Tackling Maoist Violence

Tackling Maoist Violence
Dr. Satya Pal Singh*

The Communist Rural Insurgency in various parts of the world is generally known as Left Wing Extremism or Naxalism in India and Maoism in Nepal. It has proliferated on a phenomenal scale in its ideology, logistics and areas since the Naxalbari uprising of 1967 in Darzling district of the West Bengal province in India. Union and State Governments’ efforts to contain and curb it have not borne the desired fruits. The divergence and different perceptions in diagnosing the problem and regional political compulsions in tackling it, have in fact help moved the left-extremist movement ahead. A few years ago in the 'CBI Bulletin' (July, 1993) of India, I had emphatically mentioned that half-hearted measures are destined for defeat. Recently, the murders of many ministers and public representatives by use of automatic weapons and land mines and the string of systematic kidnappings and fatal attacks on police personnel and damage to the private and public property in different parts of the country and neighbouring Nepal have given a jolt to the authorities for realising the urgency of initiating effective counter-measures.

The students of Communism know that Comrade Mao - the mentor and torch-bearer of the left-wing extremism had said, " War is politics with bloodshed and politics is war without bloodshed". Left-wing extremists are engaged in a political war - a struggle which might go on for hundreds of years. The ups and downs are the accepted phases of this political-social revolution (or revolutionary war, as extremists call it). Every small or big contribution and every martyrdom is a ladder taking them forward. Any defeat or set back is an experience to learn and rectify its mistakes in the long march to the have-nots' power.
I What is Naxalism / Maoism ?
Inspired by the leftist ideology of (Marx, Lenin and Mao), it is a politico-socio-economic movement manifesting in law and order problem, threatening or capable of threatening the very foundation of a democratic society.
II Extent of Problem:
Since its inception in 1967 in West Bengal, the Maoist movement has split into more than two dozens of groups of different names and slightly varied ideological moorings. The movement in India has now spread its tentacles in West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh., Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh., Tamil.Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka provinces. The problem in Bihar, Orissa , Madhy Pradesh., Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh has assumed serious law and order problems. In the last few years, Nepal has become a new killing field for Maoist militants and they are beginning to gain the upper hand as compared to the police. The Maoists have in fact captured the power in Nepal in alliance with other political parties.

Among the major naxal groups, CPI-ML Peoples War ( better known as PWG) has emerged as the most violent and powerful, orchestrating a new offensive against police and persons coming in its way. CPI-ML-Party Unity - a powerful group of Bihar has merged with it in 1998. Efforts are being made to achieve unity with MCC (Maoist Communist Centre) - again an ambitious militant outfit in Bihar and West Bengal.
The Maoist militants have also developed links with other terrorist groups operating in North-East, Jammu & Kashmir and Communitst Party of Nepal (Maoist). There are unconfirmed reports that PWG cadres were trained in techniques of laying landmines and other uses of explosives by the LTTE of Sri Lanka. Also, over the years the movement, despite its splintered character, has received encouragement and support from various Maoist and Communist organisations operating in different parts of the world.

The problem is quite serious. What we see on the surface is the tip of the iceberg. Every visionary person would know that it is a battlefield out there. According to the naxalites themselves, it is a Peoples' War , a beginning of armed revolution for a true democratic society. The security forces are fighting a dynamic unconventional war against a very intelligent enemy in jungles, hills and sparsely populated terrains.
III Strategy of Maoists
Maoist militants are using a double-edged weapon of allurement and intimidation to create a mass base in the villages. They are building up village level cells among the youth, farmers, labourers, women, students and children and cultivating and influencing the intellectuals in the cities. They are equipped with simple as well as sophisticated weaponry, almost mastering the techniques of laying landmines and using explosives in different myriad ways. They have well-established channels of printing and circulating their clandestine literature. Even our electronic and print media has not been unkind to them. Their aim is to make the Government administration totally ineffective and discredited and turning the masses in their favour through tactics and armed revolution to ultimately carve out a Dandakaranya State in the Central India and so-called democratic-republic in Nepal to capture political power.
IV) Strength of Maoists
Before taking about the Strategy of solution for Maoist violence in the region we must know what are the pillars of their strength in the affected areas. According to me, if we generalise, there are only three:
1 Support of Locals:
Rightly or wrongly whether under fear or for favour the vast majority of weaker sections of society (tribals, dalits, marginalised farmers etc.) are either supportive to the Maoists or totally neutral to the administration. Local people provide recruits, food, shelter and intelligence network to Maoists and are lured into their village level cells whether of farmers, labours, students, women and children. Majority of the locals see the Maoists as their benefactors.
2. Source of Easy Funds
Maoist Cadres are collecting huge amount of funds from their areas of active operation. According to the police's rough estimate - it runs into more than Rs.100 millions a year from the state of Maharashtra alone, where the districts of Gadchiroli, Chandrapur and Bhandara (now Gondia) are badly affected. With this money , these Maoists purchase their weapons, ammunitions and provisions; organise training camps, build a net-work of informants and run secret dens in cities etc. Money is coming mainly from Tendu leaves (used for making beedis for smoking –a natural version of cigarettes) contractors, Paper Mill Owners and Contractors working for forest, other developmental agencies as well as other small sources. The major chunk of this money is not through extortion but is what we call protection money. Most of the Contractors and delinquent public servants have developed the modus vivendi - a kind of strange relations with Maoists where both parties share the exploits of these undeveloped areas. Of course, Maoists try to maintain their clean image as ills are inflicted on the heads of contractors and corrupt government officials.
3. Synergy of Hills, Jungles and Inter-State Borders
Forest and hilly terrains and contiguous inter-State borders are being used as training ground and safe sanctuaries by Maoist militants. Vast tracts of jungles and inter- State borders have become big barriers for smooth police operations. Jungles are a great equaliser of force and if I quote one British Commander Lt.Colonel S.M.Mans who commanded the operations against Communist insurgents (other name of Maoists) in Malaya in 1950s that because of jungles, "Never in the history of warfare have so few been chased so much by so many for such a long time". Therefore , it is a daunting and debilitating task and not simply a policing job for any law and order problem. Non-apprehension of the sandal-wood smuggler , Veerappan, by the combined Special Task Force of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu States underscores the synergical advantage of jungle terrains to the activists of extremism and insurgency.
V. A Strategy of Success
Such a complicated and serious problem defies easy solutions. It warrants a multi-disciplinary and multi-departmental approach. The police alone can just fight the fringe of the problem. It cannot tackle the deep-seated malaise, and the history of the last 30 years has proved it.

Such an unconventional problem cannot be solved through usual bureaucratic means. We have to demolish the pillars of strength of the Maoist movement. Many may not agree, but it requires the same strategy that is being employed by the extremists themselves, with only one difference - we have to put the gears of their strategy in reverse. Following are the measures for maiming the moorings of Maoists movement.
1. "Winning the minds and hearts of Local People"
This is the most important requirement for the state administration to be successful against this unconventional warfare.
How is it possible?
Every human society wants its progress. Tribals and locals are no exception to it. So, creating a stake of locals in their own development is the foremost requirement. Some people have an erroneous assumption that along with the development of an area, the Maoist problem will automatically vanish. This is not true, as insurgencies have occurred at all levels of economic development except at the highest or the mass consumption level. Interestingly, in Latin America insurgency has occurred in countries with high levels of development as Cuba, Venezuela and Colombia. One of the few comprehensive studies on the relationship between economic factors and insurgencies found a curvilinear relationship between gross national product (GNP) per capita and political violence. It suggested that there is no simple relationship between economic factors and the outbreak of violence.
Recently, the study of 24 insurgencies since 1946 in different parts of the world, as quoted by Jerry Tinkar revealed that the level of economic development of a country provides no immunity to insurgency. There may, however, be some relationship between GNP per capita and the level of violence. The study also found that insurgency is not restricted to countries with rural low-density population or having low adult literacy.
The most pertinent question is; "Can anyone say that after pumping about hundreds of millions of rupees in the affected area in India, the Maoist problem has lessened or the locals have become favourable to the administration ?" My answer to these questions is a big 'No' Then what does it portray and convey?
The message is clear. The locals are not with the administration and we should admit it. Even their passive neutrality is advantageous to the Maoist militants and an obstacle for the security agencies. Building up roads, bridges and the electrification of villages, where our 70-80% buget is being spent, has shown little improvement in the quality of life of the local people. We, in administration perceive roads, bridges, electrification and telephone as symbols of development but the tribals and locals feel otherwise.
Unless we involve the locals, create a stake of theirs in their own development, much is not going to change. And for creating a stake of locals in the process of their own development, we require the gearing up of the entire administrative machinery and not just the police alone. Today, the coordination amongst different government departments hardly exists, or even if it does, it exists mainly on paper, as far as anti-Maoist strategy is concerned.
It may be accomplished simply by implementing the Central legislation -Extension to the Scheduled Areas Panchayats Act, 1996 (implementation of 73rd amendment to the Indian Constitution) which was passed in the year 1996 unanimously by the Indian Parliament . All the State governments were directed to enact their own local Acts keeping the core of Central legislation intact within a year or they shall have no option but to implement the Central Act. The directives have been clear and compelling. Many States brought their Acts keeping in mind the local ethos and variations.
According to the Central Act, every village shall have a Gram Sabha which shall be competent to safeguard and preserve the tradition(s) and customs of the people, their cultural identity, community resources and customary mode of dispute resolving. Panchayats shall also be vested with the powers to approve the programmes and projects for social and economic development, as also identification of the beneficiaries under the Poverty Alleviation Programmes. Every Panchayat at the village level shall be required to obtain from the Gram Sabha a certification of utilisation of funds by the panchayats for plans and projects.
Case of Maharashtra :- The State of Maharashtra also passed the act - The Maharashtra Panchayats in Scheduled Areas for self-government, 1997. Unfortunately, the implementation of the Act has hardly seen the light of the day, barring one or two provisions and that too at a few places. The Act has not found favour with policy planners and other field bureaucrats. They do not want to give up their privileges and powers to local people. The cry of social activists has fallen on deaf ears.
Gadchiroli - the worst affected district in the State with naxalite problem presents an ideal example of ground realities. The naxalite problem started there approximately 20 years back. Certainly, it was and still is, the most backward district of the State. About 7000 million rupees have been pumped in the district for development activities by the government so far. Signs of area development in the form of roads, bridges, schools, hospital, panchayat-buildings are clearly visible. But for the local tribal people there has been hardly any change. Their children have better literacy and more government works to earn wages. But they feel deprived of the privileges and powers they used to enjoy before political independence of 1947 and certainly before British clamped their controls in these areas in late 19th century. The alienation is alarming.
Gadchiroli district gets about Rs.600 millions in Tribal Sub Plan annually. In return, this district, rich in natural resources, provides about Rs.400 millions revenue to the State exchequer. Much of this revenue stems from the sale of Tendu leaves and bamboos. As I mentioned earlier, in the last 20 years, around Rs. 7000 millions have been allocated, used and misused in this district but quality of life of the tribals have marginally changed and the naxal problem continues unabated.
Path we missed
Where have we gone wrong ? The policy makers have not yet reviewed it honestly and comprehensively. Only the police department is asked to explain about the continuity of such a complex phenomenon. The secretaries of concerned departments have hardly bothered about it or were ever asked to explain the negligible return on huge investments in their fields.
Very recently, while reviewing the nation-wide poverty alleviation programmes, the Planning Commission of India has stated with great anguish and sadness that had the money been sent to the beneficiaries directly through money orders instead of bureaucratic machinery, their economic condition would have been much improved. The story of Tribal and Agency Areas Development programmes is the same irrespective of the names of different schemes in various States. And the same might be true about our immediate neighbour Nepal..
One is never too late to embark upon the path of progress. There are two workable options. First, we may distribute the budget to the village panchayats, and let the Gram Sabha decide what plans and programmes they would like to execute, as per the provisions of new Act. Let the bureaucrats help and not dictate the whole village community or panchayat in this endeavour. Let us encourage them to become contractors, businessmen, government servants etc. so that the locals become a part and parcel of the development process.
The second option is, again within the unambiguous provisions of the Village Panchayat Act of 1996, the locals should be given the total ownership over the local resources - the minor forest produce and minerals. But some of the States have not included the major revenue earning items like tendu-leaves and bamboos in the category of minor forest produces as happened in the State of Maharashtra. However, the Act clearly provides for it.
The often advocated bureaucratic logic of scientific management of forest for tendu-leaves collection or bamboo cutting cuts no ice, because even in the present system of tendu-collection, the Forest department gives in hardly any technical or scientific input. Contractors do it (plucking, drying, storing) or for that matter the tribals who work for paper mills in cutting the bomboos.
Now the locals and tribals are cutting the forest, encroaching upon its land because it does belong to the government. In the changed scenario it will belong to the people. These simple but historical decisions on the part of the respective Governments will create a stake for development in the minds of the locals as it will be:
¨ their own forest (property of Gram Sabha and not of individuals)
¨ their own roads, bridges, schools, hospitals etc.
¨ their own Panchayat system of dispute resolution.

