The terrorist attacks by planting bombs in busy streets, markets, places of pilgrimage and places of national importance have posed a serious threat to security of citizens in mega cities of India. The failure of government machinery to prevent, curb and track down the culprits have exposed lack of necessary mechanism and infrastructure for collecting and compiling information from all possible sources, effective monitoring , strict vigilance and quick action. In India, the problem is more severe due to high population, multitude of languages, more occasions and places of people coming together and cosmopolitan nature of crowd. It is high time that government develop elaborate info structure to combat with such unidentifiable disruptive forces.
About Terrorists
We should realize that terrorists are ordinary human beings. They have feelings. They have ideals, aspirations and lust for power, money and success. They are victims of false propaganda by vested interests. They are confident about their network, support and leadership. They know that they can freely move in the city, hire any vehicle and park their vehicle anywhere without any identity. People in general are too liberal to oblige request of parking vehicle or guarding luggage without ascertaining identity. They may use innocent people, children, or poor with false promises, money or liquor to carry out an act which my seem to be inconspicuous. May be that the terrorists themselves are doing such work under influence of liquor (which prevent natural feelings of compassion and kindness) or under threat to their family or blackmail. It is necessary to investigate all such possibilities, educate and warn the people to remain vigilant.
Immediate Steps
The earlier terrorist acts, their methods, their network, their financial sources and linkages should be studied. The social forces which support such activities publicly should be closely monitored. Internet, TV channels and print media should not be allowed to publish instigative, provocative and communal talks, messages or articles. Any political, social or religious organization which promotes, advocates or justifies violence should be banned by law. Every organization must follow democratic norms for expressing their views without resorting to violence or destruction of property. No body should be allowed to take law in their hands even for just cause. All such messages, feedbacks and opinions should be removed from the archives. At the same time there should be heavy punishment for terrorists, instigators, helpers and their supporters.The process and measures taken for tracking terrorists should not be given undue publicity before the entire network and base of such activities is destroyed. The identity of witnesses of informers should not be disclosed.
Personal Identity
It is necessary that each person must be identifiable and registered in some giant database where his history and whereabouts can be investigated. In USA, there is social security number for every citizen. India has record of citizens in the form census data but as far as I know there are no records for individuals. There should be access to various databases kept by public utility services like banks, hospitals, electricity, water supply, telephone, mobile networks, hotels, schools and colleges. Majority of such information is in hard copy format and in different languages. Networking of such information sources should be given high priority.
Materials and Vehicles
Whatever is true for people holds good for compilation of data regarding explosives, materials and equipments found in bombs, their manufacture, transport, storage, all type of vehicles including bicycles. All vehicles must be registered with transport authorities with data regarding vehicle number and owner address. It should be made compulsory for all auto rickshaws, taxies and buses in big cities to keep registers like in lodges where each commuter will have to put his name and signature personally. This will immensely help in identifying the persons.
Monitoring Traffic
Security and vigilance cameras with automatic snapshot mechanism at regular time intervals should be provided at all places of congregation like market places, bus stands, railway platforms, pilgrimage centers and tourist places, entrance gates of important offices, meeting halls and at traffic signals. There should be sufficient manpower to constantly view and compile snapshots in backup files. Strict watch should be kept and registers checked of liquor shops and lodges. House owners should be asked to fill information about their occupants and tenants in prescribed format.
Methods of Investigation
Innovative methods can be employed to find culprits. It is observed that many novel and effective ideas have been explained in number of fiction books and detective novels. For example in ‘Overload’ novel by Arthur Healy, there is information how electric power company tracks down terrorist through feedback forms sent along with electricity bills. Many more ideas can be found in other books, movies and on internet. There is a need of compilation of all these ideas to get proper clues and devise proper investigation plan. It is essential however, that a secure channel should be established by government to collect such data from public. Top secrecy should be maintained about the information so compiled and media channels should not be given access to it.
Appeal to Citizens
It is necessary to build mutual respect, harmony and brotherhood in society. All citizens should consider it as a national responsibility and obligation to help the government in this war against unknown and unidentifiable but organized crime against humanity.
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