In his address to the 81st General Assembly of Interpol in Rome, Italy, Home Minister Susheel Kumar Shinde put in plain words that some terrorists who are Indian nationals have sought safe haven in the neighbouring country of Pakistan after committing heinous crimes at home. Despite Red Notices issued by the Interpol, these culprits are roaming freely in that country without fear of being arrested and brought to book. In spite of regular dialogue with the neighbouring country and handing over of credible evidence to it, the masterminds of one of the most heinous act of terror of last century-the 1993 Mumbai blasts-in which 257 people died and 713 were injured, were still sitting in safe havens and yet to be brought to book. Pakistan denies having any information regarding the whereabouts of the known criminal who masterminded the plot. The 26/11 plot was also masterminded in Pakistan and carried out by LeT activists of whom one is in India’s custody. It is a living proof of how a country covertly promotes terrorist organizations on its soil to conduct subversion in the neighbouring country and yet claims that it is a victim of terrorism. Despite India having furnished full information about the conspiracy of 26/11 and having provided convincing evidence about the involvement of Lakhvi and five others of his group — all Pakistani nationals—in this carnage, Pakistan has not so far initiated strong administrative or legal action against them.
Terrorists are adopting new and sophisticated methods of conducting their subversive and criminal activities. They acquire sophisticated weapons, communication systems and digital technology to successfully carry on terrorist activities. Infiltration through clandestine methods and dumping of arms and ammunition in hideouts for intermittent use against security forces is part of their terrorist strategy. Issuing threats to government functionaries, police personnel and other civilian administrative staff concerned with security measures are among new methods of spreading terror. Union Home Minister laid stress on the question of funding of terrorists and their activities. Wherefrom are they getting huge monies to run terrorist machine, he asked. According to reliable information, the terrorists and their organizations are now investing in stocks and shares through fake companies and thus generating money to support terrorism. They are indulging in minting fake currency notes and smuggling these into India to damage Indian economy. There are donors who openly donate huge amounts for carrying forward the agenda of terrorists in different parts of the world.
What is the philosophy of the terrorists and what do they want to achieve by killing innocent people? This is an important question. Shinde is very right in providing an answer to it in the course of his address to the Interpol General Assembly. He asserted that terrorism by its methods and content rejects democratic and peaceful means of engagement and it attacks pluralism and multi-culturalism. “Thus, for a liberal, democratic and diverse society and country like India, terrorism and terrorist groups pose a challenge which has to be countered and effectively defeated,” he said. Terrorists want people to abandon their traditional way of life and shift over to one which they would like to dictate. They are averse to freedom of thought and expression. Democratic arrangement does not suit them and they want to impose their own system irrespective of the fact whether it is acceptable as well as suitable to new demands of life. They pose to be opposed to modern life though they are hungry for acquiring most modern weapons of destruction. The fact of the matter is that terrorism actually reflects a deep-seated conflict within the specific society between liberalism and conservatism.
Union Home Minister made it clear that this pervasive menace had to be faced with full determination and that India was regularly upgrading its strategy, infrastructure and technology of meeting the challenges of terrorism most effectively. However, Shinde was very right in suggesting reforms in the outlook and operative part of Interpol. The existing system did not take investigation of terrorist activities to their logical conclusion. The origination needs to be given more teeth. Rules regarding extradition, arrest, identification, interrogation and prosecution of involved persons needed to be modified drastically. A mechanism has to be developed so that the states giving asylum to terrorists for one or the other reasons are dissuaded from doing that in future. Interpol could collect and make available for the benefit of its member-states an online compendium of rules to be followed in various nation states for assistance in arrest, search, seizure, extradition, deportation, surveillance, collection of material evidence, examination and recording of evidence of witnesses, examination of suspects and the various agencies and departments involved in the process. India wants to deal with this aberration in accordance with the law of the land. She has comprehensive judicial mechanism to tackle terrorist acts.
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