People's Democracy

MANIK SARKAR�S SPEECH

Multi-Pronged Efforts Needed To Tackle Terror Effectively

The following is the text of the speech delivered by Tripura chief minister Manik Sarkar at the conference of chief ministers on internal security held in New Delhi on January 6, 2009

TERRORISM, extremism or secessionism or whatever it is called, has become the most daunting challenges that the country is now facing on the internal security front. As the terrorist attack in Mumbai on November 26, 2008 as well as the series of bomb blasts across various cities in the country in last several months have shown, terrorists have developed the capability of being able to strike almost at will, causing deaths of innocent persons and widespread damage to property.

Terrorist attacks have been carried out in places as far apart as Agartala, Imphal or Guwahati in the North East or Mumbai or Ahmedabad in the West and may tend to show that the terrorists seem to have a common game plan in their execution and objective. But it has to be understood that different areas have specific nature of problems. In the North East, the insurgent groups have a different ideological base, either asking for independent states or being against �outsiders� or due to feelings of deprivation and frustration. Terrorist attacks in other parts of the country have targeted specific areas, such as crowded market places, railway stations, or specific locations like business centers or hotels or specific communities, aiming at fomenting communal strife for destabilising society and undermining the confidence of business and investors as well as tourists coming to the country and trying to harm the image of India as a safe place. As such, when we have to deal with terrorism and extremism, the area specific issues should be taken into account and accordingly area specific solutions are required to be worked out to deal with this menace.

It has been noticed that certain political groups are trying to exploit the situation and create communal tensions. Such attempts need to be strongly and unitedly resisted and condemned if we are to ensure that this problem does not spread out. We, however, need to be cautious in this matter to ensure that no particular group or community is either targeted or held responsible for the terrorist depredations and also no special treatment should be planned for any specific groups or sections of society.

It also needs to be understood that the terrorist and extremist groups do operate with certain ideological background, however wrong and abhorrent it may be. It is necessary to tackle the problem not only through force and as a law and order issue but also to fight the battle firmly on ideological and political lines. For narrow political gains no party should take any step or tactical move which may tantamount to providing indulgence to terrorist/extremist groups directly or indirectly. For this, there should be an understanding at the national level involving all political parties and state governments to combat the terrorist and extremist groups. The Mumbai terrorists attack have galvanised the nation to stand unitedly against such designs and is an abject lesson for them to desist from such endeavours.

For effectively facing the challenge of terrorist violence, strengthening of intelligence gathering and dissemination and closer cooperation and coordination between the security agencies of the central and the state governments are important. The intelligence inputs which are received need to be collated, analysed and linked up with previous inputs and disseminated timely for effective and timely action to be taken. In view of the state intelligence mechanism having a key role in collection of intelligence, it is imperative that central government extends full fledged support to the states for building up the manpower and the equipment base.

We should also recognise that at least some of the terrorist or extremist activities are a result of economic deprivation and lack of proper economic development in certain regions of the country. In such areas, there has been a growing feeling of discontent and frustration and a sense of alienation. These negative and disruptive feelings have driven some of the people, particularly a section of youth and unemployed, to the path of extremism and other anti-social activities. It is, therefore, imperative that we address the issue of economic development in a proper manner, so that this will lead to growth in employment opportunities and betterment in the avenues for economic livelihood. If the people, especially the educated unemployed, have access to more opportunities to be gainfully employed, it will definitely assist in ensuring that the youth are not led astray and at the same time misguided people can be weaned back from the path of extremism.

While talking of terrorism and extremism, the role of Bangladesh cannot be underestimated. I have mentioned on earlier occasions that Bangladesh is a major problem in so far as terrorist and extremist activities are concerned. Insurgent groups operating in the North East region have been using Bangladesh as a safe haven for their camps, training and other such activities. We have been giving definite information about the existence of terrorist camps in Bangladesh, details of cross border movement of these groups, their training with the active connivance of the ISI, which indicates that Bangladesh has become a centre and hub for extremists and terrorists especially as far as the North East and Eastern region are concerned. It is urgently required that Bangladesh should be subjected to intense pressure, both nationally and internationally, to dismantle the terrorist camps located on its soil and strongly discourage the movement of these groups within its territory.

In addition to dismantling the infrastructure in Bangladesh which supports the extremists� activities in the North Eastern states it is also necessary to seal and guard the international border that these states have with Bangladesh. In this regard, proper border management is very critical. Sealing of borders effectively is of prime importance and equipment required for vigil along the border, border fencing, flood lighting, strengthening of border guarding forces and related matters should be accorded highest priority. Out of 856 km of border of Tripura with Bangladesh, border fencing work is still not complete in a number of stretches and these unfenced stretches are regularly used by the terrorists. Fencing should be completed along the entire boundary at the earliest and the quality of work should be ensured. It is experienced that in few areas even though sanctioned, the border fencing work could not be taken up due to hindrances created by certain vested interests having political backing. For addressing the problem, it is necessary that all sections rise above their narrow interests and assist in expeditious completion of the border fencing work. This will greatly help in reducing the incidence of cross border movements.

The crucial role of border roads also cannot be undermined as it is essential for proper mobility and surveillance. The present condition of the border roads along the international border is a major impediment to the effective and timely mobilisation of security forces when required. The level of upkeep and quality of border roads is required to be improved and it is therefore necessary that the responsibility of maintenance of the border roads is immediately assigned to an agency along with the required resources.

Police modernisation is, no doubt required more urgently than ever before. On different occasions of terrorist attacks, we now realise that had our police personnel been better trained and had better equipment and weaponry, the damage could have been contained and the situation brought under control much more quickly and effectively. Therefore, police modernisation is a must and that too as quickly as possible. Though the police modernisation effort is being supported by the government of India, it is not enough given the present day situation and circumstances and this needs to be given proper emphasis and special priority. There are flaws in the existing systems and I would particularly like to mention the matter of procurement where it is seen that sometimes there are too many delays due to so called procedural complications which defeats the very purpose of the modernisation effort. I would suggest that in police modernisation, priority may be drawn up for those areas which are required to be strengthened to deal with the menace of terrorism and extremism.

Training of police forces regularly and with all modern methods should be effective and an ongoing process. However, many states lack the resources for building up proper training infrastructure. There is need to focus on training needs and training infrastructure and to expand this to meet the requirements in each state. Government of India should fully support these efforts.

I hope that the relevant points raised by me will be taken note of and I am confident that we can come together to stand united against this looming threat of terrorism and extremism and tackle it in an effective manner.

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Insurgent groups operating in the North East region have been using Bangladesh as a safe haven for their camps, training and other such activities� It is urgently required that Bangladesh should be subjected to intense pressure, both nationally and internationally, to dismantle the terrorist camps located on its soil and strongly discourage the movement of these groups within its territory.