Mumbai, July 25, 2011
Staff Reporter
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Arun Jaitley said here on Sunday that people should de-link issues of national security from vote-bank politics.
“It is the society which creates the attitude for tackling terrorism. Anywhere else in the world, if any political party grows weak in its fight against terrorism, it would not be able to be in power. But in India, growing weak apparently becomes important in attracting vote-bank,” he said.
He was talking on ‘Threat to National Security' here on Sunday, in the wake of the recent terror attacks in the city.
He said when faced with the challenge of terrorism, people would have to decide whether to choose vote-bank politics or keep it separate from issues of national security. “This attitude will change the response of the government, the investigating agencies and the foreign policy.”
He said that no one dared to attack the United States after 9/11 because the people and government there had that strength. “We have to bring such strength in India, otherwise we will not be able to say that this [terror attacks] won't happen in Mumbai again,” he said.
“INTELLIGENCE FAILURE”
Apparently attacking All India Congress Committee general secretary Rahul Gandhi's views, he said the approach that “we should learn to live with terror” needed to be changed, and said the three blasts in the city on July 13 were a case of significant intelligence failure. “Your intelligence was sleeping. This in itself is a failure. You didn't know of the incident, there were no intercepts, interference in any module. This is intelligence failure,” he said.
Mr. Jaitley said the investigating agencies and the government had failed miserably even while dealing with other incidents of terrorism. “It was the FBI [Federal Bureau of Investigation] which told India that David Headley was behind the 26/11 attacks. Why didn't the media ask why our Anti-Terrorism Squad or the National Investigating Agency did not know of it?” he asked.
Calling the probe into the 26/11 terror attack a “casual investigation,” Mr. Jaitley said the trial and investigation of the case was the biggest proof of the failure of the Indian system. “It was such a big incident. But our investigation reached only one person who was found on the place with ammunition. Our investigators did not reach anywhere else. It was during the Chicago trial that the FBI gave us information.”
Lamenting the lack of a common criminal code against terrorism in the country, he said that if the United Progressive Alliance government could bring a common communal violence draft, it should also bring a common stringent legislation to deal with terrorism.
He said the UPA government had, time and again, showed a lack of resolve in dealing with the menace of terrorism and Maoism. “We are dealing with a special condition. Our neighbour is an epicentre of terrorism. We thus have to give a rethink to our foreign policy,” he said.
He raised questions on the effectiveness of the National Intelligence Grid. “There is a difference between intelligence and actionable intelligence. How can you give information about actionable intelligence to others? There are no firewalls around the grid. It is the same kind of grid from which Wikileaks came out,” he said.
He said the government had not even started working on the measures announced after the 26/11 attacks.
Mr. Jaitley said many lessons were to be learnt from the recent attacks. “The intelligence network should be such that there is an intimation prior to the attacks. Also, the response should be immediate and the culprits should be punished immediately.”
Staff Reporter
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Arun Jaitley said here on Sunday that people should de-link issues of national security from vote-bank politics.
“It is the society which creates the attitude for tackling terrorism. Anywhere else in the world, if any political party grows weak in its fight against terrorism, it would not be able to be in power. But in India, growing weak apparently becomes important in attracting vote-bank,” he said.
He was talking on ‘Threat to National Security' here on Sunday, in the wake of the recent terror attacks in the city.
He said when faced with the challenge of terrorism, people would have to decide whether to choose vote-bank politics or keep it separate from issues of national security. “This attitude will change the response of the government, the investigating agencies and the foreign policy.”
He said that no one dared to attack the United States after 9/11 because the people and government there had that strength. “We have to bring such strength in India, otherwise we will not be able to say that this [terror attacks] won't happen in Mumbai again,” he said.
“INTELLIGENCE FAILURE”
Apparently attacking All India Congress Committee general secretary Rahul Gandhi's views, he said the approach that “we should learn to live with terror” needed to be changed, and said the three blasts in the city on July 13 were a case of significant intelligence failure. “Your intelligence was sleeping. This in itself is a failure. You didn't know of the incident, there were no intercepts, interference in any module. This is intelligence failure,” he said.
Mr. Jaitley said the investigating agencies and the government had failed miserably even while dealing with other incidents of terrorism. “It was the FBI [Federal Bureau of Investigation] which told India that David Headley was behind the 26/11 attacks. Why didn't the media ask why our Anti-Terrorism Squad or the National Investigating Agency did not know of it?” he asked.
Calling the probe into the 26/11 terror attack a “casual investigation,” Mr. Jaitley said the trial and investigation of the case was the biggest proof of the failure of the Indian system. “It was such a big incident. But our investigation reached only one person who was found on the place with ammunition. Our investigators did not reach anywhere else. It was during the Chicago trial that the FBI gave us information.”
Lamenting the lack of a common criminal code against terrorism in the country, he said that if the United Progressive Alliance government could bring a common communal violence draft, it should also bring a common stringent legislation to deal with terrorism.
He said the UPA government had, time and again, showed a lack of resolve in dealing with the menace of terrorism and Maoism. “We are dealing with a special condition. Our neighbour is an epicentre of terrorism. We thus have to give a rethink to our foreign policy,” he said.
He raised questions on the effectiveness of the National Intelligence Grid. “There is a difference between intelligence and actionable intelligence. How can you give information about actionable intelligence to others? There are no firewalls around the grid. It is the same kind of grid from which Wikileaks came out,” he said.
He said the government had not even started working on the measures announced after the 26/11 attacks.
Mr. Jaitley said many lessons were to be learnt from the recent attacks. “The intelligence network should be such that there is an intimation prior to the attacks. Also, the response should be immediate and the culprits should be punished immediately.”
