War today has mutated; it similar a shot comes inwards many forms. Once it used to receive got a kickoff as well as an end—truce as well as peace would follow war. Terrorism, its most dreaded modern mutant, breaks that template. It has the experience of a permanent war, i without destination or armistice. Nov 26 is a twenty-four hr catamenia to holler upwardly i of the biggest terror strikes Republic of Republic of India has seen—big on spectacle similar 9/11, as well as almost equal inwards its disruptive nature, if non the publish of people who lay dead at the end. One decade since that Nov day, it’s a fourth dimension to mourn the dead—a staggering 166 civilians as well as safety personnel—and to pick out what appears inwards the retrospective lens as well as apply it to the future. The best way to accolade those dead would last to ensure the mistakes that brought it about, or aided it, are never repeated. Are nosotros ready to human face upwardly a new, morphed shape of tearing terror? Before nosotros await at the gaps inwards our fences, nosotros must fissure the code of terror, set its Rubik’s cube squares inwards a pattern. Each terror strike is an deed of state of war inwards miniature. Like everything getting smaller as well as to a greater extent than effective—electronic gadgets, polluting particles similar PM2.5, lynchings instead of riots—terror too offers a bonzai state of war entering everywhere as well as ever-present. It invades the populace arena; every civilian is a target. But compared to the many other terror strikes Republic of Republic of India has witnessed, 26/11 was the truthful Black Swan lawsuit inwards its sheer atypical brazenness. Instead of surreptitiously placed bombs, it was a pelting of randomly sprayed bullets that felled its victims. The pocket-size kamikaze band of x who sailed from Karachi as well as erupted on a Bombay nighttime alongside AK-47s, grenades, RDX as well as sophisticated satphones resembled nada to a greater extent than than a existent invasion, fifty-fifty if on a micro scale. The land unsynchronised bullets had an architect’s original designing tracing their trajectories. The targets were, symbolically, chosen according to the pet hates of the Lashkar-e-Toiba as well as its ‘global jehad’: India, Israel, US, European countries that had participated inwards the Republic of Iraq state of war et al. The many innocent Muslims who too lay dead at CST rails terminus were but collateral damage—of a slice alongside the omnivorous pattern of modern terror.
The 26/11 frame is an apt i to survey as well as pick out stock of India’s readiness and/or vulnerabilities today. Sheer stupor as well as awe ensured it was a twenty-four hr catamenia of reckoning for India’s internal safety apparatus: its strengths as well as weaknesses were on populace display. The biggest lacuna, of course, was inwards intelligence (see ‘When FBI Killed Naipaul a Decade Before He Died’)—those gaps allow 26/11 hand off inwards the first of all place. The event’s first of all draughtsman, a half-white alongside eyes of dissimilar colours, had made several trips to Bombay without agencies getting air current of what he was upwardly to. David Coleman Headley, a the States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent land gone rogue, had reconnoitered as well as mapped the arena, as well as zeroed inwards on the 5 high-impact locations the sea-borne terrorists finally fanned out to (see timeline). Later investigation revealed that less than one-half of the actions chalked out inwards the original plans could truly last carried out.
India’s intelligence capabilities, despite attempts to integrate them, are yet fragmented as well as dependent land to the same frailties. Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 scattered response, inwards existent time, would yet hobble our defences. The NSG, our specialised anti-terror sword-arm, had as well as thence scored spectacular successes at the destination of iii days. But it arrived half-dozen hours after the first of all shot—after failed attempts yesteryear the Maharashtra Police’s anti-terror squad (ATS). Brigadier (retd) Govind Sisodia, who led those operations, is eager to dispel whatever thought of tardiness. “First, the province deploys its ain resources. If it’s beyond the state’s capacity to handle, as well as thence the NSG is called in,” he explains. “On 26/11, at that spot were reports of gunfire thence it was thought to last a gang war. Once they realised it was a terror strike, they deployed the Maharashtra ATS. The entire Bombay police delineate forcefulness was out that night, peculiarly its officers, some of whom were killed. You receive got to understand, the province police delineate is for law as well as order, non anti-terror ops.” Still, fifty-fifty an hour’s gap inwards answer to a terror situation, due to protocol, is too long.