One of the major irritants the tribal society is facing is our criminal justice system. There is no need to elaborate on it. Indian Criminal Justice System has already collapsed under its own mounting weight. Justice is a far cry especially for the poor. Today the standard of justice, as written by the Greek historian Thucydides about 2,400 years ago, depends on the power to compel. The strong do what they have the power to do and the weak accept what they have to accept. The Supreme Court of India recently said that the law enforcing agencies and prosecution have become the engines of oppression. This is one of the main reasons that the Maoists have adopted to holding people's Courts - Jan Adalats as one of their important tactical tools. They dispense rough and ready justice and becoming popular. This forum of Jan Adalat is being used by these militants for dissemination of ideology, programmes and collection of funds as well as discrediting the government system.

The powerful anti-dote against the above problem has to be in consonance with local ethos and traditions. We must revive the customary village elderly panchayats, encourage and reorganise them for dispensation of justice at least in all civil and non-serious criminal cases. Now the Supreme Court is also advocating for adoption of Lok Adalats - the alternative mode of dispute resolution instead of approaching the courts every time. Justice S.K.Sardana of Chandigarh has done miracles in resolving more than 20,000 cases in a year through conciliation and mediation. Now Lok Adalats are in existence in most of the States but are not very active. Why don't we bring them in insurgency - affected areas? Let the locals be given authority to manage their village affairs as they used to do it in pre-independence days. A least governed State is the best administered.
The above measures will make the locals proud of their self-reliant and peaceful orderly society. They will prosper very soon as they will be able to decide their wages, their plans, their progress and be the masters of their own destiny. Spoon-feeding and subsidies give no self-esteem and provide no sustainable development anywhere in the world. Development prerequisites a sense of pride for any society. Today's tailored and stereotyped schemes have undermined the confidence and competence of our tribals and created dependency.

Besides, Government must go all out to wage a psychological warfare through propaganda and publicity using mass media and all the Government departments to turn the masses against the Maoists. It should be done by the Publicity department by creating an exclusive cell for this purpose.
We have to mobilise all sections of the society - farmers, labours, students, women, youth and children by creating different cells and organisations for each of them. We have to fight the Maoists, as mentioned earlier, with their own strategy simply by putting the gears in reverse. Effective organisation is must to thwart the systematic and meticulous infiltration of Maoist cadres in village and city life.

2. Cutting the Source of Funds
Regular flow of funds is the fuel for any organisational machinery. Arresting or eliminating a few cadres or leaders does not tackle the problem because new cadres take over the leadership immediately. Hence, cutting the regular source of money is of paramount importance. In the extremist - affected Central India, the contractual system of tendu-leaves collection is the main villain. The collection of Tendu-leaves is the most important economic activity in the area giving employment to tens of thousands of people, though only for a short-span of 15-20 days. In Gadchiroli district alone, about Rs. 500-600 millions are disbursed as wages to labourers. It also contributes about Rs. 300 millions to State coffers as royalty. The naxalites collect around Rs. 100 millions as protection money from the contractors and one-day wages, as contribution, from the labourers.
In all the areas and activities of contractors' operations whether collection of tendu-leaves or construction of roads or government buildings or cutting of forest timber, the Maoist cadres have compelled the contractors to pay much higher wages to labourers as compared to government rates. The Maoists are happy, because of the huge fund they extract and so are the labourers, for having got higher rates of wages because of the militants. Contractors , forest and other development-related bureaucracy are also happy for obvious reasons. In extremist -infested areas the floor-rates for tenders are hiked at least by 20 percent on the premise that contractors are not readily available. For some of the works, it is true also. But mostly an artificial phobia has been generated. In the Contractor system, police is also happy in day to day affairs as it has no hassles. However, the State is the biggest loser, as the State has to put in millions of rupees in the area for strengthening the law and order machinery for fighting an enemy which has been made stronger by our own faulty policies.
In late 1980s, the Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra had switched over to departmental collection of tendu-leaves under pressure from security agencies. Border Road Organisation (BRO) was brought in the area for the construction of roads and bridges basically to eliminate the source of funds to Maoists emanating from private contractors. But we have messed up the whole set-up by reverting back to contractual collection of tendu-leaves after a few years, much to the chagrin of the law and order machinery. Thanks to the well entrenched vital vested interests in the region and in the corridors of power.
The best solution lies in giving the ownership of tendu leaves, along with other forest produce , to local Gram Sabhas. Government will continue getting its royalty. The Forest department can help in marketing the tendu-leaves, which is not a big problem. Maoists cannot extract the money from Gram Panchayats for fear of losing the people's support and thereby getting their flow of fund dried up with the passage of time.
The Second solution but a somewhat less effective one would be the collection of tendu-leaves through the department (Forest) only. The Contractor system is also a dying phenomenon because every year, rate of wages to labourers is increasing (much more in naxal-affected areas); money has to be paid to naxals and the Forest Department can't sell all the Tendu-units (an earmarked forest area) below the offset price of last year. When this would become non-profitable, the contractors won't come forward to purchase. The number of Tendu-units not being sold because of the quoted (tendered) price being less than the offset price, is increasing year after year and the Forest Department itself has to get it organised and tendu-leaves collected.
Even if both the above suggestions are not acceptable to policy makers (but non-acceptance will help the Maoists) at least the State Governments, may come up with an administrative order envisaging that after giving fixed royalty per tendu-unit the tender quoting the maximum wages to labours will be accepted. At least if not in the entire region, this kind of Government Resolution. could be implemented in naxal-affected areas. Then the credit for increasing the wages of labours would go to the Government and not to the naxalites. It will help wean away the locals from the fold of Maoists.
Similarly , let bamboos be auctioned or sold by the Gram Sabhas to the Paper Mills operating in the region. Money will go to the villagers. The loading of trucks and maintaining the supply at depots should remain to be the responsibility of the Gram Sabhas. The Government , of course, will keep on getting its royalty as of now. In the new scenario, the Maoists cannot force the paper mills to pay protection money because, if they do not pay, the Maoists may not be able to stop cutting of bamboos or setting the bamboo depots on fire- ( a usual trick played now-a-days). If the Maoists do this, the sufferers will be the villagers. Also, harassing the villagers will be counter-productive for Maoists. Again, the ownership of Gram Sabha over bamboos will remove the long-standing irritant between the locals and the administration, that the government is selling the bamboos to locals for customary requirements at a rate about ten times higher what the Paper Mills are required to pay.
Thus, we will be able to cut the mass base and source of funds to Maoists to a great extent . There will be hardly any recruits for them. These two measurers will bring Maoists on their knees. About 70 to 80% of the problem of naxalism /maoism would disappear.

