The massacre of the innocents at the Army school in Peshawar highlights dangers that our schools are exposed to. The Centre has done well to reissue instructions relating to Standing Operating Procedure for Schools to deal with emerging terror situations.
The then Union Home Secretary, Mr. G. K. Pillai, along with senior IPS official, Mr. P. N. Aggarwal, had conducted a study in 2010 at a prominent Delhi school on the basis of which these instructions had been drawn up.
But the real need is for the intelligence available regarding potential threats to be conveyed to schools and the general public so that the level of caution can be in proportion to the perceived threat. This can be done through a professionally drafted security alert system (perhaps a colour-coded one), which would be based on a continuous analysis of intelligence inputs and not on a knee-jerk reaction to terrorist attacks happening elsewhere.
This system must also provide for stepping down the level of caution when the threat level is not high, so that the nation is not kept on a perennial state of alert.
The attack in Peshawar is in retaliation for the Pak Army action in Waziristan. Hence this attack by itself need not be a harbinger of similar attacks in India by like-minded groups of terrorists.
The real problem, however, is the perception in certain Pakistani circles that attribute this horrendous crime to Indians. This is the kind of misconception that can raise the level of threat to potential targets in India.
A balanced appraisal of the plight that both our countries find ourselves in could help Pakistan and India to forge a common front to fight terrorism. Those in the frontline know the difficulties in the field. They also know compulsions that force their opposite numbers into actions, which are not totally acceptable.
The release of Lakhvi on bail undermined India’s confidence in Pakistan’s determination to fight terror, but his detention under preventive provisions has given a glimmer of hope that perhaps Pakistan means business this time in the wake of the Peshawar attacks.
The outpouring of sympathy over the Peshawar tragedy from Indians in all walks of life provide an opportunity for the two countries to come closer in the fight against the common enemy, against terrorism.
There is no greater confidence-building mechanism than sharing of intelligence that saves lives. I hope those who are responsible for generating intelligence against terrorism on either side of the border would appreciate the need for and importance of sharing.
(P. K. Hormis Tharakan, a retired IPS officer the of Kerala cadre, is a former chief of the Research and Analysis Wing.)
