Page 2 of 2 Terror 'outsourced' in
India By Siddharth Srivastava
such as
India, money can be a big incentive. The only
solace that officials can draw is that such a
model is not very conducive to high-profile
attacks in security zones or important people who
are well protected as the perpetrators of attacks
are relative "novices". Plotting an assassination
is not possible without recruiting
fidayeen.
"In this context,
airports with their enhanced envelope of security
screenings [after the September 11, 2001] attacks
can be
considered safe. But trains,
marketplaces, temples and mosques and shopping
malls where it is very difficult to check every
person become very vulnerable," said the official,
though basic security instruments such as
installation of video cameras have yet to be
widely implemented.
While the police have
so far been tracking illegal transfers of money
(eg through the hawala system), it has come
to light that terror groups may be actually using
very "legitimate" means to implement financial
transactions, by using several fronts including
dubious software companies or fake foreign
institutional investors siphoning money and making
profits by speculating in stock exchanges.
Recently, investigators have been trying
to track the large amounts of international
remittances that have been unearthed in the states
of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, which are considered
breeding grounds for "attackers" because of
widespread poverty and a ground situation charged
by volatile Hindu-Muslim communal politics. Police
are baffled by the money coming in, as the two
states do not boast a large emigrant population
like that of a state such as Kerala.
Sections of the security forces and
bureaucracy have been looking to link terror with
economic activity and calling for stricter norms
for foreign investments.
A 19-member
committee of secretaries, headed by the cabinet
secretary, the most senior civil servant, recently
asked the National Security Council (NSC), which
is headed by M K Narayanan, to draft guidelines
for specific areas, nations and firms for which
investment needs to be watched or monitored with
greater attention.
The NSC has been keen
to formulate an overall framework to ensure
security concerns. In a startling disclosure
recently, Narayanan, who reports directly to the
prime minister, has said terror groups are
meticulously manipulating the Indian stock
exchanges through fictitious companies to raise
millions of dollars to orchestrate attacks against
India.
While terrorist groups in India and
elsewhere are known to use technology (code words
on the Internet, e-mails and prepaid mobile
phones) effectively, this is the first time such
well-established and intelligent machinery that
takes care of financial aspects has been talked
about.
Security agencies, however,
maintain that the key remains diplomatic efforts
aimed at encouraging Pakistan to act against
terror. The hope is that the attack on the
Samjhauta Express, in which many Pakistani
nationals died, will result in a strengthening of
a common India-Pakistan front against terror, as
the "source'' of such terror continues to be
global, with vested interests in Pakistan
continuing to play a devious role.
Writing
in the Hindustan Times, Brahma Chellany asks: "Can
New Delhi make peace with the Pakistan military
whose power and prerogative flow from the absence
of peace with India? This institution still values
terrorist proxies to wage an unconventional war
against India. Make no mistake: the fight against
international terrorism is very much tied to the
future of Pakistan and the central challenge that
country faces - to move away from militarism,
extremism and fundamentalism toward a stable,
moderate state.''
The first Joint
Anti-Terror Mechanism meeting between India and
Pakistan that began this week in Islamabad assumes
critical importance. Though there have been mutual
suspicion and mishandling of the Samjhauta Express
investigations, observers continue to be
optimistic.
Reports suggest that the
meeting has progressed better than expected with
information about the Samjhauta attack handed to
Pakistan officials.
Siddharth
Srivastava is a New Delhi-based
journalist.
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