Is India prepared for terror threat?

T.V. Rajeswar

Dec 16 2014 

The large turnout of voters in Kashmir, ignoring the boycott call of the pro-Pakistani elements, must have come as a big disappointment to the Pakistan government and jihadi outfits

Hafiz Sayeed, chief of Jammat-ud-Dawa, convened a two-day convention at Lahore on December 5 and 6. He claims to have paid Rs 50 lakh for the arrangement of special trains to transport supporters. Hundreds of buses were also used to bring people to the rally. Hafiz announced that the rally was meant to promote unity in Pakistan against India's alleged efforts to destabilise Pakistan “through terrorism and sectarianism”.

It is well known that right from the time of the Mumbai attacks on November 26, 2008, Lashkar-e-Toiba and its twin organisation, Jamaat-ud-Dawa, headed by rabid jihadist Hafiz Sayeed, have been working for the Pakistan army and the ISI with the full backing of the Pakistani government itself.

It is obvious that the large turnout of voters in Kashmir, ignoring the boycott call of the pro-Pakistani elements, has come as a big disappointment to the Pakistan government and terrorist organisations. By holding the convention and talking of India's "atrocities" in Kashmir, the jihadi organisations want to demonstrate that the people of Pakistan are not happy with the way the events have taken place in Kashmir.

Both Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jamaat-ud-Dawa have been specifically mentioned by the US government as violent terrorist organisations allied with Al-Qaida as well as Haqqani's Taliban. The US had announced a bounty of $10 million for any viable evidence against Hafiz Sayeed. A spokesman of the US government had also said that any assistance given to Hafiz Sayeed or his organisation would be termed as a violation of the UN Security Council's resolutions.

On an appeal by Hafiz Sayeed, the Punjab High Court in Pakistan has directed the Pakistan government to take up the matter with the US government and get the $10 million offer cancelled. The Pentagon of the US came out with a report in October that militants in Pakistan continued to infiltrate into Afghanistan and India with a view to destabilising these countries. A former Chairman of the US Joint Chief of Staff told the US Congress that Pakistan's ISI and army were backing Lashkar-e-Toiba which had attacked the Indian Consulate in Herat. 

The attacks on the LoC by the Pakistani troops as well as Pakistan-backed infiltrators from occupied Kashmir inflicted severe casualties on CRPF men manning the Indian posts. The Pakistani infiltrators also carried out an attack in Srinagar on December 5, resulting in the death of 13 persons, including CRPF men.

And now the Pakistan government and the ISI have helped Hafiz Sayeed with finance and other ways in organising the rally in Lahore. A key factor, which seems to have led to the Laskhar-e-Toiba rally in Lahore is the ongoing election in J&K, which has gone off well with a uniformly high turnout, much to the chagrin of Pakistan and its terror outfits. Hafiz Sayeed termed the ongoing polls in Kashmir as sham and asked his followers in the name of Quran to help Kashmiris in their struggle to get freedom from India. He also called upon the jihadists to adopt the course of Ghaznavi and Ghauri against India. 

In Kathmandu, Prime Minister Modi did not have one-on-one discussion on Indo-Pakistan affairs, nor did Modi make any move in that direction. Nawaz Sharif, Prime Minister of Pakistan, had said that since India had called off the Foreign-Secretary level talks, it was for New Delhi to make the first move. Modi did not oblige and ignored Nawaz Sharif, except for a formal handshake at the time of the Kathmandu conference along with all other leaders of the SAARC countries. 

The National Security Guard (NSG) chief issued a warning on October 16 that terror outfits like Al-Qaida, Lashkar-e-Toiba and the IS could all join hands and launch a multi-city multiple attacks in India. The NSG chief also termed the 2008 Mumbai carnage as “just a curtain-raiser”.

The Naval Chief, Admiral R.K. Dhovan, addressed a press conference on December 4 and said that the dynamics of maritime security had changed with the resort to terrorist threats and the threat to India's maritime borders had increased enormously. The Naval Chief went on to say that there were 2.5 lakh fishing boats operating in the sea and the possibility of terrorists commandeering a ship to carry out attacks on coastal cities in the country had to be viewed seriously. 

In the context of these warnings, a serous note has to be taken of the Pakistan army and ISI-backed Hafiz Sayeed's mega rally. The multiple attacks carried out in the Uri sector and elsewhere along the LoC, as well as the operations carried out at more than one place in Srinagar, causing several casualties of security men as well as civilians on December 5, should be taken as a dress rehearsal by the Pakistani army and its proxies like LeT and Jamaat-ud-Dawa.

It may be recalled that an important proposal for setting up a National Counter-Terrorism Centre was put forth by former Home Minister P. Chidambaram at a conference organised by the Home Ministry and the Intelligence Bureau (IB), and attended by the DGPs/IGPs of all States to discuss security issues facing the country. Unfortunately, this important proposal did not get the concurrence of the States and the proposal is still very much at the discussion stage. India now has a new National Security Adviser. Ajit Doval, with his IB background, is eminently suited to thrash out the security issues.

In the context of the rally in Lahore and in view of the specific mention by Hafiz Sayeed that the rally was meant to oppose India’s alleged excesses in J&K, and the fact that the ongoing elections in J&K have gone off well, much to the chagrin of Pakistan and the jihadi elements, India should be prepared to face any eventuality such as multiple attacks on its cities by Al-Qaida and jihadi elements. There is need to plug the big gaps which had once prevailed in security co-ordination between the Centre and States as well as consider whether India is prepared to forestall and effectively handle another possible Mumbai-type attack, if carried out by Al-Qaida and jihadi elements. The NSA must have, no doubt, got all the issues thoroughly examined and initiated appropriate action at all levels.