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Chapter 3.3.11: Tackling Terrorism

(September 2011)

I know I’m wasting my time because the State is always the biggest terrorist. The lowest rank constable at a police station is capable of propagating and perpetrating unimaginable terror, of course, under the auspices of the local politicians.

Anyways, let me try. Let me first rule out what can’t be a solution. The solution can’t be to increase the penetration of intelligence agencies into the homes of the people through local police constables. That would be disastrous: Already the politicians are exploiting the people through local police; I wonder what will happen when local police would get even more powers through technology, law, etc; the mere thought of it scares me! Nor can the solution be to change the system, to carry out reforms, to bring in justice, etc. I have become cynical enough to understand that this can never happen in any country, whatsoever, at any time, whenever, in the future. The ruling class exists through the exploitation of the masses, and that is never going to change, whatever may be the forms of the governments.

A Little Digression

The Delhi High Court blast is throwing some disturbing trends. If the Delhi attack has not been carried out by the Pakistani terrorists, but by some home grown amateurs (which looks like a clear possibility now), the problem is certainly bigger. (I am assuming the blast was not carried out by the Hindu Right Wing terrorists.) The rising of the amateur terrorists means two things: first, there are groups who consider themselves victims of the state propagated injustice & terrorism, and, secondly, and more importantly, they do not think much before striking; for example, the attack at the Delhi High Court might have been carried out by some disgruntled litigant/s. Of course, the amateur terrorists will be exploited by Pakistani or other international terrorist groups; but, while doing so, they may not follow the same humanitarian rules which they follow otherwise; for example, killing poor litigants in search of justice should be insane, even for terrorists.

So, according to me, the solution lies in controlling the large gatherings of the people. The following should be done:

1 Ban rallies, religious processions, protests, fasts, strikes, marriages, social functions, etc, which require a gathering of more than 100 people at one place.

2 Discourage large multi-activity buildings/markets/public spaces leading to large gatherings.
3 Reduce the number of public spaces and completely ban any new avoidable public spaces like malls, cinema halls, entertainment centers, etc.

4 Encourage work from home, and, if in the office, then it should be in the neighborhood itself.
5 Encourage slow moving vehicles like bi-cycles, rickshaws, e-bikes, e-scooters, etc.

6 Employ very high security at unavoidable public places like public transport junctions, courts, hospitals, etc.

7 Encourage use of technology for carrying out essential activities so that a person may not have to use public spaces too often.

8 Encourage the movement of people away from the metropolises, esp. away from the big cities like Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta, etc, to cities with population no more than 5 Lakhs and population density no more than 75 persons per hectare; work on a long-term plan to create such small cities.

9 Bring in comprehensive e-governance.

10 Work towards breaking all links with the USA.

The above should be able to take care of the high impact terrorist attacks (assuming it won’t be possible to carry out chemical and biological warfare types attacks furtively). The low impact terrorist attacks from the politicians and other terrorists may continue, but people will have to learn to fight against these attacks themselves (and I am in no way suggesting that the low impact terrorist attacks are any less dangerous; rather, I think, they are even more dangerous).

Addendum

The belief that the intelligence agencies can stop terrorist attacks is foolhardy. The only purpose of the intelligence agencies is to maintain sovereignty of the nations — which anyways is a collapsing concept. Of course, “global terrorism” has now become a threat to the sovereignty of nations, but I am still not sure who is running these terrorist organizations: Is it a few in Afghanistan or is it some big bosses in America, who ran and are running the game in Afghanistan? But, one thing is for sure: whichever way you look at it, remoteness from the US is beneficial for India — closeness with the US only helps a few NRIs and the capitalists and their cronies including politicians; the others only suffer. But, what intelligence agencies — who have now more or less become the agents of the big business — seem to be proposing is the most dangerous. They want to make the local police stations the intelligence gathering agencies for the centre. Nothing can be a bigger threat to the freedom of people. Already in metropolises like Delhi and Bombay, the local police — which actually is supposed to perform municipal functions — gathers too much illegal intelligence; and, in the process, they are also creating a market in pornographic videos; any further intrusion will make each and every individual a potential terrorist. Even while assuming that the US has now separated from the terrorism activities emanating from Afghanistan, there is no case for emulation for India. India is a completely different country presenting completely different considerations and requiring completely different solutions. In fact, the solution to terrorist attacks in India does lie at the local police level by efficient performance of the municipal functions, not intelligence gathering; i.e. by not allowing illegal constructions, illegal businesses, illegal activities, public nuisance, petty crimes, illegal gatherings, illegal traffic, illegal parking, encroachment on public streets, etc. ©2011-2015 Ankur Mutreja