I dont support the extreamist views of Subramanium Swamy. I just like his one statement - We have to be like Israel if we wish to end this scrouge of terrorism. In my view the following steps need to be taken urgently to fight terrorism
Well being like Israel is probably the most wrong thing that he has said. Is Israel free of terrorism? Or is it the most paranoid country in the world? They can even breath without thinking about HAMAS or Hizbullah. And I don't even have to mention the isolation they face in the world community.
What we have to evolve is an Indian counter terrorism policy not an imported foreign one because WE DO NOT FACE the exact same threats. Only a simpleton like Swamy will make no difference between the terrorism that Israel faces, and the terrorism that India faces.
India has a world wide leadership role that Israel has no appetite or potential for. In fact, the US CT policy is more appropriate for India to follow particularly the CT policy under Obama. Although again, we still need to develop our own, because the India is affected more by Pakistani based terrorists rather than Arab based ones.
Listen to the CT policy speech on CSPAN here
Transition at Defense Department; Obama Releases New Counterterrorism Strategy | C-SPAN
Just a few comments on the points you mentioned
1 Abolish Article 370 There should be no special treatment to any region of India. With the abolishing of this article Kashmiris will be more integrated with the rest of the country
The A370 is NOT fully implemented at present. It has been diluted consistently starting from the 1950s. This is the claim by most
pro-India Kashmiris as the starting point of the alienation.
Not to mention article 371 which has "special treatment" for other states like Nagaland, Manipur, Assam and even Maha and Gujarat.
Do read up on these and understand the background and think why even though these states are given special treatment have they failed to integrate?
2 Bring in Uniform Civil Code The laws of the land should be same for all irrespective of the Caste Creed or Religion. There is no place for religion based laws in a secular country.
And how does that prevent terrorism? Or was that some talking point that you wanted to put in place?
The UCC is there for anyone who wants to follow it. Personal laws is VOLUNTARY. And again, criminal law is all under UCC. If a muslim or a hindu steals or commits murder, they are both covered by the SAME laws. Only a small section of civil law with is probably not even 5% of all legal code is covered by personal law as well. And this is part of the constitution.
Infact, personal laws for communities is a historical cultural legacy of India from ancient times right from the Indus Valley civilization, Mauryan and Mughal empires and number of smaller Kingdoms around India. When traders and people from other parts of the world would settle down in Gujarat and the Malabar coast, the local king would allow them to settle their disputes under the communities own laws. For example, for Jews under Jewish law, for Parsis under the Parsis own personal law and so on.
Infact for those who want to follow Israel, know that the Muslim personal laws in Israel enjoy much more legal sanctity than they do even in India. Another country is South Africa were there are personal laws as a subset for Muslims and Jewish minorities. Even in the US, each state has their own criminal laws even not to mention personal laws as well in some cases.
This does not mean personal laws can't be reformed. The Muslim personal law boards should pressured and forced to reform laws that degrade the dignity of women for example. And this is again legal under the constitution. A a number of judges have given verdicts nullifying Muslim personal law board judgements in cases where there was a clear case that justice had not been done.
3 Strict implementation of the Right to Education Act. - Compulsary Primary education for all. This will help in reducing the radicalization of the youth and also lead to the growth of the country.
Primary education should be certainly there for all and there is no one who is denying that. Of course, there should be also a monitoring of WHAT is taught particularly since state govt. have control over the syllabus. A legislation to keep a check on making sure that schools improve communal harmony rather than negate it would be important.
4 Setting up a regulatory body for all the Madarsaas - Modern Scientific knowledge and vocational skills should be given to the youth. After passing out from a Madarsaa a person should not be fit to be only a mullah at a mosque. He should be able to make a contribution to the economic growth of the the country
Maybe you don't know about this but about 4% of muslim students attend a madrassa. And infact most madrassas already teach subjects like English, Maths and Science. In some places,they are even given vocation training on mobile phones or computer based training. Others have gone on to do their PhDs e.t.c. and even become IAS officers.