3. Breaking the Barriers of Terrain: The Police Response
Promoting disorder is the objective of the Maoists, which is cheap to create and very costly to prevent. They may attack a lonely police post or station in the jungle or in an isolated area and thus all the police posts and stations are to be protected, so on and so forth. It is a war where the extremists need so little to achieve so much, and the police need so much to achieve so little.
Unfortunately, almost in all the States facing extremist problems much emphasis is on increasing the manpower rather than enhancing the effectiveness of the police force already in place. Andhra Pradesh has done extremely well in raising and training a speciliased police unit called 'Grey Hounds' for anti-naxal operations. Besides , physical fitness, weapon training, field-craft; the most important ingredient for stamping success is the mental attitude of the officers and men deployed for the purpose. From the practical field experience, it can be stated that in manpower, training, weaponry, fire power and logistics the police force is far more superior. In fact, there is no comparison to the extremist cadres. But we are way behind and miserably failing as far as commitment to the cause is concerned. The Maoist cadres , whatever we say for them - the lumpen elements, frustrated, distorted or criminals-- majority of them have one superior quality, an attitude of mind to do or die, a will to become a revolutionary or a martyr , a dogged determination to achieve results. Otherwise, how many will take to jungles, suffering starvation and sleeplessness, facing snakes, malaria and typhoid and always on the run facing the risk of losing their life. When motivation goes down or frustration sets in - they leave the organisation or surrender to the Government . The strategy of success for police , according to me, revolves on the acceptance of following three principles
1. 1st principle : First movers are the winners
In this competitive world, those who start first are likely to be the winners. This principle is equally applicable to the domain of corporate world as well as to the strategic frontiers of insurgency and counter-insurgency. If we want to win the war against the Maoists, we have to make the first move in every aspect, as opposed to them. Whether it is a case of
- effective coordination and cooperation among the affected nations, states, districts or teams
- better weaponry and logistics
- Collection and timely use of operative intelligence.
- Laying ambushes
- Wooing the locals and weaning them away from the Maoists fold through a policy of all-out friendship and all-out force or with an iron hand in a velvet glove.
- establishing village level cells for all the sections of society.
2. 2nd principle: "God is on the sides of best shots"
The famous French political thinker, Voltaire, had said , ‘God is on the sides of not heavy battalions but of best shots" . It underscores the pre-eminence of training and training- a meticulous sustained practice for excellence. Whether it is a case of
- courage, commitment and loyalty to the cause we
are supposed to farther.
- physical endurance and mental alertness.
- training in field craft.
- team-spirit and empathy,
Training and more training in all aspects of jungle warfare and counter-insurgency will be the harbinger of success. Like in the demanding world of aeronautics, every part and component - however minute it may sound - is tested and approved before launching and every time, without fail, before any aeroplane takes off. The same type of preparedness and perseverance is required in the fight against Maoist militants.
3. 3rd principle: "The Snake in a home is to be searched and killed."
This principle may sound to some as violative of animal or human rights. But for our own survival , in our every day life, almost everyone, except the sickly and coward, believes in it. The Maoist militants have declared a war against the State. Every member of the security agencies is an enemy to them. They don military uniform, are always armed with illegal and sophisticated weapons and in search of targeting policemen. They do not believe in the constitution or in a democratic system. Violence is their guru - mantra. They have maimed and killed thousands of innocent people and brutally attacked policemen. Vehicles of security agencies and public representatives have been blasted by the use of land mines. Should the security agencies wait for their attack or should it go all out in search of them? When there is a question of killing or be killed, who would prefer to be killed instead of taking the other's life? Let us face the reality instead of believing in the rhetoric.
At the end, I would like to reiterate again, that serious, well-coordinated and unconventional decisions are the need of the hour as half-hearted measures are destined for defeat.

Tackling Terror – Some Key Issues

Tackling Terror – Some Key Issues

Dr Satya Pal Singh*

Abstract :- Repeated serial bomb-blasts and terror-attacks in the country have brought into focus the inadequacies in our legal and administrative supportive system. Is our counter-strategy faulty and weak ? What is the genesis of terrorism ? What is the extent of terror network ? Are there some myths associated with the acts of terrorism and adversely affecting our thinking ? Are we aware about what really dwells in the minds of perpetrators ? What could be an effective strategy to counter the hydra headed monster of terrorism ? These are some of the questions which have been addressed in this article.

The 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai and the earlier serial blasts in Jaipur, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Delhi and Malegaon have again brought into focus the serious implications of unchecked terrorism.

The 26/11 Terror attacks in Mumbai exposed the systemic failure of the administration. It not only brought on fore the weaknesses and pitfalls of police, other security services and intelligence agencies, it also expressed the deep crisis of confidence in the polity of the nation. The police remained largely unscathed not because it has not faltered or committed no lapses but for the supreme sacrifices made by its brave officers and men in the line of duty. The terror attacks also brought into focus the over-enthusiasm and untactical overdoings of the media. It also compelled the government to think to have some checks on the unfettered freedom of the T.V. channels.
However, the anger and anguish of the people; the stirrings of intellectuals and the frustration and heightened activity of security forces usually get subdued within a few days or weeks.
For the past four decades, particularly after the suicide attacks on the US Marine barracks in Beirut in October 1983 in which 241 US Marines died, the international community has been really concerned about the dangers posed by the religious or ideological terrorism.
In India, we faced terrorism in Punjab for over a decade, and now encounter the onslaughts of the terror networks in Jammu and Kashmir and other parts of the country almost every day. In the last few years, thousands of innocent people – including women and children – have lost their lives in various terror attacks across the country. Today, - terrorism has become a hydra – headed monster, a contagious dreaded disease and a dangerous virus. It has no preference for any caste or creed, race or religion, country or community. It is detrimental to all. While most nations are serious about fighting this scourge, and their intelligence and security forces are working overtime -- the sting of terrorism has not been blunted.

* Presently as the Commissioner of Police, Pune (Maharashtra)