Especially if nosotros consider some key elements that created the surprise factor. Some yet hold—for instance, the novelty of the body of body of water route. (A Pakistani boat infiltrated Indian waters, hijacked an Indian ship as well as used a speedboat to canvass into a line-fishing hamlet inwards Mumbai’s harbour.) For another, terror is a constantly evolving beast. After the attack, Bombay resumed its high-paced life as well as politicians resigned or shuffled portfolios. But receive got the gaps inwards intelligence, coastal safety as well as police delineate capabilities been fixed? Our reportage reveals the NSG, the sharpest of all, has upped its game considerably, as well as also, to an extent, those taking tending of coastal security. But large gaps remain inwards province police delineate as well as intelligence capabilities.
Intelligence
Headley wasn’t on whatever watchlist. No ‘Black List’ or ‘Prior Approval Category’ boxes were ticked. No i knew he existed. Most spooks concur it volition last adjacent to impossible to halt the adjacent Headley. Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 visa won’t last refused unless an applicant is on a watchlist. Nor tin sleuths posted inwards missions abroad assist unless a futurity Headley is already nether sentry yesteryear unusual agencies or Interpol. Even countries similar the the States or the United Kingdom of Great Britain as well as Northern Ireland of Britain as well as Northern Republic of Ireland can’t honor a lone wolf alongside a create clean slate.
BREAK-IN
NSG commandos during the performance at Mumbai’s Nariman House
Did the the States neglect to allow on vital facts to an ally similar India? “Headley was non on whatever the States suspect list,” says old special secretarial assistant (cabinet secretariat) V. Balachandran. “He was a rogue DEA agent. Only his frequent Republic of Republic of India trips inwards September 2006, February/September 2007 as well as April/July 2008 could receive got aroused our suspicion. But businessmen create locomote frequently, as well as unless he was shadowed closely inwards Mumbai, his activities would non receive got been detected. Our internal intelligence agencies failed to create that.” To last sure, at that spot were stray intelligence inputs on Headley to the FBI, such equally his spying on a Danish newspaper. But the FBI was barred yesteryear the States law from quest DEA for details on i of its agents.
“If everything promulgated since 26/11 is complied with, coastal safety volition last better,” says Admiral (retd) Shekhar Sinha.
What close us? Republic of Republic of India responded to 26/11 yesteryear forming NatGrid—a national grid of intelligence agencies—to serve equally a platform for information-sharing as well as coordination. “But, no means wants to surrender command over its domain, peculiarly the Intelligence Bureau,” says a old MHA official. “The IB has failed to reinvent itself because of its structure. It yet focuses to a greater extent than on assessments as well as strategic intelligence gathering. Instead, it needs to focus on tactical intelligence such equally undercover operations.”
Even after NatGrid, Republic of Republic of India saw terror attacks on Gurdaspur as well as Pathankot. And at that spot is no definite evidence yet equally to how they were planned. “In the realm of terror ops, intelligence holds the key,” says old IPS officeholder Y.P. Singh. “It’s worrisome. We receive got non fifty-fifty been able to laid upwardly a National Counter-Terrorism Centre because of lack of cooperation from the states.” Enough holes at that spot for a Headley (or a speedboat) to serpent through.
Coastal Security
The body of body of water is the peachy unknown. Most landlocked Indians don’t realise the country’s borders are also coastal—over 7,516 km of opened upwardly waters. What does a micro-picture await like? Well, India’s western seas receive got at to the lowest degree 50,000 vessels, including a large publish of line-fishing boats, on it at whatever given time; the eastern side has around 25,000. What are the chances of a speedboat or ii (or something else) sneaking through? It was high inwards 2008. There was no organisation of cooperation as well as sharing betwixt the Navy, Coast Guard as well as province maritime police delineate forces, each alongside its ain jurisdiction (see infograph). Now the chances are less, but it’s yet non zero.
“It volition last hard to penetrate the systems now, but 100 per cent can’t last ensured,” says Vice Admiral (retd) Shekhar Sinha. “If everything promulgated since 26/11 is complied with, coastal security volition last better.” The Navy similar a shot commands articulation performance centres (JOCs), working alongside the Coast Guard as well as maritime police. Surveillance is a articulation responsibility. The Navy’s ships, submarines as well as planes—and its sonar as well as radar systems—are on perpetual vigil. Multiple agencies intercept satphone calls from ships. In almost all coastal states, fishermen double upwardly equally intelligence eyes—villages similar a shot receive got hotlines to JOCs. All results are shared.
