news details |
|
|
| Fighting urban terrorism: take lessons from JKP | | | Early Times Report
Jammu, Jan 8: While country is looking for proper response mechanism to growing menace of terrorism across the country, study by a leading think tank of international repute has suggested taking some lessons from battle hardened Jammu and Kashmir Police.
A report published by the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, New Delhi says, in the aftermath of Mumbai attacks in November 2008, States should learn from the J&K Police to handle fidayeen type urban terrorism.
The report, titled “Fighting Terrorism: Strengthen and Modernize State police,” authored by Suba Chandran, Deputy Director at the IPCS, says, “the security forces in J&K, mainly the Police (JKP), military and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) have learnt by trial and error, on how to effectively deal with terrorism, especially the fidayeen attacks. Though mainland India has not witnessed attacks like the one in Mumbai in November 2008, J&K has faced them since 1999. Such fidayeen attacks have taken place there at railway stations, temples, government buildings, military cantonments and other places where a group of six to ten well trained and highly motivated terrorists, mainly from Pakistan, belonging to either the Lashkar-e-Toiba or the Jaish-e-Mohammad would launch suicidal attacks.”
According to the report, most of the terrorist attacks that have taken place all over India, cannot be addressed by the military or the CRPF, for they are not the first responders, in case of urban terrorism. It is the local police in New Delhi, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka that have to respond immediately. States, especially the above mentioned which are likely to witness the recent attacks in Mumbai need to learn from the JKP experience on effectively handling terrorism.
Turning to J&K experience, the report says, “when insurgency hit the Kashmir Valley in 1989 and turned into terrorism in the early 1990s, JKP was as unprepared as the police force in most of the Indian states today. They were poorly equipped and did not have experience in handling insurgency or terrorism. Worse, they had an unsympathetic (at times even hostile) local population. While the JKP is criticized on many counts from high handedness, corruption and human rights violations (where there is an element of truth in all three counts), none can dispute the fact, that it goes to the credit of this force (with help from the military and paramilitary forces) to establish law and order from a situation of despair.”
The report in particular says, recommends a special anti-terrorism unit, on the models of the Special Operations Group (SOG) of J&K or the Grey Hounds of Andhra Pradesh. According to the report, “while the SOG of JKP has been under criticism from the Human Rights organizations, none can deny its success. True, there have been excesses in the SOG operations, but the force did learn in the process.” Each state that are facing terrorism, need its own SOGs. It will be even useful, for the anti-terrorism groups of the States to learn from the positive and negative factors relating to the SOG and Grey Hound by being physically present with them for a period of time
The report also emphasis on the need for modernization of police. According to it, “from bullet proof vests to vehicles, there is a need to spend on modernization programme. The JKP had to start from scratch, employing indigenous ways to face the terrorists. Fortunately, the other State Police forces do not have to go through this, for there is better support both from the State and Union governments. Once the issue of corruption is addressed in modernizing the State Police, sky is the limit. Once again, there is something that could be learnt from the JKP experience on this important issue of corruption within, otherwise, there will be scam even in purchasing Police lattis!”
Besides the SoG model, the report also suggest establishing a specialized unit, on the models of the Special Investigation team (SIT) that successfully tracked the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. The report says, “while the SOG model is likely to be effective both in defensive and offensive ways to deal with urban terrorism, at the national level, instead of having a grand institution, it will be useful to have exclusive teams, which are self sufficient to pursue the perpetrators to the logical end – proving their offence legally, in a long drawn struggle. While the functions of the SOGs are likely to be before and during terrorist attacks, the SITs would operate after attacks, which is equally important.”
The report concludes that there is a clear need for a specialised group on the models of the SOG of JKP and a special investigation team like the SIT that pursued the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. According to it, “this will be a better strategy to pursue, than forming a super organization at the national level and there is no need for a parallel organization like
The author of report, D Suba Chandran is actively engaged in research and studies on Jammu and Kashmir and is also a Consulting Editor with Jammu based monthly magazine Epilogue.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
