Sunday, November 30, 2008

If you had 1 Crore to fight against terror, how do you think it should be spent?

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Below is what I have to say -


This is going to be a long post cause this seems to be the forum where we are discussing this.

I DO NOT believe that terrorism will ever vanish. No matter how hard we try and no matter what we do, there will always be attacks of this kind. There are 3 main things that drive terrorism today (according to me) – brainwashing, funding & training. None of these 3 things are going to go away anytime soon. The end of terrorist attacks is impossible and a world without such attacks will exists only in our minds/hearts & fairy tales. There will always be people who will do the wrong thing. I think it’s important to remember this and chalk out objectives keeping this in mind.

I think we need to see to it that 1) Such attacks are few and far between 2) We can deal with them when they happen in such a way that we minimize loss/damage 3) We deal with the aftermath in such a way that we minimize loss/damage

I don’t think 1 crore is enough and I know that this will have to be an ongoing effort to make any sort of impact

The few things I would love to see (and this isn’t restricted to stopping terrorism) –


1) A better crisis management system in place.

a.This would not just be restricted to the armed forces but would even things like transportation, hospital readiness, information dissemination, etc
b.This system should be able to deal with multiple threats – bombs (big and small), gunfire, bio-weapons, hostage situations etc
c.One central team that will take care of all the problems when the city is under threat and will be held responsible if things go wrong.


2) Stronger punishment for terrorists.

Why are we always doing politically correct things? We should be hanging people like this. Not keeping them in our jails. Do we want more Kandahars? Terrorists should know that if they come in, they will die. Why should you keep such people alive? What cause they are human? Seriously you can kill and eat a chicken which does no harm to someone but such people you want to keep alive?


3) Better communication and information systems during the time of an attack

Everyone is glued to their televisions and top officials cannot answer a simple question like ‘how many people do you believe are in the building?’ That’s ridiculous. If it can’t be told, say it is sensitive information but at least give some estimate. People want to know what is happening around them and if they see such people saying such things, it doesn’t build confidence and that is what creates more panic.


4) Dealing with terror that lingers.

We should have crisis centers or something, where people who are directly affected can get help. Fear is psychological and it’s a terrible feeling. People should have some place where they can go and get help. Being a hostage for instance is a mind-racking experience (I would assume). Such people should get free therapy if possible. This could be for common citizens or people in the forces etc


5) Dealing with ineffective officials

There needs to be an accountability system. Anyone gets away with anything in this country. Someone must be responsible to see that such attacks are dealt with properly. And if screw ups happen, I would like to see a proper punishment being given. Whether it is someone in the armed forces or in politics or in the media, there should be NO EXCEPTION. I mean I am hearing people say that the Gujarat coast guard had warned about the terrorists in advance (could be a rumour) and what were people who are in-charge doing? Sleeping?


A few other things I would love to see is –

1) More religious leaders coming out and condemning acts of terrorism (and no I don’t just mean Muslim priests. Nearly every religion has blood on its hands). Not just some small thing after some attack but regularly and to a big group of people. Maybe we need to create a forum (not an online community) for such a thing. I think something like this will make it a little more difficult to recruit ‘jihadis’. Religion is a nice excuse for terrorism and things must be done to correct this.

2) International pressure AND aid to countries like Pakistan, Afghanistan, etc where there are terrorism training camps. Such places need to be destroyed. Again it won’t stop terrorism but will make it difficult to train people and thus reduce the occurrence of attacks. If the governments are pro-terrorism, there should be ways to deal with it. Maybe we should petition for such things.

3) Better situational education/situational sensitivity for the common man (restricted to the big cities is good enough). Common people should know first aid. They should also know things like not getting in the way of any operation that might be on (like it happened today at Taj). There can be educational documentaries created and aired on TV for instance.

I am sure I can go on. There must be a ton of things that I haven’t even thought of. Will add more later.

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