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POLITICAL DIARY
Fake Police Encounters
NO USE FOR LIVE TERRORISTS!
By Poonam I Kaushish
New Delhi, December 18, 2007
In the wee hours of 26 November 2005, Sohrabuddin Sheikh
was gunned down by the police on the outskirts of Ahmedabad.
The Gujarat Government claimed that he was a member of the
Lashkar-e-Toiba and was on a mission to kill Chief Minister
Narendra Modi. In Allahabad a year later, Pintu Mishra,
described by the police as a small-time criminal, was “bumped”
off because of his terrorists’ links. In 2007 an 18-year old
boy, Abdul Rehman, was killed in Srinagar by the security
forces for being hand in glove with the Jaish-e-Mohammad.
All three killings made headlines. All had one tenuous common
link: the three were killed in fake police encounters. In,
fact, the Supreme Court is presently hearing a petition
against the Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad Chief, DG Vanzara,
for having Sohrabuddin killed as also for 21 other
‘encounters’ between 2003-2006. Modi has been hauled up for
contempt for having spoken about Sohrabuddin and his killing
during his controversial campaign for the Assembly poll.
Lost in the din of moral outrage against “fake killings,” is
the larger picture: how does one combat the scourge of deadly
terrorism which has enveloped India in its octopus-like
embrace. Think. Of the 670 districts in the country, as many
as 270 are terror-prone. Of these, 70 districts have already
been ravaged by terrorists.
Terror has already cost India more than 72,000 civilians and
12,000 security personnel. Self-proclaimed Islamic terrorists
alone have killed 5,617 Indians in the last three years. In
fact, since 2004, India has lost more lives to terrorist
attacks than the whole of North, South and Central America,
Europe and Eurasia put together.
Each terror attack elicits a predictably standard State
response, mostly soft and ritualistic. We continue to wallow
in the false belief that wars are games born in the minds of
men which can be won peacefully by merely waving the white
flag. Or we promptly initiate a blame game. The BJP’s fake
encounters vis-à-vis the Congress going soft on terrorism.
Besides, terror has become a big yawn.
Indeed, Acharya Kriplani was ever so right. When he described
Indians as the world’s biggest hypocrites and humbugs. We
exhaust precious national energy, time and money on individual
issues a la Sohrabuddin, but twiddle our thumbs when it comes
to defying the Supreme Court verdict on Afzal Guru and not
hanging the mastermind of the attack on Parliament in 2001.
Why? Thanks to opportunistic political expediency. Tom-tomming
human rights violations nets votes and helps score brownie
points with the Muslims and their vote-banks.
Most sadly, the UPA Government has callously ignored the
strong signal it has sent to the Muslims that the Government
will not do anything which may even remotely hurt the Muslim
sentiment, terrorism or no terrorism. Plainly, this is
appeasement at its crassest worst. Moreover, there is no sense
of shame or remorse that the families of those who laid down
their lives to defend Parliament have returned the gallantry
medals and monies in sheer and understandable disgust.
No amount of appeasement will change the intentions of the
terrorists who are determined to bleed India whatever it
takes. Forgetting that a war can be won only by a bigger war!
Between 1998-2000, the special squads of Mumbai police
‘cleaned up’ the 300-strong Mumbai underworld with an average
of 100 encounters a year. That is about eight a month. The
police went by the Israeli strategy of an eye for an eye and a
tooth for a tooth. The officers were feted as super-heroes.
Bollywood even immortalized them.
In Punjab, mouthing platitudes that the law would take its own
course, talking ad nauseum about the iqbal of the State and
upholding human rights, did not end the Sikh militancy in the
80’s. In fact, these measures proved to be an exercise in
futility. No witness was willing to give evidence and no judge
a verdict for fear of the terrorists. Terrorism was finally
snuffed out by hitting back with State terror. Today, KPS Gill
who spearheaded the State terror is lauded as a hero and his
advice eagerly sought.