Is there a flaw somewhere in our thinking, in our strategy? Are we failing to comprehend the problem in its entirety? What immediate measures can we initiate, and what should be our long-term strategy to contain and curb the menace of terrorism? These are some of the questions I would try to address in this article.
The genesis :- The roots of terrorism lie in the mind, in the feelings of fear and insecurity, in hatred and intolerance. Hatred is the outcome of fear and the fear stems from the realization of duality-the feeling that we are different or unlike others . The extreme manifestation of hate reflects in violence and acts of terrorism. And hate, like love, begets and stays in the mind. The merchants of hate preach like,
'Besides us - the believers, all else are impure, ugly and threat to our existence and enhancement. We only are the right, our beliefs are unassailable and our religion is only revealed and divine. It is our bounden duty to spread it around. Reward is almost instantaneous for martyrs. The heaven, paradise or Jannat and its inmates are waiting for us with their beauties and bounties. This is the kind of religious rhetoric being used to brainwash our youth.
This dogmatism or fundamentalism leads to fanaticism, extremism and ultimately to terrorism.
The Arab-Israel conflict and the collapse of Soviet Union gave impetus to terrorist organizations allegedly claiming adherence to Islam.
The terror network : The dragnet of terrorists has spread far and wide. Though it is a global problem, South East Asia is emerging as the hotbed of terrorism. The situation is worse in India, which is a secular nation. The international borders of India are almost seized by anti-national elements who support and sympathize with radicals.
Gujarat, Rajasthan, J&K, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Assam and other northeastern states, as well as Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu all suffer from the upsurge of radical ideology.
Some coastal parts of Gujarat and Maharashtra and from Bhatkal in Karnataka to Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu, in fact the entire western coast is afflicted with this kind of jihadi ideology. These organizations and groups morphing in name and form may be different and deceptive having camouflages of educational, social or cultural tags.
Big cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Pune, Indore and Ahmedabad are the primary targets. No one knows how many terrorist sleeper cells or modules are operating in our towns and cities.
The major source of spreading terror in India and elsewhere are the preachers of radical ideology. Their members might not be large, but they keep moving from one place to another in different guises and groups. Their network is being effectively coordinated through internet and mobile telephony.
This radical ideology is creating terrorists and their strategy is creating chaos – by killing innocents with a mindless brutality, building communal disharmony, derailing the economy and destabilizing and subverting the political structure.
Jammu and Kashmir, once one of the most peaceful and egalitarian states of India, fell prey to this ideology when the schools and madrassas in the Kashmir valley were subverted and the young boys studying in the institutions were brainwashed in the 1960s and early 1970s. We are harvesting the crop now. The same was the case in Punjab -- the most prosperous state in India.
It happened in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and North Africa. It happened with the Chechens in Russia, the Basques of Spain and this list can easily be lengthened.
The same strategy is being applied to subvert young impressionable minds in our educational institutions because the proponents of terrorism know that students and youngsters are highly energetic and if convinced about a cause, they can even be moulded to conduct suicide attacks. There is a report that the SIMI has clandestinely floated a new group codenamed ‘ The White Falcon ‘. Their job is to recruit and indoctrinate children aged between five and 10 years for the Jihadi movement.
Because of the revolution in computer and communications technology, the terrorist organizations have global reach and have no dearth of financiers, contributors, fund-raisers and disgruntled teachers of technology. We all have to realise that there is no place for radical ideology in today's borderless world.
Exploding the myths :-
There are some myths associated with terrorism and if we are really serious about finding a solution to this problem, we must explode and demolish them.
The first myth is that terrorism is rooted in injustice, frustrations, poverty and social economic backwardness. Scholars and experts, especially Alan Krueger and Jitka Maleckova, have shown that the terrorists are not poor people nor they are from poor societies. Poverty does not cause terrorism and prosperity does not cure it. We all know that Osama bin Laden, the world's most wanted terrorist, is a billionaire. And the same can be told about our fugitive Dawood Ibrahim.
The study of terrorism in Punjab and J & K in India has also shown the same results. The terrorists come from the places which have a concentration of radical preachers.
The second myth, specially in India, is that the terrorist activities are a reaction to the Gujarat riots and the demolition of the Babri mosque at Ayodhya. Security experts know this is not correct.
The Gujarat riots began on February 28, 2002. But many major acts of terrorism, like the attack on the J & K assembly (October 1, 2001), on Parliament (December 13, 2001), in Poonch district (January 20, 2002) happened before this. Also, in May-July 2000 there was a series of bomb blasts from Hyderabad to Bangalore and Goa
Similarly, Jalees Ansari, a government doctor, and Salim Ansari, an engineer working at the Mazgaon Docks, Mumbai, were responsible for more than 50 blasts in Mumbai, at gurdwaras, police stations, public places and aboard trains between 1989 and 1990 much before Babri mosque demolition.
The third myth is that many uneducated and unemployed youth and young men are attracted towards radical ideology or terrorism. This is also not correct as many of the terrorists are highly educated -- doctors, engineers, pilots, management graduates and technologically savvy.
The fourth myth: that more Hindus are being killed in terrorist violence, and Muslims are responsible for it. A look at terrorist victims worldwide show that more Muslims are losing their lives. In Pakistan and Afganistan the terrorists are killing their own co-religionists. It shows that terrorism has no direct connection with any religion.
The fifth myth or half-truth is that most of the time, for every major terrorist attack we start accusing our adversary the neighboring nation. Let us admit the fact that we have new homegrown indigenous terrorist outfits. And we have plenty of sleeper cells, extremist groups and a large number of people with subversive fanatic thinking.
No religious or social community can embrace or afford to be a terrorist outfit. The terrorists are a miniscule minority. Terrorism like criminality cannot be confined only to any caste, creed or religion. Recently, a few persons professing Hinduism have also been arrested for carrying out blasts in Malegaon (Maharashtra). Therefore, the administration and more importantly the community has to isolate and starve them of all direct or indirect material, manpower or mental help.
Strategy to counter terror :-
How do we counter and curb this hydra-headed monster called terrorism?
An act of terrorism is the result or consequence of the combination of four factors:
Radical ideology
Perpetrators or terrorists
Contributors, collaborators and sympathisers and
Material (arms, explosives etc.)
The first and foremost requirement is to counter this radical/jihadi ideology. Unless the radical ideology and their preachers are neutralized or effectively countered the respective crop of terrorists will keep on resurfacing and growing.
How to impact the minds of the young, how to divert them from the path of hate, intolerance and violence, how to demotivate the believers from the clutches of false dreams of an all-blissful paradise, how to inspire the generation to seek true happiness and peace of mind are some of the vital questions which require the urgent attention of psychologists, educationists, strategists, parents, politicians and planners.
The modern society is a knowledge society. Knowledge has always been the harbinger of progress and peace. Today, knowledge is universally available and - accessible. Ideas create knowledge and so ideas rule the world. Therefore, we have to plan how to deactivate and attack the bad kind of ideas, which foster hate and violence. Some possible measures:
The various streams and plurality of religions are creating contradictions and conflict in society. If all religions lead to truth, peace and happiness, then what is the need for so many religions? Such populism must stop. If different religions are all the same and non-contradictory why is there this variety? And if they are different and contradictory, then how can they lead to harmony and peace in society? Let us admit that all religions have some good concepts and rituals. In fact, the truth is that the common concepts and practices in all religions are scientific, spiritual, beneficial and true. This commonality and this core of religions is called Dharma.
Intellectuals, not religious teachers, of the world have to come on a single platform and declare that religion means only one thing the courage to follow righteousness or right conduct in life. The core of religion is the conduct that what we expect of others, we must do to others. Religion is not just something private, something individualistic, but must be regarded as a social phenomenon; or norms for universal acceptance. The dictum of spiritualism is “ If we want peace, let us not disturb the peace of others “.
Similarly, we have to debunk the Clash of Civilizations theory advocated by Professor Samuel Huntington. A true civilization does not divide the humanity into colours, race, religion or region.
How can we divide physics, chemistry, mathematics, medical science, psychology etc into Christian, Muslim or Hindu sciences? The educationists and planners must rethink the role and design of our education system. There is a need to introduce a comparative study of all religions in our schools and colleges. Let a pupil choose which one is the best for him/her. Why do we want to chain a human being -- who is born free -- like a pet animal to fixed religious rituals or beliefs?
Such education would liberate man from dogma, pangs of fanaticism and acts of terrorism.
The advanced science and technology of today has not found any fourth or seventh sky, heaven or paradise in any part of the universe. Hell or heaven is part of this earth and the result of our doing. Misleading the youth and believers in the name of heaven or jannat is against the tenets of truth and humanity.
Today because of Internet, there is an explosion of knowledge. But the messiahs of hate are using this medium to spread hate and violence. There are hundreds of Internet sites providing terrorist manuals, encyclopedia of violence, techniques of bomb-making and other details and training of strategic field craft. To hide their identity and communication, the terrorists are misusing the cyber space through the techniques called pshishing, hacking, spoofing, stegano- graphy etc. Cyber terrorism will be much more menacing.
Can't we think of some strategy to ban such sites or to punish persons misusing the medium for sowing the seeds of hate and violence in impressionable minds?
We have umpteen number of instances where social, religious and political groups demand -- and succeed -- banning books which have some unpalatable lines or paragraphs. But we have hundreds of books available in the market and being taught in different schools, madrasas and seminaries which generate hate against other sections of society, and help spread the fire of violence. We should have the courage to ban such books too.
Let us not sacrifice our national priorities and international commitments, and the peace of our present and future generations, for temporary electoral or political interests. Many of our policies are dividing the society -- in the name of caste, creed and community. Many of our educational institutions are organized and run on ethnic, linguistic and religious denominations.
If we wish to stem the growth of radical ideology, the administration has irrevocably to develop and enforce the concept of zero tolerance.
Our ideology has to be much more powerful to counter the radical ideology of all hues and colours. It must appeal to the hearts and minds of people, especially the youth.
Will the jihadi elements listen to the meaning of 'jihad in life' in the words of the great poet Allama Iqbal ? He had sung the couplet :
Yakeen muhakam amal paiham,
Muhabbat fateh -e-aalam.
Jehad-e-Jindgani me Yahi hai mardo ki shamshire
Meaning that In a man's jihad (crusade) in life, the weapons, has he conviction that the cause is just, resolution to strive till eternity, and compassion that embraces all humanity. (As translated by Khushwant Singh)
The second most important constituent of terrorism is its perpetrators. How do we deal with the terrorists?
Most of them are generally brainwashed and committed people who are unwilling to accept any compromise, nor are they open to dialogue or discussion. Al Qaeda Manual says “ These young men (Jihadies) realized that an Islamic government would never be established except by the bomb and rifle. Islam does not coincide or make a truce with unbelief, but rather confronts it. The confrontation that Islam calls for with these godless and apostate regimes does not know Socratic debates, Platonic ideas nor Aristotelian diplomacy. But it knows the dialogue of bullets, the ideals of assassination, bombing and destruction and the diplomacy of the cannon and machine gun ,” They are ready to die or kill. You cannot change them. The solution is to arrest or eliminate them. People who kill innocent people, women and children deserve no human rights. For less committed or people on the fringe should be tackled with the policy of ‘ Iron fists in velvet gloves ‘ – surrender or suffer.
We should learn a lesson from the US, where no defence counsel came forward to defend the terrorists of the 9/11 terror attacks.
Thirdly the police too must go beyond the 'body-arms-kg' count approach -- like number of arrests, seizure of arms and ammunitions or quantity of explosives. The intelligence and security agencies as well as the citizens have to take on the collaborators, supporters, contributors, sympathizers who fund, recruit, train and shelter terrorists. Police and related agencies have to be extra careful, vigilant, impartial, fair and just in picking up or apprehending the alleged terrorists. Arrests of wrong or innocent persons under political or public pressure and to produce quick results have always been proved counter productive. However, no one should directly or indirectly defend them in the name of community or creed. It is a virus worse than the HIV.
Fourthly, the intelligence and security agencies as well as dealers and users of ingredients which can be used for explosives have to tighten their grip on the movement of explosives, arms and ammunition, satellite phones, foreign SIMs, GPS systems etc. Effective check on the movement of these facilitators is of utmost importance.
Forensic experts should play a major role in the evaluation of intelligence regarding the new modus operandi in forgeries, travel documents, motor driving licenses, ration cards, use of weapons and explosives and remote control and detection techniques.
If we want peace, harmony and progress, we have to inculcate peace and security consciousness amongst our countrymen. Alertness must become our religion. Our initiative of launching Mission Mrityunjaya (victory over death) – an anti-terror students Front in Nagpur and Pune have become quite popular and spreading to more and more educational institutions. This movement among the students is generating adequate consciousness about the dangers of radical ideology and acts of terrorism. It is impacting the young minds with positive ideas of communal harmony, patriotism and unitedly stand against the evil designs of the merchants of hate and violence.
As our former President APJ Abdul Kalam had advised, India needs a national campaign for the eradication of terrorism, for which the entire government machinery needs to be geared up. As a special measure taken by France government in 1986, there is a need to bring in a legislation to ensure that every government department has a counterterrorism wing to understand its philosophy and danger. They have to wholeheartedly support the intelligence and security agencies in this regard.
We must also repose more faith in the police machinery, mainly by amending Section 25 of the Indian Evidence Act which renders the police unreliable in courts of law. We have to equip the police and other constituents of CJS (Criminal Justice System) with sound legal and administrative supportive logistics. After 26/11 attack, the Govt. of India has considered the adequate amendments in the UAPA 1967 (amended version 2004)
The publicity and information department in government establishments has to be revisited, strengthened and made more professional and accountable.
Our schools, colleges, universities and institutions, our social clubs, our platforms of art, craft and culture, our films, television and media have to put their heads together to create and sustain a campaign against any kind of extremist or terrorist ideology or act.
If we want harmony, peace and progress we have to work wholeheartedly for it. We have to invest first before reaping rich dividends later. Cosmetic efforts, ceremonial lectures on communal harmony, half-hearted measures and half-baked police reforms are destined to defeat.


