a solution for how to 'normalise' the state of affairs in Pakistan. India definitely has a role to help Pakistan and the first aspect of this should be in how to increase the confidence and trust among the South-Asian neighbours

However, its up to Pakistan and its authorities to take the initiative and try to reign in the terrorists as early and effectively as they can; other wise it is likely to perish because, as in an earthquake everyone will be affected and has to suffer aftereffects, the greatest damage will be located at the epicenter.....

Lessons learned

Its more than a fortnight, since the Mumbai attacks. Let us see whats the aftermath; At least 188 people were killed in the attacks.Among the dead were 141 Indian civilians, 17 policemen and army and 30 foreign nationals from 10 countries ( and about 300 injured physically and many many more mentally and emotionally). The government has announced compensations; but the loss suffered by the individuals, relative and families are irreversible. At the end of the day common people (and the brave security forces) are on the loosing side. A few political heads rolled....

The Prime Minister apologised (in parliament) to the nation for not preventing “this dastardly act”, the new Home Minister rolled out a revamped internal security road map, the Leader of Opposition offered full support to the Government and the External Affairs Minister, while ruling out war as a solution, sent Pakistan a tough message that if it did not act against elements using its soil to target India“it will result in some sort of situation that we (Indians) do not want.”

I don't know what all that means??...

The lesson learned for the Indians is that they cannot take their life for granted (and this is true for any global citizen); but in India, specifically the government is not in a position to completely guarantee safety and security. The common people(not politicians) are at risk of terrorism from anywhere, but especially across the border at anytime irrespective of the place, religion, class or caste.

The new home minister announced a few measures to bolster internal security:

1. a national investigation agency would be set up
2. Vacancies in the country's intelligence agencies would be filled and they would be equipped with advanced equipment
3. a coastal command would be set up to secure India's 7,500km-long coastline
4. a total of 20 "counter-insurgency, anti-terrorism" schools would be set up in various parts of India to train to train police and security personnel
5. commando forces to be set up in the states
6. laws relating to terrorist acts would be beefed up
7. money laundering laws to be strengthened.

These are all good in theory and principle. But will this be practical? We have seen and heard many politicians saying this and that....I think the most important aspect in this whole saga is the urgent need for an introspection and change of attitude for the politicians. If India wants to prosper and flourish, to become an important power in the twenty first century and to ensure the safety of the homeland, I propose a few ideas:

1. Politicians to retire after a certain age
2. The minimum qualification of contesting in an election should be at least a graduation. I know that people who have haven't done formal school education has gone onto become great leaders; But times have changed and we have to change with time.
3. The 'VVIP' security and 'Z category' nonsense etc should come to an end!...instead these resources should be directed for the welfare and security of the common people.
4. Compulsory one year military training for all citizens especially youngsters...
5. More integration and communication of the various security services at the local, regional, national and international level.

India has suffered more than 4,000 terrorist attacks since 1970, with an average of about one killing per day. Has anyone thought why is that places/cities/countries in other parts of the world who have become victims of terror never had a repeat attack again? Why is Mumbai or Delhi or for that matter Indian cities targeted again and again?

The answer is that people learn from mistakes and put a plan in place for the prevention of such attacks. Iam sure there are many attacks that have been foiled in other parts of the world. But India has not learned and becomes a soft target again and again. This has to end..enough is enough..wake up everyone...defend our homeland....

Mumbai

It has been a terrible 24 hours (or more) for India. Mumbai is virtually a war zone, looks like a battle field. I started following the incidents from about 19:00hours from yesterday. Mumbai has been brutally attacked by 20 or so terrorists at 10 different locations; more than 100 people are said to be dead; among them about 6 foreigners and many taken hostage. It seems that the terrorists arrived in a boat from Arabian sea after having dropped from a mother-ship off the Indian coast. Most of the news channels around the world have been covering the incidents live with in-depth analysis of what has been taking place. How long will this continue? Hasn't human life got any value?

There will be a lot of questions asked in the next few days. Who are responsible? How can a bunch of people just come in a few boats and attack a country which claims to be the biggest democracy and boast of third largest armed forces in the world? What are the politicians and the government doing?

India is not a stranger to indiscriminate terror attacks. Such attacks have occurred regularly, and with steadily increasing frequency, in recent years. In this year itself there have been bomb blasts in many major cities of India that has left many dead. Mumbai, India's financial capital, has been targeted before. So why did the government not have a Crisis- Management team in place? The terrorists it seems knew exactly what they were doing; where to hit , how to move around the city and even the layout of each hotel probably better than the security forces. Is this an intelligence failure or a Coast guard failure or a security failure or a total failure of law and order in the state?


Countries and individuals are of mainly 2 types; some are proactive, some reactive (early or late!)...In this case I felt that the government and authorities were almost inactive (with due respect to all the security, police and other forces who are still trying to rescue the innocent lives). It took the government about 24 hours to even establish a help line! I remember a movie which I watched recently called 'Wednesday'. In this movie a common man who was sick of living in terror, decided to act as he felt that the government and police were inefficient to maintain the safety and security of common people. No wonder people start thinking along these lines; There is widespread shock, anger and sadness around; especially anger against the politicians. I hope the politicians and authorities start doing something for their country. This should be a wake up call for everyone and let episodes like this never be allowed to be repeated again.