S R Ramanujan August 29, 2004

Tags: democracy , india

href="/tag/communal">communal and divisive in its political priorities - the present United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government at the Centre and the congress governments in the state have pulled out all the stops to reinforce an image that they are ‘liberal’ to the core and ultra secular in all their dealings. The first target was Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA), followed by ‘peace talks’ with a ‘ war’ group. What is the outcome? Have the Peoples War Group (PWG) naxalites in Andhra Pradesh come to the negotiating table for the so-called peace talks. They seem to be interested on anything but peace and social order. They are running a parallel administration in the countryside of Andhra Pradesh, indulging in extortions, rendering instant justice, pulling up the government officials, stopping development projects, etc.

Look at these headlines in the ‘secular’ press:

“Naxals distribute non-tribals’ lands”: A group of PW naxalites wearing olive green uniforms and carrying weapons distributed 200 acres of land belonging to non-tribals at Chavitidibbalu village in E Godavari district.

“Peoples War detains revenue officials”: Revenue department officials were detained in Papireddikunta Thanda of Guntur district till midnight for the government’s ‘lapses’ in distributing pattas.

“No sparing Chandrababu”: Chandrababu Naidu was declared public enemy No 1. “There is no way the people will let go of Naidu. The imperialist leader will continue to be on the War radar”.

“Armed naxals roam at will in strongholds”: Armed naxalites are taking out torch rallies, inaugurating stupams and holding gram sabhas in Rayachoti and Lakkireddipalle constitutencies of Chief Minister’s native district, Cuddapah. They put up red flags around lands belonging to ‘landlords’, demanding distribution of lands and warning that none should buy those lands.

“PWG Naxals warn UCIL officials”: PWG warned the officials of Uranium Corporation of India Limited (UCIL) with dire consequences if they do not stop their work on the proposed uranium plant at Peddagattu village in Nalgonda district.

“Naxals stop survey for Pulichintala”: PWG stalled the survey work for the acquisition of land for the construction of the Pulichintala balancing reservoir project in Guntur district. According to them, it is a “pro-rich” project benefitingonly the rich landlords.

This is only tip of the iceberg and what is reported in the English press. There are a number of unreported incidents where the PWG naxalites are extorting money from the forest contractors, poultry farmers, grape-growers and landlords with a target of Rs 1000 crore for fresh recruitment, regrouping and acquisition of sophisticated weapons. This explains their stand from day one that there was no question of their cadres laying down arms. A PWG ideologue said that it would be akin to asking journalists not to come with their pen and pad.

As if the lawlessness unleashed by the naxalites with impunity and indirect state approval is not enough, the Congress government in the state had released more than one thousand prisoners in complete violation of the norms for such releases to coincide with the Independence day. One of the prisoners thus released is an ISI terrorist Mujib Ahmed. He was awarded life imprisonment for having killed in a gunfight an additional superintendent of Police in 1992. Perhaps, the state chief minister might have thought releasing a minority prisoner might enhance his secular image. The guidelines for release of prisoners are clear. Those who have been jailed for anti-national activities, organized crime, rape and certain other heinous crimes cannot be given clemency. A co-prisoner alleged that even cell phone facility was provided to the Jammu & Kashmir Liberation Front ( JKLF) activist, Mujib though the latter was mouthing anti-Indian sentiments throughout his stay in the jail.

The situation in the troubled Valley is no different. The death toll due to terrorist violence has reached an alarming figure. 3000 people including terrorists,civilians and securitymen were killed after the Peoples Democratic Party took over the reins. According to reports, an estimated 3000 terrorists are active in J & K with about 35 percent of them being foreign nationals. Eleven militant groups are operating in the state and they are on a recruitment spree. A confidential report received by the 9/11 Commission is quite revealing notwithstanding the ‘peace talks’ between India and Pakistan. Here is an excerpt from the report: “The dilemma for Musharaff is that many of his army officers are still sympathetic to Al Qaeda, Taliban militants and the Kashmir cause… Many retired and present ISI officers retain close links to al Qaeda militants hiding in various state sponsored places in Pakistan and Kashmir… They regard the fight against Americans, Jews and Indians in different parts of the world as legitimate ‘jihad’.

As if to confirm this, Muhammad Khan, a top Al Qaeda activist, currently in US custody, is reported to have given enough indication that al Qaeda, the Taliban and Pakistan-based terrorist outfits operating in India may be sharing the infrastructure. It has also been reported that “several of the 13 men arrested in the United Kingdom on the basis of Mr Khan’s disclosures are suspected of having links to Jammu and Kashmir-focused terror groups in Pakistan”.

To be fair to our minister of state for External Affairs E Ahmed, he made a candid admission in Parliament that Islamabad had not taken any credible steps to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure thriving on its soil. According to Ahmed, “recent intelligence reports indicated efforts to revive terrorist camps and launching pads in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.”

The North-East has not got out of the volcano on which it has been sitting for decades with the latest blast on Independence Day killing 16 school kids reminding the nation of the deteriorating situation and calling for immediate attention. The counter-insurgency operations in collaboration with Bhutan do not seem to have helped. Manipur has been messed up with our defence minister and home minister having no clue whatsoever as to the corrective measures to be undertaken to restore normalcy. It is a classic case of most incompetent and inept handling of a complex situation by this government with the Prime Minister fully engrossed in his ‘economic beat’.

Besides terrorist activities in Kashmir, North-East and the Naxal violence from Bihar to Andhra Pradesh covering the entire tribal belt, rapid rise in organized violence in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Maharashtra should cause concern to anyone responsible for internal security. The kidnappings and extortions have become a daily routine in the Hindi heartland and transactions in such deals might be in the order of hundreds of crores. India has the dubious distinction of being the sixth among the top ten riskiest countries of the world when it comes to extortions and ransom. We are in the company of Colombia, Mexico, Ecuador and Venezuela. According to an estimate, 25,000 were abducted in the last ten years in Laloo’s land alone.

When this is the national security scenario, our secular government is so much obsessed with the scrapping of POTA that it refuses to have any reality checks. Yes, Jayalalitha might have certainly abused POTA, Mayavati did send her political rivals behind the bars using POTA. But then, Raja Bhayya is a minister in the UP government now and Vaiko is a hero in Tamil Nadu. Such is the vibrancy of our mature democracy. People’s will and our democratic institutions are taking care of such aberrations by the errant politicians. Well, terrorism and militancy have their own rules of the game, if at all they can be termed as rules, and they are not amenable to any reason or logic or the dynamics of a civilized society. They are fanatics pure and simple and what they spread cannot be anything but fanaticism.

It is quite a facile expression if we say that the existing law of the land is enough to tackle insurgency and jihadi terrorism. If that is the case, why do we need special Armed Forces Act in Manipur to deal with insurgency. Let us not forget the fact that while the existing laws were enacted, terrorism of the kind we witness today was unknown. Practitioners of jihadi terrorism cannot be volunteers of VHP, If those booked under POTA happen to belong to the minority community, whether Indians or from across the border, it does not mean POTA was designed against minorities. That seems to be the bugbear of the present rulers. So, :POTA has to go if the UPA govt has to establish its secular credentials. The same argument was advanced when Terrorists and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) had to be revoked. Before vote-bank politics, everything, it seems, gets dwarfed whether it is national interest, security concerns or the integrity of the nation.