Ordinary rules are not going to help. We need a law similar to POTA. Investing in CCTVs for major cities may be a deterrent. But most of all, the terrorist camps must be knocked out

"Cry havoc, and let slip the dogs of war"
- William Shakespeare

I am not a warmonger. No sensitive human being can possibly be a warmonger. And I am not talking about war with another state, like Pakistan, with its millions of innocent people led clandestinely by a few criminals in the ISI.

I am beating the drums for a war on terror. Any sensitive human being would demand an immediate counterattack on terror. And we have very human reasons for demanding that terrorism be wiped out from the earth.

I recall Shylock's speech in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice: "Hath a Jew no eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions, fed with food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?"

Substitute the word Indian for Jew and the word terrorist for Christian and we have a manifesto for tackling terrorism.

RK Raghavan, former director of the Central Bureau of Investigation, wrote in a blog a few days after the 13/7 Mumbai blasts: "My guess is there are not more than 1,000 of the really dangerous ones who are willing to go to any length to kill and maim. It should not be difficult to defang them with the help of solid intelligence. If we are not clever enough to ferret out these 1,000 men, we do not deserve to be in the business of fighting terror".

Mr Raghavan suggested re-enactment of a law similar to the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA). "However much it was abused, POTA was an essential weapon that strengthened the government's hands. Any political party which opposes a similar legislation now does not deserve to rule this country. The ordinary rules of evidence are not going to help the cause. The US decision to call the Guantanamo detenus as 'enemy combatants' may have been harsh. But it seems to have helped."

A facility to "sterilise" terrorists and terror suspects, similar to the one the US has in Guantanamo Bay, is necessary for India, Mr Raghavan said.

It is worth quoting extensively from Mr Raghavan's blog. He suggested a "national intelligence force which would draw from the states as well as the Intelligence Bureau and would concentrate on identifying terrorists as well as their sympathisers. Anything else will not work."

"The terrorist focus is on crowded public places. He invariably strikes at twilight. We know that a large measure of protection is given by CCTV cameras in crowded places. London has greatly benefited from the CCTVs installed on all important roads." A healthy investment in this area in all major cities will be a big deterrent that can help prevent attacks or facilitate investigation, he said.

A few days ago, US secretary of state Hillary Clinton thundered in Delhi: "We cannot tolerate a safe haven for terrorists anywhere…We made it clear (to Pakistan) that there was an absolute international responsibility to co-operate to bring the perpetrators to justice." US president Barack Obama said on the day of the Mumbai blasts that the US would do all it can to help India fight terrorists.

All the world (and its pet cat) knows that the safest havens for terrorists are in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) and in Pakistan itself. The locations have been pinpointed by US intelligence and other satellites which can pick a cigarette packet on the ground from a couple of miles up in the sky.

So, Mr Obama and Mrs Clinton, how about redirecting a dozen or so of your drones flying west, to fly north-east? How about using the drones with which you are hammering Afghanistan to wipe out terrorist camps and havens in PoK and Pakistan?

A guerrilla force or terrorist force cannot function without a base from which it gets the fullest backing. The Khalistani and Assam terrorists disappeared into the ground when the people of Punjab and Assam got sick of them and stopped supporting them. Knock out the terrorist camps and all of Osama's mind-bended young men will become headless chickens and we can all go back to earning our living peacefully.

But canny Clinton left herself and the US an escape clause. She said: "Obviously there is a limit to what the US can do, but we intend to continue to press as hard as possible."

No drone attacks then. Looks like the Indian Air Force will have to take out the terrorist camps.

(R Vijayaraghavan has been a professional journalist for more than four decades, specialising in finance, business and politics. He conceived and helped to launch Business Line, the financial daily of The Hindu group. He can be contacted at [email protected].)