- drsinghsp@yahoo.co.in

Three Core Values for Public Service

Three Core Values for Public Service

Dr.Satya Pal Singh

I define ‘value’ as an attribute, which has necessarily two characteristics. Firstly, it is an intangible quality, which is good and beneficial in someone’s personal life. And secondly, for its relevance and commonweal character, it is valued, respected and revered in society. Values can be further classified into two categories (i) Personal values - like purity, contentment, austerity and God-fearing ness and (ii) Social values - like truthfulness, non-violence, non-stealing, celibacy and non-accumulation. Anyone who values the ‘values’ in his or her personal and social (public) life, is valued by the society. The collective name of these values was given to be ‘Dharma’ by our visionary forefathers. Dharma is something higher and deeper to religion. Religion is a mixture of values, beliefs and rituals. Dharma is global, while religion is local in character.
Public service is a service to the society. It may be localised or globalised. Man is considered to be a social being (not an animal, as a few sociologists and anthropologists tried to paint him to be). Because of his acquired knowledge, skill and attitude, man is certainly a class apart, for which Darwin also got confused in his over-enthusiasm for evolving an all-permeating theory.
Public service is a non-profit activity. It caters to the requirements of upholding the principles of equality, unity and justice in the public domain. Generally, all the government functionaries are there to discharge this onerous responsibility. Starting from the village-level (panchayat) functionaries to the Prime Minister (or the President), all are public servants. Revenue, police, medical, education, judiciary, banking, social-welfare etc. all are maintenance and welfare-oriented public services.
In this paper, I would like to emphasize upon those core values, which make a public servant a highly successful and satisfied soul. Values, which carve out order in the midst of chaos. I believe that the following three values i.e. (i) Confidence (ii) Commitment and (iii) Communication are the foundations of an elegant public-service mansion.
(i) Confidence
General public in India, slowly but steadily, is losing confidence in its public services. Public servants are more to be blamed for this state of affairs. Their credibility is deteriorating quite rapidly. A public servant must be confident himself and he must be able to inspire confidence in his or her working environment. Only a physically fit, mentally alert and well-trained public servant can possess self-confidence. A sickly, shabbily dressed and short-tempered person cannot be termed confident. ‘Outbursts of anger’ at trivial things are an indication of a weak-mind and lack of confidence. A pot-belly police officer or a pan/tobacco chewing and drink–loving public servant not only exhibits the signs of his/her weak personality but invites jeers from members of public.
Let us take the example of a medical officer who receives many patients every day. The first and foremost attribute of a good doctor is that he/she should inspire confidence in the minds of the sick as well as his or her attendants. Doctor’s message must be as clean and clear as “Don’t worry, you are in the safe hands, your disease is curable. I have magic medicines. My hands are the godly hands. You will be all right within no time. Just believe in God and godly persons like me in front of you”. With these magic words, mental stress of the patients will vanish. He/she will start experiencing lesser physical pains. Similarly, if a person in distress approaches the police station and if the in-charge police officer is able to inspire same level of confidence in the minds of complainant, the later will certainly feel somewhat relieved of its problems. Assurances given by the officer must be translated by a follow up action. These simple tricks will instill confidence in the minds of community. The police in turn will have better co-operation and involvement of the local people in day-to-day policing of the area.
2. Commitment: -
Commitment means a kind of bonding to a particular cause. The marriage to a mission makes one a missionary. The kind of relationship, the bonding, the unflinching faith, an almost unilateral declaration of love that we expect in traditional marriage, is also demanded in the same degree by a commitment. Commitment defies difficulties and distractions. Unless we are able to inculcate this kind of commitment in the public services we belong to, in the service of the society we come from, and in the laws of the land we are born in, we are not committed.
Any public service in India can boast of about having hundreds of competent officers and officials in its different ranks and files. But the department finds it hard to count the number of committed officers who are so few and far. Our training institutions in the last 50 years or so have not been able to evolve a perfect mechanism by which the mental attitudes of trainees could be moulded in the desirable direction. We have sufficient number of trainers who are imparting knowledge and skills required by particular profession. But, we are surely not comfortable about the number of competent mind-impacting trainers who could induce changes in mental attitudes. This is the weakest link in our so-called chain of training.
Where there is a commitment, competence will follow. A committed public official will pick up the knowledge and skills of a particular job assigned to him or her. The zeal of the mission will subjugate the individual needs and interests to the larger requirements of the service and the community. Where there is a commitment, unfair considerations and corruption will not be able to debase the man and rust the system. Commitment requires courage. In fact, courage and commitment are twins and their separation results in the death of either. Commitment always accompanies the strong. Weak can neither be committed nor courageous.
The kind of commitment I am talking about, must find an expression in day-to-day life. It has to be reflected. It has to be seen by others. It is not a show business or an aspect of arrogance but this kind of value-based behavior has a sobering effect in the environment. It gives confidence to others to emulate and to follow the right path. Justice should not only be done but it should appear to others to have been done.
The expression of a committed police officer must find a way in taking care of his people, in keeping the place of work clean and tidy, preparing meticulous records and building the bridges with his community. His actions have to speak that he is committed to the protection and encouragement of good people and simultaneously the bad and wicked ones are restrained and repressed.
A medical doctor should be seen not only enquiring about the condition of the patients but chiding and firing the medical attendants if cleanliness, devotion etc. is lacking.
3. Communication
The third core value of genuine public service is the art of communication. This stream of communication has to continuously flow. It is not always verbal, requiring a language. All sense organs communicate. Eyes and sense of touch communicate superbly and yet no word is spoken.
One has to talk to oneself – about one’s strengths and weaknesses. The confidence and commitment have to go up. Our weaknesses have to be scaled down and ultimately won over. Self-study is the other name of self-communication. Indian wisdom of many centuries has found that in the morning, when one gets up, and in the night, at the time of retiring one should evaluate himself or herself. The daily self-teaching and training makes one confident and strong enough to overcome the defects and the ill habits. The continuous self-evaluation is a pre-requisite for self-realization and advancement.
I do not want to discuss here the usual management jargons on communications. Of course, the secret of effective communication is to get a response and so the language, level and pitch should be on the same wavelength between the sender and receiver. It has to flow both ways – upward and downward like a free flow of wind depending on the atmospheric pressure.
In the public service like police, if the senior officer wants to be successful, he has to know the problems, potentials and prospects of his juniors. In fact, one should also learn the art of communicating with departmental seniors and public representatives. If one is able to fathom the likes and dislikes, powers and potentials of his/her seniors and perform accordingly, one shall not get professional fever.
In public services like Police, the officers should have continuous communication with their customers especially – the complainants. If the police are able to apprise the complainants about the stages of their cases – detection, investigation and trial etc. the complainant will certainly be happy and more satisfied. And a happy and satisfied person will tell nine more persons about the response he got from the police. The same is true with doctors and other professionals.
A good communicator will be able to move (mentally) his audience, a better communicator to motivate and the best communicator to master his listeners. We have to move from the art of moving to the art of mastering through the stage of motivation. A master communicator can hypnotize his target group.
In this age of communications’ super highways, information is power. In fact, information has always been a power. Relationships are woven, maintained and strengthened through good communication. Communication brings in and inspires confidence.
There is a famous historical parable about the art of communication. It is said that after carving out an empire and crowning the king Chandragupta, his mentor and famous prime minister Chanakya advised the emperor, “Always remember that crown stays on the speech, not on the head”. “Take care of your speech. If speech were bad, faulty and arrogant, friends would turn into foes. And with fine speech, the adversaries will slowly and surely turn into admirers”. The omniscient God has given us the faculty of speech between our head and heart. Therefore, if we would like to have a fine speech and an impactful master communication we must couple the reason (head) and love (heart) together. The world will be ours.
At the end, I would like to mention that there should not be any excuse for staying away or straying from either of the three core values, - confidence, commitment and communication. The rule of law must prevail. Law, like death, should spare no one as Manu in Vedic times, Bharvi in Gupta Age and Montesquieu in recent times wrote in different phrases. In the present age remaining upright and one’s conscious keeper is like moving on a razor’s edge.
Generally we may take shelter under any of the four types of excuses for bending our rules, forgetting our principles or having some soft corners when we encounter persons or places pertaining to (i) our ‘jati’ or personal status or own community (ii) desh or place and habitation like every one behaves like this here (iii) kala or age or time . This is a materialistic age and money is the real god so emphasis should be to make money legally or illegally and finally to (iv) samaya or circumstances like I am the victim of circumstances or a honest person can not survive in the system (Jatideshkala samaya). Only those public servants who steadfastly oppose and obviate the above given four risks come out as shining and successful public figures. Such officers or officials are real public servants and do write inspiring lessons in history.
-Commissioner of Police, Pune

Communal Harmony & Nation Building

Communal Harmony & Nation Building
- Dr. Satya Pal Singh

Let us all be proud of our beloved nation. We all have to collectively strive to make India vibrant, strong and supreme. However, is it necessary to talk about nation-building in this age of liberalization and globalization? What are the foundations – the pillars of a nation-building? Is Communal/social or religious harmony the most important requisite for the progress of a nation? If yes, then what are the fundamental measures to foster and maintain this communal harmony? I will be briefly discussing all these issues in my presentation.

The British never called our country a nation. They always referred to it as the Indian sub-continent. They knew that once it becomes a nation – like in the past, with one culture, one language, one emotional integration – they would not be able to rule it. Hence, all their efforts were focused to disintegrate this country on the lines of race, religion, caste, language and province. ‘Divide & rule’ became their ruling mantra. The British were very proud of their nation but tried their best intellectually and educationally to weaken the same patriotic attachment in our people by painting our culture, history, literature as trash and our forefathers as uncivilized.

Loving and nurturing our motherland – our nation is as essential as loving and worshipping our own mother. Every nation has its defined parameters in terms of political borders, its language, its culture, its history, its people. They have emotional integration as land and its history belongs to its forefathers. A bigger unit than a nation is neither sustainable nor desirable.
We won our independence after paying a huge price and unprecedented sacrifices in the hope that we, as a nation, will be politically, socially and emotionally integrated. But, unfortunately in the last 60 years we have been witnessing and encountering the secessionist and dissipative tendencies, movements and insurgencies through the length and breadth of this country. From Jammu & Kashmir to Kerala, the north-east to Gujarat – we have been facing communal riots, insurgency, naxalism and now terrorism.