The Tamil Nadu Police was the first of all to shape its ain coastal safety fly inwards the 1990s, headed yesteryear an IG. All police delineate stations along the coast come upwardly nether its purview. Fishing hamlets as well as the Coast Guard, all participate inwards this buzzing grid. Kerala joined inwards too. “In the yesteryear 10 years, our fishermen began to inform police delineate close whatever suspicious motility of unusual vessels,” says old Kerala DGP Jacob Punnoose. “The Italian ship Enrica Lexie as well as others were intercepted because of this rapport.”
The organisation isn’t foolproof, though. Boats of all states are supposed to last colour-coded. Also, they are meant to last compulsorily fitted alongside a DRDO-developed, smaller version of the Automatic Identification System (AIS) that’s on ships weighing to a higher house 300 tonnes, relayed to surface radars on the shore. Except for inwards Gujarat as well as TN, compliance of norms is low, including inwards Maharashtra. (Tamil Nadu also uses a diesel fuel subsidy to ensure compliance.)
Everyone on board smaller craft, to a greater extent than often than non the line-fishing boats, is also supposed to receive got biometric identification. But it’s common for only the airplane pilot to receive got one; many of the labourers are ID-less contract workers. “The line-fishing communities are major votebanks as well as no political leader volition disturb them. Besides, at that spot aren’t plenty biometric ID readers for the Coast Guard or maritime police,” says a Navy official. “Coastal safety yet operates nether an executive social club as well as has to last made into a law.”
Evolution Of Terror
All this while, terrorist capabilities receive got been getting upgraded. Their arsenal could similar a shot include elements such equally chemic weapons as well as drones, likewise communication capacities that enable attacks of the sort i saw during 26/11, Gurdaspur or Pathankot. The threat itself has been redefined. Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 novel laid of targets receive got emerged—national assets such equally nuclear as well as petrochemical assets, or safety installations such equally the air base of operations inwards Pathankot (or fifty-fifty within Pakistan). Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 petrochemical works life contains hydrogen sulphide, the unloose of which yesteryear a terror onset tin campaign a Bhopal-like tragedy.
BLOODIED
Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus witnessed indiscriminate firing on 26/11
The threat is non precisely from the border alongside Pakistan; at that spot tin last incursions through the porous borders alongside Nepal or Bangladesh, already criss-crossed yesteryear fuzzy networks for smuggling, human/drug trafficking as well as imitation currency. Recently, agencies inwards Assam receive got been cautious of attacks next the NRC process. “In these regions, the BSF sensitises locals as well as engages them inwards intelligence-gathering. Post-26/11, our border safety has undergone thorough reviews. It was a turning point,” says B.D. Sharma, old BSF chief.
Land as well as H2O apart, a novel potential forepart could fifty-fifty last the skies. India’s aviation sector is growing thence fast, it could overtake the UK’s to last the world’s quaternary largest yesteryear 2025, as well as the 3rd largest a decade later.
NSG
On 26/11, the NSG was geared for deployment fifty-fifty earlier the orders came. But the 35 km from Manesar, exterior Delhi, to the aerodrome took an hr as well as a half. Mobility has since been improved, alongside NSG hubs inwards 4 cities (Mumbai, Calcutta, Chennai and, recently, Ahmedabad) reducing reaction time. The ‘alert squadron’ inwards Delhi is similar a shot stationed at Palam itself as well as tin last flown on IAF planes or helicopters or R&AW’s Aviation Research Centre fleet, or fifty-fifty commercial aircraft. After a call, the first of all forcefulness volition last airborne within an hour, max. More tin follow every half-hour thereafter, also from other hubs. Depending on distances from whatever hub, they tin accomplish whatever house inwards Republic of Republic of India within one-five hours of existence notified.