Infact, in Bihar for example, many non-muslis mainly Hindus attend Madrassa schools because of the cheaper option and the quality of education and the ability to learn languages like Arabic which may help them join the IFS and other jobs in Arab countries in the gulf.
http://www.defence.pk/forums/world-affairs/119011-nurseries-tolerance-madrassas-bihar.html
5 Deportation of illegal Bangladeshis They pose a great security threat
Illegals of all countries, Nepalis, Bangladeshis, Israelis, Arabs, e.t.c. should be deported as per law.
6 Fencing of Indo Pakistan and Indo Bangladesh Border Keep the troublemakers out. If someone wants to come to visit India he should come via legal channels
Ofcourse, this is already done or in the process of being done. It should be quickened and hopefully once the border pact is signed with Bangladesh later this year, this will no longer be an issue
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So what should we DO? B Raman had a good article on this here
Raman's strategic analysis: EVOLUTION OF MILITANCY IN INDIAN MUSLIM COMMUNITY
Again, I would highly recommend listening the CT strategy by the US homeland security head here
Transition at Defense Department; Obama Releases New Counterterrorism Strategy | C-SPAN
Adding and basing on that
(1) Improve policing and mandate at least 3% of state GDP should be spend on police modernization. In our 50-60 year history, we have seen terrorism from right wing groups wether Muslim, Hindu or Sikh or leftism and maoists terrorism as well. Infact, the BJP ruled Chattisgarhis naxalite central. In fact, for the last two years in 2009 and 2010 more than 1000 people have died with no improvement or focus on the situation there. Without govt. spending on modernizing police forces, implementing police reforms and strengthening police-community relations. Get the police force to become professional so that investigations are free and quick without political interference. We don't want another case of confessions tortured out of innocent people like we have seen in the past as this leads to a fake sense of security when the real terrorists are still out and about.
(2) Build partnerships with various Muslims groups that have come out against terrorism. Even in the most recent Mumbai attacks, 1000s of Muslim organizations came out condemning the attacks. The police and security agencies should interact with them because the first intelligence inputs about Muslim terrorists will come from them. Just like tribals will be the first to inform about maoists movements for example. To build trust, more Muslims should be hired in the police and intelligence agencies that can be the eyes and ears and analyse the situation more correctly and keep the security forces informed on what is happening.
(3) Build partnerships with intelligence agencies of foreign countries. Bangladesh is a prime example of how a helpful govt. can smash insurgent networks. The same applies to terrorist networks as well. We already have anti-terrorism pacts with GCC countries like UAE and Saudi Arabia and these need to be strengthened and activated. The weak points are Nepal and Pakistan where there is extensive instability or hostility. The Nepal border has been coming up again and again as a point for terrorist to cross into India and needs to be monitored while Nepali intelligence and security forces should be pressed to capture and crack down on terrorist groups or FICN networks.
(4) And that leads to FICN as well, crack down on this. Name and shame Pakistan if it is really the case that Pakistan is printing them. And at the same time, move the Indian currencies to higher security notes like polymer plastic technology which will make it more difficult to fake. FICN is the main source of terrorism and that needs to be cracked down on.
(5) And like John Brennan the homeland security director has said, educate the public to be resilient. By freezing up and getting scared after terrorist attacks or demonizing the Muslim community is exactly what the terrorist attacks would be aiming for i.e. to start an communal conflagration like Gujarat 2002 or Mumbai 1993 where there is a cycle of violence which destabilizes India.
India is a pluralist country and Muslims are a part of the Indian nation. This is a powerful idea which - let me say - is the idea of India. Each day that Hindus and Muslims live together is a slap on the face of terrorists groups that want to change this. So its imperative to educate the Indian people to learn this lesson and from what we have seen, the Indian public has been upholding this excellently despite the provocations by people like Subramanium Swamy, who are more interested in political mileage rather than actually resolving the terrorism issue.