In the post – independent era, we have made so many strides in the fields of science, technology and engineering that India is already the second largest reservoir of skilled manpower in the world. It produces nearly 3 lakh engineering graduates, 15000 law graduates, 2 million English-speaking graduates and about 9000 Ph.Ds. every year. We have been able to launch our own ‘Chandrayan ’ to carry the Indian flag to the moon.

On the other hand, the cancer of Communalism is developing within the nation. Its spread is serious. Even the police force – the internal sentinels of the nation have been occasionally accused of communal bias. And now, after the arrest of Col. Purohit in Malegaon bomb blast, the name of our army is also being tarnished. The lack of citizen – consciousness has bred lawlessness and corruption. The cancer of corruption has made our international borders porous and all our institutions including education and judiciary very fragile.

The reasons for this communal disharmony are not far to be deciphered. Our policy planners, our nation-builders had thought that the two-nation theory will automatically die – down after the partition of the nation on communal lines. But it was not so. Even our Constitution had to give space to these feelings in the name of majority and minority, Castes and tribes. Our thinking, our polity, our administration till today continue to work mostly on communal and caste lines. Then how can we have Communal harmony in this country ?

Our policy makers and intellectuals have to admit that all our policies, efforts and programmes starting from the National Integration Council and National Foundation for Communal Harmony at the Government of India level to the Peace Committees at the district level have not given the desired results. It is not only the increased number of incidents of communal tension and riots but the more serious misunderstandings, mutual distrust and ill-will among the different communities especially between the Hindus and Muslims. And it has adversely and colossally affected our nation-building efforts.
Pillars of nation building
According to me there are 6 pillars on which Nation-building can be erected and sustained.
1. Education and Experiments –
through Education; Science, Technology, Engineering.
A good education is the foundation of a successful human life, education is the harbinger of social progress and education provides the building-blocks of a great nation. There must be a free, Compulsory and quality education for all.
A true education must inculcate/educate the following among its students.
1. Knowledge
2. Righteousness
3. Control of mind
4. Civilization
2. Safety & Security –
Through rule of law and its strict enforcement.
Protection of weak, ensuring safety & Security of society and nation through well trained, efficient empathetic, competent police & military personnel.

3. Prosperity – (Economic Development & Absence of Complacency) –
Through generation of sufficient power, creating infrastructure through trained efficient, honest, healthy labour force, Human Resource Development and through advanced agriculture, business, trade, manufacturing industries.

4. Health & Clean Environment of the Society - A healthy population is a happy population and that leads to a healthy nation.

5. Entertainment – Let us have the Development of arts,crafts,music,dance,drama – all varieties of fine arts and creativity. However, we have to remember that economic development leads to a better life – luxurious life – involving arts & music. Excess of it leads to luxury, lethargy & laziness; inertia and inactivity. If it is allowed to develop, to set in, it follows with the beginning of downfall. The wells and springs of creativity get dried up. Many great cultures of the world like Roman & Greek slipped into oblivion because of excessive emphasis on pleasure, rather than on happiness. When the culture of pleasure becomes an intended way of life of elites, it infects the other sections of society. Earning of wealth to buy more & more pleasure – wine, woman, drug, alcohol starts debasing the character of a nation.
6. Harmony & Hope :
Social Harmony is the bedrock of democracy. It is the essence of prosperity and the harbinger of justice. Without harmony among the different sections of society, neither knowledge proceeds further nor the economic prosperity. Justice & protection is denied to unprivileged people. Pressure groups of caste and creed denominations overpower the Rule of law. In a strained and disturbed environment music and fine-arts are smoldered or they make wings to fly to safer and protected zones.
People Confident and hopeful for future move to better prospects and peaceful & progressive life ahead.

Present Communal Scenario :

The present day India is getting increasingly susceptible to an environment of social tension, insecurity and violence. After the Mumbai terror attack of 26th November, 2008 the concern for a safer society is getting more and more intense from individual to family and from society to entire nation. With increasing development in infrastructure and information technology and modernism the reality of a safer society is becoming a utopian and illusory idea. The craving for safety and security has again focused the attention to find out alternative approaches to development and nation-building. Our fragmented and only police approach is perhaps mainly responsible for this predicament. A holistic strategy which could bind an individual to the community and a citizen to the country is missing. We have yet to understand the essence of communal harmony.

Communal harmony does not only mean an absence of communal tensions, strifes and riots. It is something deeper, something emotional. Communal harmony implies mutual understanding, peaceful co-existence, cooperation and coordination among all the constituents of a community. Harmony means proper conformity of the parts to one another and to the whole.

Our country is passing through turbulent times and faced with numerous challenges – communalism being the most serious one. Because the terrorism of today is its extreme extension and one of its tragic byproducts. Its virus, getting stronger with age, is eating the very vitals of a community life and pulling the strings of national development backwards. The communal situation in the country during the recent past has shown signs of serious strain. An indication to this is the increasing volume of violence and communal strifes and quite frequent terrorist strikes in big vibrant cities, resulting in colossal loss to life and property. Communal violence has not remained confined to specific areas which were either known as sensitive or hyper sensitive but has affected almost all parts of the country. The cities as well as rural areas are both experiencing, and are being tormented by communal disturbances.

Harmony is natural, disharmony is man-made. There is cosmic harmony in the universe and organic harmony in a living body. When this harmony gets disturbed in a body, it becomes sick and when natural or ecological harmony is broken, it leads to disasters.

Cost of social disharmony or communal conflicts is enormous – in social, economical or political terms.
Roots of Communal Harmony :-

The first lesson for maintaining or sustaining harmony is to follow the natural laws.
1. Diversity is the beauty of nature, equality is unnatural. Food is nice if it has different tastes. A garden is beautiful if it has different variety of trees and flowers. A mela or fair is attractive if it has different shops, colours, items, dresses or entertainment.
Nature loves diversity and differences. Even twins in a family differ in a hundred ways and no two peas are alike.

2. Humanity started from one origin – whether Adam Eve or Manu or Brahma. It started from one place whether Tibet, Africa or Australia. Man has only one race – the difference in colours and facial features are the result of later habitats and endured climatic difference. All human beings have exactly the same number of organs and same colour of blood. Archaeologists and sociologists have become the specialists of only one aspect of human tree. Some have studied the similarities and differences of leaves, branches and fruits. Unfortunately, due to our false racial prejudices and arrogance and lack of courage to accept our limitations and follow the truth irrespective of its source, we have yet to comprehend the fountain head of religions, the origin of language and the source of human beginning.

3. Man had only one language in the beginning. Many established linguistics have opined that all languages started from one source. How come, most of them believe that language evolved after long experience and knowledge, human beings acquired after observing nature. They forget, even in this technological age, that knowledge comes from language and not vice versa. Language is composed of words and words, as we know and hear through T.V., radio, telephones etc., are eternal. Original language is eternal and only one.

4. Requirements of man, irrespective of caste, creed, country are the same like
hunger, sleep, fear, sex. It is also innate to human nature to know what is good for him/her as following good creates happiness, enthusiasm and bliss in one’s heart. Similarly, fear, shame and diffidence take over while trying to pursue a wrong path.
If we believe in spirituality or in the existence of soul in every living being, then the basic attributes of all innumerable but definite souls are the same. Starting from birth to death, all human beings exhibit the same instincts and behave in the same way.

5. Strength is in unity. My hand is very powerful but till it is part of the whole (body). Her eyes are captivating but for how long ? Till they are the parts of her body … Anyone is powerful till he/she belongs to community and community has only one religion called communitariansm. A nation is strong as long as its citizens speak in one voice and are willing to sacrifice their lives for the sake of her honour.

6. In last hundreds or thousands of years of cultural history of world, no one in any religion has come out with anything new which was not known earlier. Man’s basic religion, the code of righteousness is from the very inception of man on this planet. If not – there may be only two reasons for it. (i) God has been kind to some and unkind and unjust to others – unfair and partisan in His dealing, (ii) God was not mature enough – gaining experience and knowledge as human beings do.

7. We have one origin, one race, one language, one religion, endowed with the same basic instincts and potentials. All essential things for life are God (in nature) given which we cannot divide, we cannot stamp them like Hindu vegetables, Muslim fruits, Christian water or Jewish air. Then fighting for non-essential , artificial and cosmetic appearances and rituals is not only suffocating and sinful but sinisterous and self defeating in the harmonious way to peace and progress.

8. In the field of religion, as in domain of science, what we do not see is the truth and reality and what we see is untruth and unreal. The rituals are not the reality or truth of a religion. The righteousness – the qualities of truth, honesty, humility and forgiveness etc. are not measurable or seen.

9. The unassailable test of judging the truth is what appeals to my conscience, what is dear to my inner being, what my soul approves of ? Let us come out of the borrowed knowledge, let us get rid of prison- houses of teachers, leaders and scriptures , let us get de-conditioned to our circumstances in which we were born, think and move.

10. We all are born blank with a Tabula Rasa (blank tablet having no innate ideas ) as the experiments of John Locke and Russian Pavlov had proved. A Hindu is born to Hindu parents, a Muslim or Christian is born to Muslim or Christian parents. If one who calls himself a Hindu were born to Muslim or Christian family, his attitudes towards Islam and Christianity would have been different. One who is a Hindu today could have been a Muslim or a Christian and a Muslim or Christian could have been a Hindu.

11. Man is a social being. He is so dependent on others that on his own he/she just cannot survive. Whether food, clothing, education, dwelling, for every thing we depend on others. People professing different religions-many Hindu and Muslim leaders and functionaries get educated in Christian Missionary Schools or treated by doctors professing different religions. We invite professionals irrespective of their religions.

