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Mumbai anti-terror cell gets crash course in Urdu - The Times of India
Mumbai anti-terror cell gets crash course in Urdu
MUMBAI: The Mumbai police have started a two-month Urdu training program for anti-terrorism cell (ATC) officers. The crash course that involves an overview on the Islamic history as well aims to enhance their investigative skills and weeding out misconceptions, if any, about the Muslim community.
ATC officers have been provided with a 50-page booklet on Urdu alphabets and pronunciation.
An officer and four constables from the ATC are posted to each of Mumbai's 93 police stations. The cell was formed in October last year with the primary aim of keeping tabs on the movement of anti-social elements by developing a network of sources and informers.
For the purpose of training, the ATC team (93 officers and 372 constables) has been divided into three batches.
"The training programme will help us track and interpret communications of terror outfits," said an ATC officer. "Many a times, we recover documents from anti-social elements. There is no guarantee that the translator called will give correct information. We have to believe what is read out to us. The training will be of great help."
Another ATC official said that learning code language, ability to speak, map reading, computer-aided drafting, a general knowledge of the prevalent models of terrorist organizations lead to a better understanding of their capabilities. "Knowledge of the different labels and systems of classification that have been applied to groups and individuals aid us in discarding useless or irrelevant terms, and in understanding the purposes and usefulness of different terminologies," the official said.
The training is not restricted to language training. It also provides the ATC officials with detailed information about a certain community and its history. "For example, the current batch of ATC officials getting trained in Urdu language is also taught about the history of Islam. Top cops and officials from intelligence agencies give lectures on how different terrorist groups formed globally and how they functions, how recruitments and training are given to the people," said a senior ATC officer.
Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) chief Rakesh Maria said the training was not restricted to Urdu alone. "At the time of joining the ATC cell, officials are given the choices to select languages like Arabic, Urdu, Gurmukhi, English and the languages that they like or prefer. Learning the languages will help the officials to interact, communicate and also understand some of the difficult languages that terror outfit uses it as a code to communicate," said Maria.
He said it is a continuous process of training the officials and keeping them update of current activities. "The ATC officials are provided with training by sleuths from the Anti-Terrorist Squad. The officials are also made to interact with the IB and different investigating agencies helping in updating themselves. The officials are also given training how to cultivate networks and sources at the grass root level," he said.
I am surprised it took them so long to work this one out. During a trip to India a few years ago, I was puzzled to see massive hoardings in Arabic/Urdu in a part of South India where there is no Urdu/Arabic tradition that I know of- I did make sure the matter was reported to the local police but doubt very much was done about it. Saudiasation is clearly on the rise in many parts of India and it's important that police have basic knowledge of both Arabic and Urdu to prevent their use by terrorists for subversive purposes-at a minimum, I would suggest coaching on how to decipher the words 'infidel' 'kill' 'paradise' and '72 virgins
Mumbai anti-terror cell gets crash course in Urdu
MUMBAI: The Mumbai police have started a two-month Urdu training program for anti-terrorism cell (ATC) officers. The crash course that involves an overview on the Islamic history as well aims to enhance their investigative skills and weeding out misconceptions, if any, about the Muslim community.
ATC officers have been provided with a 50-page booklet on Urdu alphabets and pronunciation.
An officer and four constables from the ATC are posted to each of Mumbai's 93 police stations. The cell was formed in October last year with the primary aim of keeping tabs on the movement of anti-social elements by developing a network of sources and informers.
For the purpose of training, the ATC team (93 officers and 372 constables) has been divided into three batches.
"The training programme will help us track and interpret communications of terror outfits," said an ATC officer. "Many a times, we recover documents from anti-social elements. There is no guarantee that the translator called will give correct information. We have to believe what is read out to us. The training will be of great help."
Another ATC official said that learning code language, ability to speak, map reading, computer-aided drafting, a general knowledge of the prevalent models of terrorist organizations lead to a better understanding of their capabilities. "Knowledge of the different labels and systems of classification that have been applied to groups and individuals aid us in discarding useless or irrelevant terms, and in understanding the purposes and usefulness of different terminologies," the official said.
The training is not restricted to language training. It also provides the ATC officials with detailed information about a certain community and its history. "For example, the current batch of ATC officials getting trained in Urdu language is also taught about the history of Islam. Top cops and officials from intelligence agencies give lectures on how different terrorist groups formed globally and how they functions, how recruitments and training are given to the people," said a senior ATC officer.
Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) chief Rakesh Maria said the training was not restricted to Urdu alone. "At the time of joining the ATC cell, officials are given the choices to select languages like Arabic, Urdu, Gurmukhi, English and the languages that they like or prefer. Learning the languages will help the officials to interact, communicate and also understand some of the difficult languages that terror outfit uses it as a code to communicate," said Maria.
He said it is a continuous process of training the officials and keeping them update of current activities. "The ATC officials are provided with training by sleuths from the Anti-Terrorist Squad. The officials are also made to interact with the IB and different investigating agencies helping in updating themselves. The officials are also given training how to cultivate networks and sources at the grass root level," he said.
I am surprised it took them so long to work this one out. During a trip to India a few years ago, I was puzzled to see massive hoardings in Arabic/Urdu in a part of South India where there is no Urdu/Arabic tradition that I know of- I did make sure the matter was reported to the local police but doubt very much was done about it. Saudiasation is clearly on the rise in many parts of India and it's important that police have basic knowledge of both Arabic and Urdu to prevent their use by terrorists for subversive purposes-at a minimum, I would suggest coaching on how to decipher the words 'infidel' 'kill' 'paradise' and '72 virgins
