The screaming headlines in the mainstream newspapers about the simultaneous swoop by security agencies across the country to pick up fourteen suspects for their alleged allegiance to ISIS terrorists did come as a shocker to lay people on a lazy Saturday morning. Those following the developments in Syria and the terrorist attacks in Paris in November 2015 have been keeping their fingers crossed. The fact that out of 14 men picked up by the NIA, six were from Karnataka may have sent a shiver down the spine of law abiding citizens.
Let’s count our blessings
Considering the size of the Muslim population in India we can seek consolation from the fact that very fewer members from that community have been lured by ISIS. In contrast, the extent of radicalisation in Europe, particularly in countries like France, has been way high, despite the smaller size of their Muslim populations.
In India Hindus and Muslims have co-existed for about ten centuries. That Muslims have assimilated and gelled into our culture is as much a tribute to them as to their Hindu counterparts. However, there have been aberrations when communal harmony has come under tremendous stress in different parts of the country. The growing fundamentalism on either side has always threatened to upset the fragile communal situation.
There is no denying that globally there is a sense of alienation among members of the Muslim community over what they consider as attacks against their religion by powerful Western countries. Thus their anger has been directed mainly against US and other Western powers through terrorist attacks. This sense of alienation is often directed against their real or imaginary oppressors in their immediate environs.
Remedies
Reverse alienation: The task before both the State and Central governments is to reverse this sense of alienation. While a lot depends on the political parties across the spectrum, who should urgently jettison communal politics and focus on national interest in order to help the members of the Muslim community enter the mainstream. The responsibility also rests on the Hindu majority and Muslim leadership to reduce the sense of alienation. Unfortunately the minority community is subjected to appeasement at one level and gross provocation at the other.
The recent instances in the country, such as the Dadri incident and the frequent inflammatory utterances by the so called votaries of Hindutva have contributed in no small measure to this alienation.
Prevent riots: Frequent communal violence also has an effect in alienating communities. While prevention is better than cure, whenever the trouble erupts, police should put them down expeditiously and efficiently. More importantly issues causing communal violence should be identified , analysed and nipped in the bud. Here again, the role of political parties who fish in troubled waters for electoral gains is well known. The failure by the police to handle communal riots in an even handed manner also has a potential to alienate minorities. One may recall how Bhatkal town in Uttara Kannada district witnessed a rash of communal riots in the nineties and the decade following it. One is tempted to infer if these riots gave raise to the likes of Yasin Bhatkal and their ilk.
Stop radicalisation: In India, luckily only a miniscule number of Muslims get radicalised by reading, watching and hearing about what they perceive to be injustice to their religion. A massive deradicalisation programme has to be undertaken by selecting vulnerable pockets and allocating adequate resources towards this end.
Monitoring Social Media: Monitoring social media poses a huge challenge to the security agencies. One of the major avenues by which misguided Muslim youth get radicalised is social media. This brings us to the issue of upgradation of technology available with the police and its modernisation, which have not kept pace with the developments in the industry and those available with anti-social elements. Monitoring social media through superior technology backed by an effective human intelligence on a war footing is the need of the hour.
Intelligence sharing: The common refrain in the speeches of the Prime Minister while addressing world leaders has been a call for international cooperation among the comity of nations against terrorism. This appeal has had its effect as the Friday’s crackdown was, as per media reports, based on intelligence shared by CIA, which is heartening. While the country’s success in enlisting global cooperation is to be appreciated, there is an urgent need for a similar robust arrangement within the country among various states and the plethora of central intelligence and investigative agencies belonging to both the home and defence ministries. While such institutions are already existing, steps should be taken to strengthen and streamline them, without impinging on the delicate federal nature of our polity. This would help fight terrorism and radicalisation in a big way.
(The writer is former DG&IGP)