12. Inevitability of Consequences
Let us always remember in our hearts the fundamental law of nature echoed by Newton’s law of motion. Every action has its opposite and equal reaction. Indestructiveness & Conservation of energy it has only transformation. Every action creates energy….. Even words are beyond decay & destruction and remain permanent in space. Irrespective of the religion we believe in we have to face the consequences of our actions. They can’t be forgiven or forgotten. Let us do good to others to get good in return.
All religions advise good Behavior to others
‘ As you sow, so as you reap ’

Code for Communal Harmony for Nation Building
Everyone wants to live in peace and prefers progress and happiness in life. Communal harmony is the prerequisite for any community or country’s march to harmonious development –physical ,social and environmental. The following code of conduct, I am sure will lead our nation (or any nation), to a peaceful and progressive co-existence.

1. Education
Our secular education has failed and failed miserably in inculcating the life values in its pupils, the feelings of fraternity, harmony and patriotism among its citizens. Education of today has taught us the competitive-drive of Darvin but not the cooperation’. It has taught us various subjects but not the human values’ it has taught us the geography and demography of the country but not the virtues of citizenship.

Parental/ Family
A child is born in a family like a blank slate, gets conditioned to the family circumstances, the actions and behaviours of parents and elders in the family. Let us teach our child that he/she could have been born to another family practicing another religion. It is a matter of chance or faith and not of logic . But to progress in one’s life one has to give precedence to reasoning rather than faith. The ideal thing is that what satisfies the curiosity of mind should be pursued.

Formal Education
(a) Our schools and colleges must have religions (all major ones) as part of our curriculum. We teach Physics, Chemistry, Maths, History, Sociology, Economics, Commerce etc. but our educational institutions are badly lacking in imparting a lesson is the Science or Art of Management of Life.

As mentioned earlier all the religions of the world have some truth in their tenets and some benefits of their rites and rituals. Let us sift out the essentials from non-essentials and feed the younger generation with those vital grains, instructing them that the husks are useful only for preserving and storing the grains in, and not for eating and assimilating. Let us agree on the most basic things - the commonality of all faiths – for which no one have any objections.

Let us adopt a code of conduct like our Common Minimum programme in coalition politics. All religions and faiths believe in the following:
1. Believe in God ( Supreme Spirit ) and individuals souls.
All started from one single source of same parents ( Manu, Noah, Adam or Eve. ) A deluge occurred and very few survived.
2. Love thy neighbours.
3. Do to others, what you expect from others.
4. Speak truth, purge lies & punish liars.

(b) Admission forms should not have columns for caste or creed. Consciousness of one’s or others’ caste or creed creates sense of false superiority or inferiority and discourages the spirit of belongingness . Some teachers also get infected by this divisive virus. Parents’ profession/occupation can be mentioned to take care of all sections of society.

(c) Our schools and colleges must teach – as a part of curriculum – about the life history,, sacrifices and achievements of all our national heroes. In the present set up we have almost forgotten hundreds and thousands of our revolutionaries who gave up their lives or suffered the rigorous imprisonments. Any nation which does not honour or worship her heroes cannot protect its integrity. Let us teach our children/students the lessons and virtues of patriotism.

2. Community Building :-
A Communitarian Movement should be started in the right earnest. Every section of the society (whole society, not a particular caste, class, creed or community ) from children to senior citizens must be involved in community building. Children should have Sports Clubs , healthy competitions , value education sessions and reading classes. Women should learn to mould every human being into good children and good citizens. They should also possess skills in basic health sciences of food and nutrition. Likewise senior citizens should utilize their spare time in narrating their life experiences to build up community welfare. Every community should have a public library, health clubs, activity clubs ,sports club, community prayer hall. Every festival of every religion should be commonly celebrated. On festival day, the history and significance of its celebration should be explained. Almost each and every festival of every community (religion) has some worthy lesson- intimately or intrinsically connected to the way of life, which has to be learnt. However , no practice which contravenes the rules of morality or violates the rights of other living beings should be encouraged. Animal sacrifice for the sake of mere sensual pleasure/ personal advancement and aggrandizement should be banned.
The Code of righteousness – truth, non-violence, courteousness, forgiveness, search and enhancement of knowledge, to abstain from stealing/ felonious act should be encouraged and enforced.

2. At Government levels (i) Recruitment in Govt. services should be without any discrimination of caste and creed. Disadvantaged groups should be encouraged and advanced through specific coaching and through training camps (and other measures ) to join Govt. services.

(ii) Govt. department should not organize or celebrate any festival of
any community or religious group but its officials should join the celebration at community level.

(iii) Govt. should not select/appoint for its various committees, boards , awards, sports teams etc. on the basis of religion. Merit and welfare of society should be the sole criteria.

(iv) Govt. should not discriminate any religious group by subsidizing any religious activity. It breeds animosity and reactions.

(v) No decision of judiciary should be counterminded by bringing any amendment to any Act or Country’s constitution.
Court’s decision should be enforced by the executive even if it displeases any particular religious group.
(vi) In case of communal riots only victims of inter communal groups
should be compensated. The families of accused who are the accused or victims of Police action should not at all be compensated. Such actions on the part of administration may help a particular family but against the tenets of communal harmony.

(vii) Uniform Social and Personal Laws :-
Law means duty, law means dharma. Dharma means a system which sustains the world. It stands for the moral, spiritual, social laws and norms sustaining the society. There must be some set of laws, norms and rules for all sections of society as different codes create ill-will among communities and are prejudicial mainly to the interests of women. Treating men and women of one community differently and legally discriminating communities in the name of personal life goes against the core of communal harmony.

Summing up I would like to quote Rabindra Nath Tagore who captured this idea remarkably well. He said -

“ The best expression of man, therefore, is that which does not exclusively represent an insolated mind, but can be accepted by the minds of all times. To set up creeds and practices to which the universal mind cannot respond is what we call barbarism”.

Also, I would like to quote what Lord Krishna had said to Arjun after explaining to him the gist of knowledge and life –
“ Vimrsayai tad assesena yathecchasi tatha Kuru ” Reflect over what I have said fully and then do what you wish ”.

Bertrand Russel has echoed the same feelings by saying “ Civilization only begins when man says ‘ I believe, but I may be wrong ’. It ends when man says I know the truth, I know what you ought to do, and it is my mission and duty to see that you do it ”.
Aum! Amen! Amin!

- drsinghsp@yahoo.co.in

The 7/11 serial suburban train blasts in Mumbai have again brought into focus the serious implications of unchecked terrorism.

The 7/11 serial suburban train blasts in Mumbai have again brought into focus the serious implications of unchecked terrorism.