In Kashmir, Indian troops and police are known to commit
atrocities day in and day out. Most Indians are shocked by
this brazen brutality but accept it as an unavoidable part of
the battle against militants. Ditto is the case in West
Bengal. In the late 1960s and early 1970s when the Naxalite
movement threatened the State, both the ruling CPM and the
Congress colluded in crushing the Naxals by counter State
terror. In Nandigram too, the CPM has thumbed its nose at the
rule of law and described it as “morally and legally” correct.
Arguably, Modi is right in this milieu when he asserts that
the Centre and its UPA rulers have adopted double standards.
Fake encounters are bad and unacceptable in Gujarat but right
and much-needed in Punjab, Kashmir etc. How does one draw a
distinction between one fake encounter and another fake
encounter? Is, the police more sinned against than sinning in
dealing with ruthless terrorists who enjoy the advantage of
choosing the target, the place and the time?
It is an open secret that the police time and again not only
take recourse to third degree methods in order to extract
truth from alleged criminals but also kills them with
impunity. True, this is abhorrent and unacceptable strictly
from the human rights point of view and should be used only in
extreme circumstances. It is also true that the security
forces have abused power to dispense their own brand of rough
and ready ‘justice’ on innocent persons, dubbed terrorists.
More often than not to earn a reward and promotions. Or to
kowtow to their political masters.
However what does one do in a situation where a terrorist
holds the State hostage? Can a nation afford to sit back and
let militancy gain an upper hand? Where militants call the
shots? Isn’t it an inescapable side-effect of the battle
against militants. Clearly, when the State’s existence is in
peril, the only way to hit back is to carry the fight into the
enemy camp effectively.
At times State terror can be justified so long as it for the
greater common good. Former Punjab Governor, the late Dharma
Vira (ex-Cabinet Secretary), was ever so right when under a
spell of President’s rule during the height of Sikh militancy
in the State he directed: “I have no use for live terrorists!”
Indeed, the Kandhar fiasco would never have happened if only
the three hijackers, Masood Azhar, Omar Sheikh and Mushtaq
Ahmed Zargar had been duly eliminated and not jailed.
Remember a terrorist has no caste or creed. For him terrorism
is the religion. Be it a Hindu, a Muslim or a Sikh. He is an
invisible enemy who uses our resources and freedom to hit us
at will. An enemy that has no borders and no scruples. Adept
in exploiting the latest technologies, he identifies and
exploits our weaknesses. While we talk, he acts. Inflicting
maximum loss at minimum cost. All at our expense.
Worse. We have failed to give ourselves stringent laws that
security experts have been demanding for long. Like the
defunct POTA, which is tough but provided for all the
safeguards suggested by the Supreme Court in TADA. True, POTA
was not able to end terrorism. Parliament was attacked when it
was in operation.
Nevertheless, POTA helped in speedily tackling cases of
terrorism and bringing terrorists like Afzal Guru to book.
Such a revamped anti-terror law would send a much-needed
signal down the rank and file of terrorists that India means
business. But for obvious reasons, the Congress-led UPA
Government chose to repeal POTA.
India needs to understand that when terror strikes, nations
are expected to hit back with maximum force and carry the
fight into the enemy camp. It is not enough to possess
unrelenting, unremitting muscle power. On occasions it becomes
necessary to display that power. Like the US and UK which have
tougher laws than our dumped POTA and TADA.
Alas, the Centre continues to grope in the dark about how to
deal with terrorism. This will go on and on till it is clear
about fundamentals. The terrorism we face today is no longer
terror in someone else’s backyard. Or the prerogative of spy
thrillers. Terrorism poses a deadly challenge that can be met
only through ruthless State power, not namby pamby platitudes.
Remember, when our liberalism and freedom becomes the enemy’s
Kalashnikov it is time for India to wake up and do some honest
soul searching a la Mahabharat! ---- INFA
(Copyright India News & Feature Alliance)
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