The Hindu : Timely action

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Nov 06, 2002

Opinion

Opinion - Editorials

Timely action

TIMELY AND FIRM action, which ended with the gunning down of two militants in a New Delhi shopping mall, has averted a catastrophe of frightening proportions. At the same time, it has focussed attention on how vulnerable the nation is against jehadi attacks which, because of their very nature, are not easy to detect and even more difficult to prevent. If the December 13 attack on Parliament forced the nation to understand that no place is free from the terrorist threat, the massacre within the precincts of the Akshardham temple has increased awareness of the devastation that can be wreaked by a small suicide squad armed with nothing more than hand arms and small explosives. On the face of it, the aborted terrorist attack in one of the Capital's biggest and busiest shopping malls wears a considerable resemblance to the Akshardham outrage. Two militants were engaged in both attacks, the two groups were armed chiefly with guns and both attacks were planned in crowded places to cause as many deaths as possible. What sets the two incidents apart is that while the Gujarat attack could not be stopped before innocent blood was spilt, the plan to snuff out shoppers on Deepavali eve was prevented by a mixture of alertness and operational resolve.

What was responsible for averting a tragedy at the shopping mall was, first of all, credible intelligence. The Delhi police were warned by the intelligence agencies not only that militants could attack busy market places during Deepavali but also specifically that Ansal Plaza — where the militants were gunned down — was the likely target of such an operation. The deployment of plainclothesmen at the various entry points into the building resulted in the two terrorists being spotted even as they were preparing to execute their plan. The fact that both were gunned down quickly and without any collateral damage/civilian injury points towards an exercise that was not only conducted successfully but also very professionally. Such a terrorist strike can be planned with stealth and without much preparation — all that this one seemed to involve logistically was a stolen car and the acquisition of small arms. This makes averting such strikes all the more challenging or difficult. Given this, the intelligence agencies and the Delhi police deserve to be congratulated for first detecting and then effectively foiling the Machiavellian plan.

The Delhi police have claimed to have established the exact identities of the two Lashkar-e-Taiba militants, both of whom are said to be Pakistani nationals sent by the LeT leadership to cause unrest and communal tension during the Deepavali season. But a more comprehensive picture of the exact ramifications of the terrorist conspiracy will unravel only after the existing leads are followed up. The police have stated that materials recovered from the bodies of the dead militants point towards a connection in Mumbai, something that suggests that the plan to wreak havoc in the Delhi shopping mall may only be a part of a larger and even more diabolical conspiracy. It may also help to answer some specific questions relating to the aborted attack, particularly since there have been competing theories of exactly what the terrorists were planning — this included a view that the real targets could have been the houses of top-ranking bureaucrats near the shopping mall. As experts in terrorism have repeatedly pointed out, it is well nigh impossible to devise a method of preventing jehadi-style attacks in buildings and other areas, which have no screening procedures and are open to the general public. The real challenge in attempting to ward off such attacks lies in collecting or intercepting information about the movement of terrorists and their plans. The failure of the attack on the New Delhi shopping mall was primarily the result of successful intelligence gathering and the apparatus for this needs to be constantly improved or strengthened. In the face of jehadi threats, to be forewarned is the only way to be forearmed.

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