Whither the War?

CNN IBN conducted a panel discussion that explored whether Modi has won the War on Terror. Three distinctly non-related panellists were made to discuss on what seems to be an irreverently biased topic. One of the specifically objectionable aspects was the the term 'War on Terror.' The Indian media and public often insouciantly use terms that are quite irrelevant to the context and this is clearly one of them.

War on Terror is essentially an international phenomenon emerged after 9/11. It is the term that actually wages 'war' on terror, which means conducting the battle on the states believed to be sponsoring or encouraging terror activities. Often these wars are preemptive. India has been bearing the brunt of terrorism long before 9/11 and we have never been waging any war on terror. Even if we were to reduce the term to the Indian context, we should be raiding terror camps, apprehend suspects, initiate economic restrictions on the organisations believed to be funding the groups, and proscribe religious institutions suspected of breeding grounds.

We are doing absolutely none of them. What we are doing is merely conducting investigations after every terror incident. It is nothing more than a crime investigation that the police do after a robbery or an accident. In no stretch of imagination can this be called a war. Besides, even the crime investigation is not carried out successfully. Quoting one of the panellists, of the last 11 terror incidents, not one person has been convicted so far. If this claim is true, then India houses one of the least effective police squads in the world. To deviate a little, if this is the attitude exhibited for crime investigations related to terrorism, it is dreading to think what happens to 'everyday' crimes like robbery or kidnap, or even casual murders.

Returning to main theme, to answer the main question of the panel discussion, Modi has not won the War on Terror because there was no such war. Modi has not even won the Investigation on Terror because there hasn't been any conviction yet. There have been arrests in the past too but the confidence can begin to develop only upon convictions.

Until then, India will remains a softest state on Terror. If anything, so far we are only waging the War of Words on Terror. We have – due mainly to communal politics of Sena and BJP, Lalu, Mulayam, etc. – been confusing minority rights with fighting terrorism. Somehow, we find a need to talk about protecting the minorities about every incident. We failed to realise that by doing this, we implicitly link a certain community with terrorism. Or at least this is how the people are going to understand. Instead of talking about minority rights, which has nothing to do with fighting terrorism, we need to make strong resolve to train our focus on the extremists.

The War on Terror is seriously long overdue and India has to kick-start it urgently. Investigations are for everyday crimes. The war must start before terrorism becomes an everyday crime.