A Year On

A full year has gone past since the horrific events of 26/11. Writing at that time, I wondered whether three months would be too long for India to adopt the hardline against the terror sponsors. We have complained loudly to all and sundry about the number of suspects still walking about freely or the number of terror training camps, their precise locations, the number of attempted border incursions, the upgrades weapons and communications technology, new tactics and all the statistics that can pave the way to decision lululand and back many times over. Frankly, no one is listening and I doubt if anyone gives a damn. I get the impression that this apparent "soft approach" has nothing to do with the maturity of the Indian polity or bureaucracy. It is more likely, that our decision makers have no clue how to wield the hard edge of state power in all its graded scalability beyond soft diplomacy. One often hears statements like "we cannot set deadlines for sovereign states to take a decision" or that "we are willing to wait until all the perpetrators are bought to book" or that "the due process of law should be allowed to take its course". Yes indeed, in a country where there are institutional frameworks that can enforce due process. Is that condition applicable here? Of course not! Yet, there has been little credible action beyond an attempt to pressurize. And of course, the parties involved in the Mumbai carnage, their financial infrastructure, the terror camps, and the infiltration go on. There is a sense of stupor and a feeling that we can do only so much and no more, induced by the fact that both the countries in the equation are nuclear weapon states and any attempt to escalate would result in a holocaust. Is that true? It appears again that, much like a duck, while we have a calm checkmate on the surface, there is vigorous paddling going on below. What if we reach a point where terror organizations possess nuclear weapons? What would we do then? Will we continue to maintain a similar reticent posture for the same reason?