My Suggestions to the Indian PM on Combatting Terror

In the aftermath of the powerful bomb blast at the Delhi High Court, the helpless Prime Minister of India solicited help from politicians and intellectuals by way of suggestions on how to tackle the menace of terrorism. Coincidentally, terrorism is one of the focal points of my book, “Rose Gardens and Minefields” wherein I accused the West of doing nothing against this menace while it grew from a small caterpillar to a huge, elusive butterfly.


Here are a few suggestions that I can give the current government on this subject:

1) Hang all terrorists currently on death row (including Kasab) within the next three months and send a strong message to all terrorists. The Government would need considerable assistance from the President and the courts to achieve this deadline.

2) Frame a new terror law based on consensus between political parties, the judiciary and the civil society. Representatives of each of these sections must be involved in a drafting committee before it goes to the standing committee of parliament at the preliminary stage. The civil society members must include celebrities, senior bureaucrats and eminent citizens like famous authors, poets, social activists and social workers. There must be adequate representation of different communities in the drafting panel.

3) The new law must be stringent and based on past or existing legislations that have worked thus far. It must also consider existing terror laws in US and other countries which have managed to curb terrorism to some extent in the past decade or so. The legislation must be drafted such that it is not misused by biased authorities so as to unnecessarily harass members of particular communities.

4) Death sentences must be liberally dished out to terrorists (as mentioned in my book) once it has been established that they have been involved in acts of terror. Existing laws must be amended to recommend the harshest possible punishment for those indulging in terrorist activities.

5) Strict action must also be taken on those who provide a support system for these terrorists. The authorities must act on those who provide shelter, finance and other kinds of assistance to these sadists. Harsh punishments should be meted out to people solely because they are members of terror networks or the underworld.

6) India must halt all talks with Pakistan until we are satisfied that not a single entity in the Pakistani government, armed forces and intelligent services are involved in the promotion or support of India-centric terror. The Pakistani ambassador to India must be warned that India would go to any lengths in its battle against terror.

7) India must expose Pakistan’s sponsorship of terrorism in our country at various international forums, meetings and conventions especially at the United Nations.

8) Ban all communal political or social outfits which espouse violence against Indians based on their race, creed, caste or beliefs. Do not distinguish between Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Jain, Parsi or Buddhist extremists. Ban the RSS, VHP, SIMI and Bajrang Dal. The Election Commission must disallow the BJP from contesting elections because of its past misdeeds.

9) Police reforms and training is very essential in the fight against terror. Law enforcement agencies should be provided state-of-the-art weapons and gear to fight terrorists. The quality of protective gear should be of optimum quality.

10) Citizens as individuals or as member of groups should assist law enforcement agents in the fight against terror. Citizens’ groups could patrol at night to keep watch in innumerable localities. They could even speak to people in a locality to solicit information when suspicious activities are observed.

11) High rewards must be dished out to people who provide valuable information on terrorists. The reward scheme must be well publicized and commensurate with the kind of information given. For example, any information leading to the arrest of Dawood Ibrahim should fetch the informant nothing less than Rs 5 crores.

12) The NIA and RAW must be restructured and better organized to tackle the menace of terror. The new structure should be based on the Homeland Security of the US that has done a great job thus far. Terror-related information must be centralized and actionable inputs should be given as soon as possible to the various stakeholders like the state governments, local police, etc. Various patterns of terror groups must be analyzed by the NIA as it tries to pre-empt their next strikes.

13) We should work with other governments and their law enforcement agencies in the fight against terror. Extradition treaties must be sought with almost every nation on this planet. Our government must pressurize countries like Pakistan, Nepal, Myanmar and Bangladesh to eliminate India-centric terror networks existing there. India should also improve its relations with international agencies like the Interpol.

14) Our intelligence agencies must penetrate terror networks with the aid of informants. People in contact with terror networks should be threatened with strict action if they fail to provide relevant information.

15) CCTVs and other anti-terror infrastructure should be available at all major cities in our country. Each city should also have an NSG hub so that they get speedy assistance in case of a 26/11 type of attack.

Well, probably a lot more can be done but implementing these suggestions would eliminate the threats posed by terrorists by more than 80% (a very rough guestimate). Let all Indians take a pledge to do whatever we can so as to collectively eradicate the threat of terrorism from our beloved country. Jai Hind!!!