Just a few days ago, it was an anniversary we would rather not remember. And all the signs proclaim that as a nation, we have collectively decided not to remember it. Except for the pesky media, of course, which remembered the sixth anniversary of the traumatic events we all call 26/11.
Why do I say the nation has decided to forget our date with terrorism? Here’s why. Since we are a country full of ceremonies and garlands, we did not forget the rituals of commemorating the memory of those killed on that day. While that was apt, we needed to mark the occasion with something far more significant, which was to do a stock-taking of measures that have been undertaken to ensure that 26/11 is not repeated ever again.
It may come as a surprise to you — it certainly astonished me — that the recently released Global Terrorism Index 2014 has placed India in sixth place amongst the world’s worst terrorism affected countries. We come behind, in this order, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria and Syria. One imagines that since the report came out, Syria has moved up the ladder, but that’s only of academic interest. What should concern us is that we are sixth placed amongst the most dangerous countries in the world. And what have we done about it? Why, we have garlanded the martyrs of 26/11!
Let’s recap what happened on November 26, 2008. Ten Pakistani terrorists hijacked an Indian vessel in the high seas and landed at Mumbai’s Badhwar Park area at Cuffe Parade. This is hardly an isolated area: in fact, it’s a docking area appropriated by fishermen and their families. The place is, therefore, heavily populated and in the midst, a group of strange men landed in the early evening unchallenged. It was hardly the fishermen’s job to report them because there was no mechanism to do this; not only that, there was no awareness that it was necessary to do so. We know the aftermath — mayhem at CST, Leopold Café and Cama Hospital. A siege that lasted for days at Shabad House, the Taj and Oberoi hotels. A team of just 10 terrorists managed to hold the city to ransom and killed 164 people and injured over 300.
For Pakistani terrorists, the obvious route to take to Mumbai was the sea route. Air travel is generally high security, while land check posts are now heavily manned. India’s large coastline gives multiple and easily accessible entry points. This should have been obvious to any security conscious nation, and certainly one which had been hit many times earlier by terrorism. Let’s not forget that 26/11 wasn’t the first instance: before that there were many attacks, like Guwahati in October 2008 (66 killed, 470 injured), Ahmedabad, July 2008 (50, 200), Jaipur, May 2008 (80, 200), Hyderabad, August 2007 (44, 70), Samjhauta Express, February 2007 (66, 50)… Earlier there was the Pune bakery bombing and multiple attacks on Mumbai’s suburban trains. That’s enough forewarning don’t you think?
But forget the forewarning. Look at what happened just recently. A few days before 26/11 this year, the Mumbai police carried out a secret exercise called Operation Sagar Kawach. The idea was to check the preparedness of the force to detect and combat terrorist entry points into Mumbai. Two teams were formed — the Red Force (the designated terrorists) and the Blue Force (the designated protection force). The drill lasted 24 hours and covered 70 possible landing points in the city. The Red force “terrorists”, comprising 450 men made 30 attempts to infiltrate the city.
Of these 22 were thwarted while eight succeeded. That is nearly 27 per cent success. Which means that almost a third of the attempts to slip into Mumbai from the coastline succeeded even on a single day when the police force was prepared for the mock exercise! Shockingly, the “terrorists” were able to land undetected even at the Gateway of India and Colaba, the very real targets of the 2008 attacks. If there is a greater indictment of our preparedness, I don’t want to know about it.
What are the problems behind this lack of preparation? The biggest is general apathy. India has 130 policemen per lakh of population compared to 300 to 600 across developed countries. This meagre force is further depleted due to “VIP duty” (the latest to get Z-category security is Baba Ramdev). This police force is inadequately trained — all of us can see that for ourselves on a normal, non-emergency day. It is said in police circles that transfer to training centres is seen by senior police officers as a punishment posting.
We can’t even talk of lack of resources: Rs 2,200 crore was sanctioned by the 13th Finance Commission specifically for police training. This year, 60 per cent of that lapsed because it was unutilised. Then there is the misplaced sense of priorities which utilises the already inadequate police force in completely irrelevant duties like moral policing, keeping a watch on dance bars, arresting youngsters for late night parties and so on. Just last week, a contingent of Mumbai’s police spent hours to arrest bar girls in a local nightspot, farcically breaking down three walls in their futile attempts.
A recent report by a national newspaper pointed out how even when equipment was bought following 26/11, much of it is already out of commission: many new speedboats lie idle for want of spare parts, a Rs 6 crore explosives scanner hasn’t been repaired after it began malfunctioning, all-terrain bikes which can go at speed across sand, are lying unutilised, special anti-material rifles capable of blowing holes through armour have not been fired even once because there is no suitable practice range…
But forget all this sophistication, even the basics haven’t been covered. One of the reasons policemen died in 2008 was the lack of bulletproof vests. They are still in short supply. There was no central police control room to coordinate activities of multiple agencies fighting the terrorists. There still isn’t one. Half of Maharashtra’s 72 existing coastal boats are out of commission for one reason or another.
Things have come to such a pass that last week the Bombay high court heavily criticised the state government for its tardiness in getting modern weapons for the police. Do you now see what I mean? The nation seems deathly keen to forget 26/11. And in the process has forgotten all the lessons we should have learnt from it.
The writer is a senior journalist
