V Balachandran said the country was way behind in calibrating an effective counter-terrorism methodology.
A day after Union home minister P Chidambaram opened the NSG’s permanent regional hub in the city on Thursday, former RAW special secretary V Balachandran said the country was way behind in calibrating an effective counter-terrorism methodology.
“Terrorism cannot be fought only through new equipment or inducting new forces, but has to be a joint enterprise as in other countries,” said Balachandran, while speaking at a seminar ‘Mumbai must be secured. Now!’, a seminar organised by NGO Bombay First.
The seminar saw Balachandran presenting a background paper on counter-terrorism policy, which is primarily a study of how other countries organise their anti-terror operations. Comparing them with India, Balachandran said the entire world was fighting terror using a federal set-up, whereas in India, the responsibility of investigating terror cases lies with the state police, who are ill-equipped. For one, he said a person arrested in Mumbai for the Mulund blasts in 2003 had revealed that gangster Aftab Ansari had abducted a person, and sent part of the ransom received to Saeed Omar Sheikh, who in turn sent it to Mohammed Atta (the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks).
“Neither the Mumbai police nor that of any other state could have known about this type of transaction,” he pointed out.
Urging greater participation by the private sector and the public at large in the policing effort, the former special secretary in the Cabinet Secretariat quoted American counter-terrorism expert Peter Bergen, saying: “Given the changing nature of terrorism, ordinary Americans must play the role of detecting and preventing terrorism.”
He pointed out that the Pradhan Committee report (which he had co-authored) had never spoken about a new force or new weapons (though it spoke of streamlining the process), but had made 30 recommendations for systemic improvement of intelligence gathering, open source intelligence, private-government partnerships, among other aspects.
Mumbai police commissioner Arup Patnaik agreed that citizens had to make greater effort in helping police the city, adding that it was not easy.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}