NEW DELHI, March 24 - Half hearted attempts by the Government of India in dealing with terrorism is one of the main reasons why the country has been facing major terrorist attacks from time to time. Meanwhile, the Government of India is of the view that Pakistan has been using the terrorist groups based in that country as its �disguised army� to launch attacks on India.
Highly placed sources in the Government of India told The Assam Tribune that over the years, the actions taken by the Government of India to deal with terrorism were half hearted and so far, the country has not been able to come up with a strong policy to deal with terrorism like the United States of America did.
Giving a few examples, sources pointed out that the attack on Parliament was one of the worst terror attacks faced by India and only Afzal Guru, who was identified as the mastermind of the attack was given death penalty.
Similarly, the Mumbai terror attack was one of the most gruesome incidents faced by the country and death penalty was given to Ajmal Kasab, one of the terrorists involved in the attack. There should have been detailed investigations as without logistic support within India, it is not possible to carry out such attacks and all those involved should have been brought to book.
Similarly, very often detailed investigations are not carried out after a terror attack to even nab the persons involved in providing logistic and other support to the terrorists involved in the attacks. No serious effort is made to find out whether there were any intelligence or other security lapses. That is why, India has been facing terrorist attacks from time to time. Intelligence gathering is the most vital part of the war against terror and India is still lagging behind some advanced countries in this regard, sources admitted.
Sources pointed out that after the twin tower attack, the Americans have adopted a tough stand in dealing with terrorism and despite repeated attempts, no terrorist outfit has yet been able to carry out any major strike in America and American installations in other nations across the world. There is another major advantage that America has is that while dealing with terrorism, the whole country speaks in one voice unlike India where most political parties try to take advantage of such attacks.
Sources revealed that way back in 2004, America adopted an Intelligence Reforms and Terrorism Prevention Act, under which, the roles and responsibilities of all the security and intelligence agencies were clearly defined and all the agencies were also provided with adequate resources accordingly. As many as 17 intelligence and security agencies of that country are now inter-linked and they are headed by a senior officer. India would have to take similar steps to make all the intelligence and security agencies accountable and give them adequate resources to deal with terrorism, sources admitted.
On the issue of surgical strikes, two in Pakistan and one in Myanmar, sources said that more than the number of insurgents or terrorists killed in the strikes, the strikes sent a strong message. Now the terrorists know very well that if they target India, they can be hit back hard, which was important in the interest of security of the nation.
The Government of India is also of the view that Pakistan has been using the terrorist groups like the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and Laskar-e-Taiba (LeT) as the �disguised army� of that country to launch attacks not only on India but also in Iran and Afghanistan. The world community is aware of the fact and that is why India got support from different countries following the recent strike in a JeM camp in Balakot, sources added.