Besides its fissure fighters as well as communication/surveillance personnel, the warning squadron has India’s best-trained bomb disposal units, consummate alongside robots as well as a ‘mobile bomb detonation unit’—a containment sleeping room for bombs/IEDs that can’t last defused. The technology scientific discipline was used when bombs were found inwards Delhi inwards 2008, though non inwards 2014 when the NSG dug trenches as well as detonated grenades as well as IEDs inwards Khagragarh, Burdwan. In Pathankot, the NSG managed to comprise them within a pocket-size expanse out of accomplish of the armed forces assets, including fighter jets. But fifty-fifty here, though the NSG denied whatever violation of its SOPs, Lt Col Niranjan K.K. had died inwards a boom piece searching the corpse of a slain terrorist, wearing only one-half a bomb accommodate because of the grass. The SOP has similar a shot changed to treatment IEDs as well as corpses purely mechanically.
Training infrastructure has kept mensuration alongside the best: modern ranges as well as target systems alongside onset simulations. Training drills alongside unusual forces enable exchange of best practices. The commando’s equipment too stays on the bleeding-edge: nighttime vision goggles alongside double the luminosity than before, lighter bullet-proof helmets, high-density cameras, lighter armour, world-class tactical boots, the latest level-4 shield that stops armour-piercing bullets, as well as the best wheels—combat-ready Renault-made Sherpas. Anti-ballistic goggles protect the eyes from grenade flashes as well as splinters. Kamikaze drones assist inwards assaults. In Pathankot, the NSG first of all scanned the rooms where terrorists were holed upwardly alongside robotic surveillance balls. The canine unit of measurement is no longer for back upwardly or bomb detection alone; the dogs are trained to assail terrorists.
The NSG’s operations unit of measurement also recces as well as conducts drills inwards sensitive populace spaces. It introduced 3D imaging inwards 2016—its eyes tin similar a shot scan, say, a Sabarimala temple or tell whether a particular door inwards a Bangalore mall opens inwards. Everything gets stored inwards the NSG database. During an attack, they tin construct a 3D map of whatever edifice nether siege based on blueprints or a stone oil sketch of its layout.
Police
Before the hyper-modern imprint of the NSG is brought to comport on a situation, there’s the police. Its bottom-up, feet-on-the-ground placement renders it the most of import cog inwards the wheel, as well as also the most exposed. The vanquish cop volition last the first of all on the scene, but if unarmed, he is equally vulnerable equally the remainder of the public. That’s earlier the elite police delineate teams, meant to bargain alongside the threat themselves or comprise it until the NSG arrives, at to the lowest degree theoretically—most states are lagging behind inwards developing such teams. The gaps on the police delineate side are equally much close inertia equally lack of funds; imagination is non ever wanting.
“We had a projection called Dial 100,” says R. Sri Kumar, who was Karnataka DGP during 26/11, recalling a programme conjured upwardly yesteryear senior IPS officers inwards Jan 2009. “The authorities had accepted the proposal.” The thought was to create a mutual integrated answer management system—like a singular dorsum portion for the entire country—around the emergency publish 100. It would guide keep all distress calls alongside the same feel of emergency, whether a 26/11-like onset or a domestic violence case. “What nosotros were configuring was beyond the the States 911 New Generation…and 100 was already alongside us equally a national emergency number,” Sri Kumar tells Outlook. Bureaucracy aborted the mission precisely earlier it was to instruct a airplane pilot project.
STATE OF THE ART
Security exterior Parliament Building inwards New Delhi, which had faced a terror onset inwards 2001
PHOTOGRAPH BY GETTY IMAGES
The province of emergency mobility could get despair. Delhi has precisely got 500 new, specially-equipped motorcycles to give its vanquish cops an edge. But alongside nightmarish congestion, the adjacent line of defence—the elite teams—could good last stuck inwards a jam! Around Delhi’s AIIMS as well as Safdarjung hospitals, it’s mutual to encounter ambulances trying haplessly to negotiate double-parked vehicles on the lanes. An AK-47 tin burn 600 rounds per minute, as well as a trained terrorist tin throw 5-6 grenades within that span. Imagine, say, Mumbai’s Force One squad honking away inwards the rush-hour crawl on Western Express Highway, SV Road or Lady Jamshedji Road at that time. Not the most comforting picture.