However, the anger and anguish of the people; the stirrings of intellectuals and the the heightened activity of security forces usually get subdued within a few weeks.
For the past four decades, particularly after the suicide attacks on the US Marine barracks in Beirut in October 1983 in which 241 US Marines died, the international community has been really concerned about the dangers posed by ideological terrorism.
In India, we faced terrorism in Punjab for over a decade, and now encounter the onslaughts of the terror networks in Jammu and Kashmir and other parts of the country almost every day. While most nations are serious about fighting this scourge, and their intelligence and security forces are working overtime -- the sting of terrorism has not been blunted.
Is there a flaw somewhere in our thinking, in our strategy? Are we failing to comprehend the problem in its entirety? What immediate measures can we initiate, and what should be our long-term strategy to contain and curb the hydra-headed monster of terrorism? These are some of the questions I would like to address in this article.
The genesis: The root of terrorism lies in hatred and intolerance. The extreme manifestation of hate reflects in violence and acts of terrorism. And hate, like love, begets and stays in the mind.
'Besides us -– the believers, all else are impure, ugly and threat to our existence and enhancement. We only are the right, our beliefs are unassailable and our religion only is revealed and divine. It is our bounden duty to spread it around. Reward is almost instantaneous for martyrs. The paradise (Jannat ) and its inmates are waiting for us with their beauties and bounties.' This is the kind of religious rhetoric being used to brainwash Muslim youth.
This dogmatism or fundamentalism leads to fanaticism, extremism and ultimately to terrorism.
The Arab-Israel conflict and the collapse of Soviet Union gave impetus to terrorist organisations allegedly claiming adherence to Islam.
The terror networks: The dragnet of terrorists has spread far and wide. Though it is a global problem, South East Asia is emerging as the hotbed of terrorism. The situation is worse in India, which is a secular nation. The international borders of India are almost seized by anti-national elements who support and sympathise with radicals.
Gujarat, Rajasthan, J&K, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Assam and other northeastern states, as well as Madhya Pradesh , Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala , Tamil Nadu all suffer from the upsurge of radical ideology.
Some coastal parts of Gujarat and Maharashtra and from Bhatkal in Karnataka to Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu, in fact the entire western coast is afflicted with this kind of jihadi ideology.
Big cities like Mumbai, Delhi , Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Indore, Ahmedabad are the primary targets. No one knows how many terrorist sleeper cells or modules are operating in our towns and cities.
The major source of spreading terror in India and elsewhere are the preachers of radical ideology. Their members might not be large, but they keep moving from one place to another in different guises and groups.
Jammu and Kashmir, once one of the most peaceful and egalitarian states of India, fell prey to this ideology when the schools and madrassas in the Kashmir valley were subverted and the young boys studying in the institutions were brainwashed in the 1960s and early 1970s. We are harvesting the crop now. The same was the case in Punjab -- the most prosperous state in India.
It happened in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and North Africa. It happened with the Chechens in Russia, the Basques of Spain and this list can easily be lengthened.
The same strategy is being applied to subvert young impressionable minds in our educational institutions because the proponents of terrorism know that students and youngsters are highly energetic and if convinced about a cause, they can even be moulded to conduct suicide attacks.
Because of the revolution in computer and communications technology, the terrorist organisations have no dearth of financiers, contributors, fund-raisers and disgruntled teachers of technology. We all have to realise that there is no place for radical ideology in today's borderless world.
Exploding the myths: There are some myths associated with terrorism and if we are really serious about finding a solution to this problem, we must explode and demolish them.
The first myth is that terrorism is rooted in injustice, frustrations, poverty and social economic backwardness. Scholars and experts, especially Alan Krueger and Jitka Maleckova, have shown that the terrorists are not poor people nor they are from poor societies. Poverty does not cause terrorism and prosperity does not cure it. We all know that Osama bin Laden , the world's most wanted terrorist, is a billionaire.
The study of terrorism in Punjab and J&K in India has also shown the same results. The terrorists come from the places which have a concentration of radical preachers.
The second myth, specially in India, is that the terrorist activities are a reaction to the Gujarat riots and the demolition of the Babri mosque at Ayodhya. Security experts know this is not correct.
The Gujarat riots began on February 28, 2002. But most major acts of terrorism, like the attack on the J&K assembly (October 1, 2001), on Parliament (December 13, 2001), in Poonch district (January 20, 2002) happened before this. Also, in May-July 2000 there was a series of bomb blasts from Hyderabad to Bangalore and Goa.
Similarly, Jalees Ansari, a government doctor, and Salim Ansari, an engineer working at the Mazgaon Docks, Mumbai, were responsible for more than 50 blasts in Mumbai, at gurdwaras, police stations, public places and aboard trains between 1989 and 1990.
There is also a myth that many uneducated and unemployed youth and young men are attracted towards radical ideology or terrorism. This is also not correct as many of the terrorists are highly educated -- doctors, engineers, pilots, management graduates and technologically savvy.
There is also another myth: that more Hindus are being killed in terrorist violence, and Muslims are responsible for it. A look at terrorist victims worldwide show that more Muslims are losing their lives.
No religious or social community can embrace or afford to be a terrorist outfit. The terrorists are a miniscule minority. The administration and more importantly the community has to isolate and starve them of all direct or indirect material, manpower or mental help.
Motive of the terrorists: What hen is the motive of the terrorists? If we look into the minds of some terrorist organisations operating in India and other parts of the globe we will find that some protagonists of terrorism (Laskhar-e-Tayiba, Al Qaeda etc) believe that Islam is the purest religion in the world.
They believe that there is a religious commandment to unite all Muslims under the umbrella of Ummah to transcend national borders and establish Shariah or Muslim rule. The International Islamic Front established in February 1998 by bin Laden expressed its motto as 'To unite Muslims, liberate them from non-believers and aggressively expand Islamic faith.'
Al Qaeda says: 'The manual should be used to train all the Muslim brothers for jihad against India and Hindus. Islamic governments have never and will never be established through peaceful solutions and cooperative councils. They are established as they always have been by pen and gun, by sword and bullet, by tongue and teeth... These young men realised that an Islamic government would never be established except by the bomb and rifle. Islam does not coincide or make a truce with unbelief, but rather confronts it. The confrontation that Islam calls for with these godless and apostate regimes does not know Socratic debates, Platonic ideas nor Aristotelian diplomacy. But it knows the dialogue of bullets, the ideals of assassination, bombing and destruction and the diplomacy of the cannon and machine gun.'
'All the civilisations must clash until Islam is accepted everywhere. Kashmir is nothing more than a gateway to India. Let India bleed by a thousand cuts,' says Lashkar-e-Tayiba chief Hafiz Mohammed Saeed.
The Students Islamic Movement of India, SIMI , manual states its aim as 'To achieve Allah's pleasure through the reconstruction of human life according to the principles given by Allah and his messenger Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.'
'I will invite students and youths to follow Islam and will try to organise them,' goes the oath of allegiance for SIMI members. 'As I promise that I will work for the liberation of humanity and the establishment of an Islamic system in my country. I will spend my time, resources and capacity in this cause and won't spare my life if need be... My prayer and my sacrifices and my life and death are all for Allah... I have been instructed to do so and I am among those who surrender. May Allah help me to keep these promises.'
The Asian Age newspaper (August 19, 2001) published a letter recovered from a fidayeen in an encounter with security forces deployed for the Amarnath Yatra . The letter reads 'We are fidayeen. I am a fidayeen and in the name of Allah we will continue to kill and be killed till such time we destroy India and we overcome India.'
This is the radical ideology which is creating terrorists.
In the second part of his analysis, Dr Satya Pal Singh, suggests some possible ways and means to check the scourge of terrorism.
Part I : 7/11 & after: Understanding terror
How do we counter and curb this hydra-headed monster called terrorism?
An act of terrorism is the result or consequence of the combination of four factors:
· Radical ideology
· Perpetrators or terrorists
· Contributors, collaborators and sympathisers and
· Material (arms, explosives etc.)
The first and foremost requirement is to counter this radical/jihadi ideology.
How to impact the minds of the young, how to divert them from the path of hate, intolerance and violence, how to demotivate the believers from the clutches of false dreams of an all-blissful paradise, how to inspire the generation to seek true happiness and peace of mind – are some of the vital questions which require the urgent attention of psychologists, educationists, strategists, parents, politicians and planners.
The modern society is a knowledge society. Knowledge has always been the harbinger of progress and peace. But today, knowledge is universally available and accessible. Ideas create knowledge and so ideas rule the world.
Simultaneously, we have to plan how to deactivate and attack the bad kind of ideas, which foster hate and violence. Some possible measures:
The various streams and plurality of religions are creating contradictions and conflict in society. If all religions lead to truth, peace and happiness, then what is need for so many religions? Such populism must stop. If different religions are all the same and non-contradictory – why is there this variety? And if they are different and contradictory, then how can they lead to harmony and peace in society?
Intellectuals, not religious teachers, of the world have to come on a single platform and declare that religion means only one thing – the courage to follow righteousness or right conduct in life. The core of religion is the conduct that what we expect of others, we must do to others. Religion is not something private, something individualistic, but a social phenomenon, a universal acceptance.
Similarly, we have to debunk the Clash of Civilisations theory advocated by Professor Samuel Huntington.
How can we divide physics, chemistry, maths, medical science, psychology etc into Christian, Muslim or Hindu sciences? The educationists and planners must rethink the role and design of our education system. There is a need to introduce a comparative study of all religions in our schools and colleges. Let a pupil choose which one is the best for him/her. Why do we want to chain a human being -- who is born free -- like a pet animal to fixed religious rituals or beliefs?
Such education would liberate man from dogma, pangs of fanaticism and acts of terrorism. If we want peace, let us not disturb the peace of others.
The advanced science and technology of today has not found any fourth or seventh sky, heaven or paradise in any part of the universe. Hell or heaven is part of this earth and the result of our doing. Misleading the youth and believers in the name of heaven or jannat is against the tenets of truth and humanity.
Today because of Internet, there is an explosion of knowledge. But the messiahs of violence are using this medium to spread hate and violence. There are hundreds of Internet sites providing terrorist manuals, encyclopedia of violence, techniques of bomb-making and other details and training of strategic fieldcraft.
Can't we think of some strategy to ban such sites or to punish persons misusing the medium for sowing the seeds of hate and violence in impressionable minds?
We have umpteen instances where social, religious and political groups demand -- and succeed -- banning books which have some unpalatable lines or paragraphs. But we have hundreds of books available in the market and being taught in different schools, madrasas and seminaries which generate hate against other sections of society, and help spread the fire of violence. We should have the courage to ban such books too.
Let us not sacrifice our national priorities and international commitments, and the peace of our present and future generations, for temporary electoral or political interests. Many of our policies are dividing the society -- in the name of caste, creed and community. Many of our educational institutions are organized and run on ethnic, linguistic and religious denominations.
If we wish to stem the growth of radical ideology, the administration has irrevocably to develop and enforce the concept of zero tolerance.
Our ideology has to be more powerful to counter this radical ideology. It must appeal to the hearts and minds of people, especially the youth.
Will the jihadi elements listen to the meaning of 'jihad in life' in the words of teh great poet Iqbal? He had sung the couplet : Yakeen muhakam amal paiham, Muhabbat fateh -e-aalam. Jehad-e-Jindgani me Yahi hai mardo ki shamshire. (In a man's jihad (crusade) in life, the weapons, has he conviction that the cause is just, resolution to strive till eternity, and compassion that embraces all humanity)(As translated by Khushwant Singh)
The second and most important constituent of terrorism is its perpetrators. How do we deal with the terrorists?
They are generally brainwashed and committed people who are unwilling to accept any compromise, nor are they open to dialogue or discussion. They are ready to die or kill. You cannot change them. The solution is to arrest or eliminate them. People who kill innocent people, women and children deserve no human rights.
We should learn a lesson from the US, where no defence counsel came forward to defend the terrorists of the 9/11 terror attacks.
The police too must go beyond the 'body-arms-kg' count approach -- like number of arrests, seizure of arms and ammunitions or quantity of explosives. The intelligence and security agencies as well as the citizens have to take on the collaborators, supporters, contributors, sympathizers who fund, recruit, train and shelter terrorists. No one should directly or indirectly defend them in the name of community or creed. It is a virus worse than the HIV.
The intelligence and security agencies as well as dealers and users of ingredients which can be used for explosives have to tighten their grip on the movement of explosives, arms and ammunition, satellite phones etc. Effective check on the movement of these facilitators is of utmost importance.
Forensic experts should play a major role in the evaluation of intelligence regarding the new modus operandi in forgeries, travel documents, motor driving licenses, ration cards, use of weapons and explosives and remote control and detection techniques.
If we want peace, harmony and progress, we have to inculcate peace and security consciousness among all our countrymen.
As President APJ Abdul Kalam advised recently, India needs a national campaign for the eradication of terrorism, for which the entire government machinery needs to be geared up. As in France in 1986, there is a need to bring in a legislation to ensure that every government department has a counterterrorism wing to understand its philosophy and danger. They have to wholeheartedly support the intelligence and security agencies in this regard.
We must also repose more faith in the police machinery, mainly by amending Section 25 of the Indian Evidence Act which renders the police unreliable in courts of law.
The publicity and information department in government establishments has to be revisited, strengthened and made more professional.
Our schools, colleges, universities and institutions, our social clubs, our platforms of art, craft and culture, our films, television and media have to put their heads together to create and sustain a campaign against any kind of extremist or terrorist ideology or act.
If we want harmony, peace and progress – we have to work wholeheartedly.
Half-hearted measures, cosmetic efforts and ceremonial lectures on communal harmony are destined to defeat.
Dr. Satyapal SinghThe Police Commissioner, Pune. drsinghsp@yahoo.co.in