Context

In the wake of the 26/11 terrorist attack in 2008, a slew of measures were taken to strengthen the police forces, reinforce coastal security and decentralise the deployment of National Security Guard. However, after that, a complacency of sorts seems to have set in, mainly because there has been no major terrorist attack since then. Whatever upgradation of police has happened during the intervening period has essentially been of a cosmetic nature.

Challenges ahead for Police Forces 

1.ISIS –

• The ISIS, which is committed to spreading “volcanoes of jihad” everywhere, recently perpetrated a horrific attack in Sri Lanka.

• The organisation has made significant inroads in Tamil Nadu and Kerala and has sympathisers in other areas of the country.

• It recently announced a separate branch, Wilayah-e-Hind, to focus on the Subcontinent.

• In the neighborhood, the ISIS has support bases in Bangladesh and Maldives. The government has been playing down the ISIS’s threat.

• It has been arguing that considering the huge Muslim population of the country, a very small percentage has been drawn to or got involved in the ISIS’s activities.

• That may be true, but a small percentage of a huge population works out to a significant number and it would be naïve to ignore the threat.

Pakistan and militancy –

• Pakistan has taken some half-hearted measures against terrorist formations in the country, which are euphemistically called non-state actors — largely due to pressure from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF.)

• These measures are more for show than substance.

• Besides, the ISI has been, for years, making well-orchestrated attempts to revive militancy in Punjab and trying to disrupt our economy by flooding the country with counterfeit currency.

Way Forward

• It is necessary, therefore, that the country’s internal security is beefed up.

• The first responders to a terrorist attack or a law and order problem is the police and, unfortunately, it is in a shambles.

• Police infrastructure — its manpower, transport, communications and forensic resources — require substantial augmentation.

• The directions given by the Supreme Court in 2006 appear to have created a fierce reaction in the establishment and led to a consolidation of, to use Marxist jargon, counterrevolutionary forces.

• The government must appreciate that any effort to strengthen national security without reforming, reorganising or restructuring the police would be an exercise in futility.