Clearly, I have no idea how Intelligence Agencies work; How is it that they derive information from their sources, how they come to know in advance about terrorist outfits and their plans and how they are able to foil such efforts. What I do know is that powerful nations do have systems in place, which helps them learn and prevent threats in advance to a large extent. However by the looks of events unfolding, I have reasons to believe that there are a lot many individuals or groups in India who like me know very little about these matters. By groups I refer to our Government, the Police and our celebrated Intelligence Agencies.
Certainly this was not a belief I always had in me. This is a thought that has developed in the recent past, when I come to realize that there is very little means in place to prevent terrorist designs in India and let me assure you, this is not at all a political statement. One of the regional news channels reporting the latest terror attack on Mumbai stated that there has been 600 deaths from terrorist activities in the past 6 months in India. Is there a political bearing to this? I don’t think so because we have seen grim situations like Kargil Incursion, attack on Parliament, Akshardam and Kandahar earlier as well when an alternate Government was in place.
Rather than being political I am just trying voice common mans’ concern, about safety for himself and his family and friends from such acts of terror. Like any other common man in the country, who only has access to doctored information, I am also concerned about safety from terror strikes in our Metros and State capitals. There has been a series of terrorist attacks in our country in the last one year and none of our Security agencies had any indication about them before they could occur. That is a very scary situation, because we are under the impression that we have several well-resourced agencies like IB, RAW, ATS and God knows what else who constantly maintain vigil on various terror outfits and in turn stop them from implementing any of their grand plans.
Is there any truth in any such beliefs? The trail of events in the last few years forces us to think otherwise. What do these agencies actually do? Why are they not able to avert such disasters? Or is it that these incidents are only the few that escape the radar of the intelligence outfits and the real situation could have been much worse than this? If yes, then why do we not get reports of such thwarted efforts? Also, what could be worse than one hit or 100 deaths per month, going by the current rate at which terror strikes? After the first few strikes, was some homework undertaken to check further repetition especially for a city like Mumbai, which has always figured high as a preferred terror destination? Does our agencies have espionage abilities to find out if their counterparts in friendly neighborhood nations, with whom we are relentlessly strengthening our affiliation (pun intended), are involved in export of terror packages to our country?
What I do understand is that a considerable amount of tax payers’ money is being spent on maintaining such agencies. It is time the authorities should start to mull over giving some sort of assurance to the tax paying public that we have resources to watch our backs, even if it means considering a re-look at the way the so-called intelligence agencies conduct their business. Alongside all industrial and economic accomplishments of the powerful nations that we too are trying to achieve, it is of equal importance to understand and replicate systems that help them prevent more 9/11s in the offing.
Certainly this was not a belief I always had in me. This is a thought that has developed in the recent past, when I come to realize that there is very little means in place to prevent terrorist designs in India and let me assure you, this is not at all a political statement. One of the regional news channels reporting the latest terror attack on Mumbai stated that there has been 600 deaths from terrorist activities in the past 6 months in India. Is there a political bearing to this? I don’t think so because we have seen grim situations like Kargil Incursion, attack on Parliament, Akshardam and Kandahar earlier as well when an alternate Government was in place.
Rather than being political I am just trying voice common mans’ concern, about safety for himself and his family and friends from such acts of terror. Like any other common man in the country, who only has access to doctored information, I am also concerned about safety from terror strikes in our Metros and State capitals. There has been a series of terrorist attacks in our country in the last one year and none of our Security agencies had any indication about them before they could occur. That is a very scary situation, because we are under the impression that we have several well-resourced agencies like IB, RAW, ATS and God knows what else who constantly maintain vigil on various terror outfits and in turn stop them from implementing any of their grand plans.
Is there any truth in any such beliefs? The trail of events in the last few years forces us to think otherwise. What do these agencies actually do? Why are they not able to avert such disasters? Or is it that these incidents are only the few that escape the radar of the intelligence outfits and the real situation could have been much worse than this? If yes, then why do we not get reports of such thwarted efforts? Also, what could be worse than one hit or 100 deaths per month, going by the current rate at which terror strikes? After the first few strikes, was some homework undertaken to check further repetition especially for a city like Mumbai, which has always figured high as a preferred terror destination? Does our agencies have espionage abilities to find out if their counterparts in friendly neighborhood nations, with whom we are relentlessly strengthening our affiliation (pun intended), are involved in export of terror packages to our country?
What I do understand is that a considerable amount of tax payers’ money is being spent on maintaining such agencies. It is time the authorities should start to mull over giving some sort of assurance to the tax paying public that we have resources to watch our backs, even if it means considering a re-look at the way the so-called intelligence agencies conduct their business. Alongside all industrial and economic accomplishments of the powerful nations that we too are trying to achieve, it is of equal importance to understand and replicate systems that help them prevent more 9/11s in the offing.
P.S: Pass this message and more like this (preferably, your own thoughts) to more readers and lets hope that someday a window will open where people like us can ask questions and expect to get some get some answers
