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| 2008: THE YEAR THAT WAS | | Terrorism menace, terrorists the men of year | | ET DESK
Jammu, Dec 26: The spate of terror attacks in the country climaxed by the unprecedented Mumbai carnage left the Home Ministry bruised and its unpopular head became a big political casualty in 2008 while they also served as a wake-up call to revamp the national security apparatus.
As the turbulent year for the civil security establishment draws to a close, the nation was on high alert with the Mumbai siege and about 70 serial blasts and terror attacks across seven states in the last seven months claiming over 400 lives giving some lessons to authorities to keep terror at bay.
73-year-old Home Minister Shivraj Patil, whose legendary sartorial fetish became a matter of ridicule, lost the job when he resigned and had to make way for Finance Minister P Chidambaram, who got cracking from day one to blunt charges within and outside UPA that the government was soft on terror.
In little over a fortnight after the Mumbai attacks, the 63-year-old Harvard-educated MBA and eminent lawyer piloted two tough anti-terror Bills in Parliament and got them passed to pave creation of a National Investigation Agency to deal with crime having inter-state and international ramifications.
It was an ominous start for the Home ministry when the New Year dawned with a terror strike on CRPF Group Centre at Rampur in Uttar Pradesh leaving eight dead.
Serial bomb blasts shook Jaipur in May claiming 69 lives while the attacks in Ahmedabad in July saw 56 people perish. The national capital was jolted by a series of blasts in September leaving 26 persons dead and the terror attacks in Assam consumed 88 persons. Serial explosions also rocked Tripura and Bangalore.
But the terrorist attacks in Mumbai took the wind out of the sails of the Home Ministry as the first ever assault by terrorists using sea route saw the security establishment coming under the scanner. Over 180 people perished in the Mumbai carnage.
The NIA Bill, passed by Parliament, will have concurrent jurisdiction and empowers the central government to decide what constitutes terror and investigate such strikes in any part of the country. The offences include challenge to country's sovereignty and integrity, bomb blasts, hijacking of aircraft and ships and attacks on nuclear installations.
The measure also provides for constitution of special courts to try offences under the NIA Bill and provide for summary trial.
The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Bill defines that any act which is intended to threaten the unity and sovereignty and cause panic in people by using bombs, dynamites or other explosive substances, lethal weapons, poisonous gases or chemicals -- including biological, radio-active and nuclear -- constitutes terror.
It provides for deterrent provisions like detention without bail for up to 180 days and enhanced penalty of life imprisonment for those involved in such activities.
In a major step to insulate the country along its 7,500-km coastline dotted with 180 minor and 12 major ports, a Coastal Command is being set up.
All coastal states and union territories have been directed to carry out vulnerability mapping of the coastal zone and consider giving digitised identity cards to sea-faring personnel and fishermen.
Having learnt bitter lessons from the Mumbai incident, the Home Ministry ordered registration of fishing boats and making optimal use of technology for providing Transponders and Global Positioning Systems (GPS) on the vessels.
Besides, four National Security Guards (NSG) hubs are being created in various parts of the country to ensure quick dispatch of commandos.
The NSG, which played a key role in dealing with the terrorists who attacked Mumbai, is mandated to participate in anti-terror, anti-hijack and hostage rescue operations.
Till now comprising only best hands from the Army and the paramilitary forces, the NSG will now draw commandos from the three armed forces and have an air wing for their quick deployment at the time of emergency.
Naxal violence is another major issue that is giving sleepless nights to the Home Ministry as over 70 districts in the country are affected by Left-wing extremism, which has been described by the Prime Minister as a "virus" and the biggest internal security threat.
In the continuing Naxal violence in and around a dozen states, over 600 people, including over 175 security men, have been killed till September this year.
To deal with the menace, the much-awaited special anti-Naxal force COBRA (Combat Battalion for Resolute Action) is being raised at a cost of Rs 1,389.47 crore.
It has begun its operations, with two initially raised battalions (each of nearly 1,000 personnel) being stationed in Jagdalpur district of Chhattisgarh and Koraput in Orissa. Eight more battalions would be raised in the next three years.
A separate intelligence wing in each COBRA battalion is also being set up. Buoyed by the success of the 'Greyhound' force in Andhra Pradesh, a proposal is being considered to raise such anti-Naxal force in other states.
The communal tension in the country worsened with a spate of attacks in Orissa and Karnataka, which together account for 273 of the 855 incidents till November this year that claimed over 150 deaths in such incidents compared to 99 last year.
In its latest status paper on Internal Security Situation, the Home Ministry said the overall scenario in Jammu & Kashmir "is indicative of transition to normalcy" as violence since 2001 has declined and tourists' flow to the state has gone up.
Figures of the overall security situation in the northeastern states show that the number of security personnel and civilians killed has come down considerably while the number of terrorists killed has risen substantially.
Ethnic violence in Assam in October left over 50 dead in Udalguri and Darrang districts, while around 80 others died in serial blasts in the state the same month.
Outfits like ULFA, Dima Halam Daogah (Joel Garlosa) and National Democratic Front of Bodoland were responsible for over 200 of the nearly 300 incidents in the state.
In Nagaland, where the overall situation has improved, factional clashes between the two NSCN factions has increased to some extent. Peace talks with NSCN(I-M) are continuing. Violence has come down significantly in Tripura and Meghalaya. Arunachal Pradesh witnessed low-intensity violence in some pockets. Mizoram and Sikkim remained by and large peaceful.
The Centre provided 93,000 paramilitary personnel to the N-E states for counter insurgency and internal security duties, besides aid for state police modernisation.
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