The NSG, tasked alongside capacity-building of province police delineate forces, of late audited their terror preparedness inwards 20 states: all were below par. Only iii states had made noticeable efforts. Punjab, alongside its history of Khalistani INSurgency, has developed a SWAT team. Maharashtra has its Force One. And the NSG itself has been preparation the UP Police for adjacent year’s Kumbh Mela. All inwards the yesteryear ii years. Haryana announced a novel anti-terror forcefulness only in conclusion month.
“In India, there’s to a greater extent than of an outward display or exhibition of security,” says Brig (retd) Govind Sisodia, who Pb the NSG’s 26/11 operations.
The Comptroller & Auditor General’s survey of the scenario shows upwardly gaping holes. In its 2017 performance audit of UP Police, the CAG noted, “Special Commando Force as well as Commando Training Centres to guide keep anti-terrorists operations receive got yet non been established.” In 2009, the UP Police had proposed 4 hubs inwards Agra, Lucknow, Meerut as well as Varanasi for a forcefulness of 2,000 commandos. Till September 2016, only 79 commandos of the UP Provincial Armed Constabulary had been placed alongside the state’s ATS. Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 commando preparation schoolhouse had overshot its deadline yesteryear iii years as well as its estimated cost yesteryear Rs 12.5 crore. During 2011-16, the province spent Rs 2,739 crore on modernisation, but couldn’t instruct reason for the hubs.
The CAG study on Maharashtra showed that, inwards 2011-16, procurement had non been done for equipment worth Rs 28 crore: bullet-proof jackets, nighttime vision binoculars, bomb disposal suits, portable x-ray machines et al. It noted a shortage of “65,026 modern weapons, constituting 45 per cent of the full requirement of the state”.
Karnataka’s CAG audit revealed a mixed bag. An Internal Security Division (ISD) was laid upwardly shortly after 26/11 and, inwards 2016, its counter-terrorism fly laid upwardly a fundamental warning base of operations inwards Bangalore’s fundamental line of piece of occupation concern district. The force, says ISD DGP A.M. Prasad, is well-equipped, but doesn’t operate a helicopter—a vital gap inwards a metropolis of traffic nightmares. Karnataka Police’s Garuda force, located centrally close Bangalore’s MG Road, tin accomplish vital installations within “a affair of minutes”, says an officer. Well, perhaps.
Karnataka’s vii police delineate ranges boast 21-28 per cent trained SWAT commandos. But weapon procurement gets stuck inwards red-tapism, as well as the weapons instruct fired only twice a year. And the CAG could discover no evidence that the police delineate had recced populace spaces similar the NSG, equally it’s supposed to. “Though maiden was taken to constitute a specialised squad inwards Jan 2015…it was yet to instruct a striking unit,” the CAG concluded. Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 2017 Karnataka law also requires owners of individual establishments to instal CCTVs as well as shop recordings for upwardly to xxx days.
Private Security?
That’s brings us to the in conclusion cog inwards the wheel, as well as it’s to a greater extent than often than non a dummy showpiece. Most places attacked during 26/11 were privately-owned. But individual safety everywhere is a scrap of a hoot. “There’s no armed element. They aren’t authorised to go on weapons,” says Brig Sisodia. Against terrorists who tin kill hundreds or pick out hostage, they haven’t a snowflake’s endangerment inwards hell. Basic frisking at malls as well as painting exhibit theatre halls does disclose handguns or sudden weapons, but jibe an underpaid, overworked, demotivated individual guard against an armed kamikaze—tough to thwart a shooting spree. Or a vehicle tin ship a bomb into a parking lot. Mirrors on sticks create non banking concern check within the vehicle, only its undercarriage. “The best way to honor bombs is yesteryear dogs, but they too can’t patrol for hours…fatigue takes a toll on their efficiency too,” says Sisodia.
“In India, there’s to a greater extent than of an outward display or exhibition of security,” says Sisodia. “Security has to last invisible, alongside high-end cameras as well as efficient, well-paid personnel. We think the human behind the gun is most important, but who mans the cameras? That’s really important today.” Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 senior official says individual safety too must last upgraded, citing the Academi (or ‘Blackwater’). Started yesteryear an ex-US Navy Seal, Blackwater uses old commandos to render the best security, but carries a top-dollar cost tag. That, says the official, is where individual safety must displace if lives receive got to last saved.
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