It's terror, no use denying it

It's difficult to escape the sense of deja vu. The response to the latest terror outrage in Hyderabad was followed by the by-now familiar and stale drill: vows to bring the culprits to book, levelling, even if well-founded, charges against Pakistan and Bangladesh, condolences for victims and review meetings by the Prime Minister downwards.

People cannot be accused of being cynical if they dismiss these declarations as hollow and seem resigned for the next jehadi strike. For a country that for more than two decades now has been bled by relentless terror attacks, India has offered knee-jerk and sporadic attack-specific responses. In fact, it has been in a state of denial, first by claiming that no Indian was messed up with Al Qaida, and when that proved to be wrong, describing this vicious campaign of violence as the handiwork of a "handful of misguided youth".

The response has to change if the bleeding is to stop. The first corrective will come by recognising the huge problem. The right diagnosis is a pre-requisite for cure, and it ranges from acknowledging that the scourge is no fabrication by agencies to creating synergies among agencies, strengthening policing and by creating the necessary political will.

Just raising elite teams isn't enough nor is holding out threats to Pakistan sufficient. The key to the success of an honest counter-terrorism initiative lies in painstaking and sustained campaign to strengthen the criminal justice system and law enforcement machinery.

For all our aspiration to be a superpower, the harsh fact is that a lethal blend of corruption, inefficiency and political meddling have enfeebled our criminal justice administration and have sapped the police of will and strength to take on those killing the innocent.

Investigation into the Hyderabad carnage is still on, but there are pointers that the loss of life on Saturday could have been averted.

28 Aug 2007, 0029 hrs IST, Diwakar, TNN
The Times of India - World's largest broadsheet English daily