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| India needs to neutralise terror near the coast | | |
Arun Kumar Singh
March.6 : The terror attacks in Mumbai took place 100 days ago. And as we take stock, we realise that the government has worked overtime to introduce some crucial measures to improve security.
One major step was the February 28 announcement making the Indian Navy responsible and accountable for coastal defence, and the other was the Union home minister’s "100-day counter terror plan".
But there is still much cause for concern. The Indian Navy chief’s reminder last week about the threat of nuclear weapons being smuggled in via containers is not new.
It was first raised in June 2002 by the United States, which was also concerned about biological and chemical weapons.
The comical flip-flop by the Pakistani Navy chief, about "26/11 not emanating from the sea" and the March 3, Lahore terror attack, on the Sri Lankan cricket team indicates a fast failing nuclear armed nation, whose Talibanisation and balkanisation appears to be inevitable, in the near future, courtesy rogue elements in the ISI and Pakistan military. Their is nothing that India can do to change the emerging "doomsday" scenario, except "pull up the drawbridge" and urgently prepare to defend itself against the emerging historical threat from the "barbarians".
India is in a more complex situation than the US, because of its geographical location. It faces all the threats confronting the US and also has to deal with possible infiltration by terrorists through the sea (as it happened in the case of Kuber).
I do feel that the possibility of nuclear or biological weapons being smuggled into India by containers is low, but it is important to cover this aspect of port security also, since chemical weapons could very well be smuggled in.
There is for instance the possibility of terrorists creating a weapon of mass destruction with a hijacked ship carrying thousands of tons of fertiliser Ammonium Nitrate.
So India has to neutralise terror near the coast and also in the high seas, well before it reaches its targets — nuclear power plants, oil rigs, hotels, iconic buildings etc.
After 26/11 the US and other nations, introduced a few measures basically to protect themselves from seaborne terror threats, and some of these have spillover benefits for others also.
One is the container security initiative. Today 58 ports worldwide are "CSI compliant" (including Port Qasim in Pakistan, Dubai and Colombo). CSI compliance requires a port to have facilities to electronically track movement of every single container, scan every container quickly by X-Ray or Gamma Ray machines, and put an electronic tamper proof seal (which gives a warning if anyone attempts to open the container), prior to its shipment to the US.
India is yet to take a decision on CSI (since like the NPT, it is rightly perceived to be discriminatory and is meant for the safety of the US alone).
Even if India does not sign the CSI, it urgently needs modern equipment to scan containers, make them electronically tamper proof and track their movements electronically.
Our ports handle $250 million worth of container items every day. Unlike foreign CSI compliant ports, which have numerous X-Ray systems to scan containers in minutes, only Mumbai port has a couple of these machines which can barely scan five per cent of the containers.
The US Coast Guard is permitted to stop and search any suspected ship entering its EEZ, ie at 200 nautical miles from the port. The Indian Navy and Indian Coast Guard have been denied this option, since our decision-makers believe that it may have international ramifications on the "freedom of the seas".
Here too, common sense dictates that safety of our citizens from terror attack should have a higher priority, and some method should be evolved urgently to search ships prior to entering port.
All ships entering US ports are required to give advance notification 96 hours prior to arrival. Any ship not complying is blacklisted from entering any American port.
This 96-hour window enables a port to effectively check out all details of the ship, its cargo, crew, previous ports of call etc, and then decide if it needs to be stopped and searched.
Fortunately, India has also finally notified that ships must give 96 hours notice.
Hopefully, it will also ratify a proposal which says that all merchant navy sailors carry a biometric seaman’s identification card.
The International Ship and Port Facility code, meant to introduce common standards of security, is a good measure if implemented seriously as is the port vessel traffic management system.
Further, the automatic identification system, which identifies a ship to coastal radar at ranges of about 40 nm, is now being augmented by the 1000 nm satellite based long-range identification and tracking system.
This will help nations identify the "few terrorists from the numerous innocent seafarers".
Also, India has yet to join the Paris based intergovernmental Financial Action Task Force, which aims to share information to curtail the $17 bn narcotics trade and "Hawala" funding for terrorism.
Around seven dozen new marine police stations, each with small patrol boats, were to have come up in the country before 26/11. I understand that over five dozen have now been set up, and the remaining should come up shortly.
At present, the 1,000-odd policemen, who have been trained by the ICG, are using hired boats to patrol the coast. The first lot of small high speed boats is expected shortly.
The case of Customs is somewhat better. They have already received a large number of the planned 109 boats.
The defence minister, A.K. Antony, recently announced the setting up of a unified command structure with single point accountability and joint operations rooms.
Police forces of port cities too should be integrated into this network because, should the intruders break through the layered cordon at sea, than the policeman is the last line of defence.
Though the government has taken some decisive steps, the international community still feels that India’s response has been "talk only".
The moot question is whether India can take the ongoing covert war back to its birthplace (Pakistan), not to kill innocents, but to neutralise anti-India terrorists.
Media reports say that the ISI has asked the LeT, "to carry out repeat 26/11 type attacks on India… or else funding will stop". To use a naval phrase, henceforth, India will have to remain at "action stations" for many years.
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