He goes on to add that Pakistan's own religious extremists and insurgents very well dug in and what is more the Pakistan army is more likely to seek their collaboration than confrontation. Military men, Intelligence officers (the ISI is an Army within an Army) and corrupt politicians ensure that financially Pakistan is made to bleed while terrorism expands its work. Its India-centric extremists, of whom the ISI have spawned several varieties, are straining at the leash to destabilize India.

As far as they are concerned, Pakistan is destabilized, India too should be in the same basket and India must not run away with honours in the world arena. As a corollary they & plead that since India was once r by Muslims it must revert to that status. We know that they have made several direct efforts to spread terrorism here with blasts in richly populated market areas of our main cities. These culminated with the burning of the Hotel on 26/11. Who can forget those famous instructions from across the border: 'Jinne Chaddar Parde Gadde the aur jalan wali cheez howe unnanu sab Kadh ke Aag laga dein'.

The army in Pakistan which devours a lion's share of all resources has enmity against India as a cornerstone of its policy. While terrorism may have slowed down now it is never out of sight. It has also taken on a more dangerous complexion. The extremists do not come to India themselves. They have taken to training Indians in the extremist fringe who have been suitably brainwashed on Islam being in danger and that India will destroy Islam. It is well known that depending on which part of India they come from, the Indian fringe elements enter Pakistan via Nepal, Bangla Desh, Kashmir or Dubai.

The paper work is sound and all transactions are in cash. Training is given in Muridke the Hqrs of Lashkar-e-Taiba. They rarely meet the top people and often not even each other. Once back in India they are expected to put their training to good use. Someone gives them the orders and this person they never get to meet. They carry out the orders and get paid for their efforts. Once they have placed the bombs, they take the next train, sit in the general compartment, and disappear to a place hundreds of miles away.Just one single example would help one to understand the major dimension of this whole set up. A young man from Karnataka goes legitimately to Dubai to execute a contract.

He starts work in Dubai but is spotted, brainwashed and taken to Pakistan under an assumed name and after intensive training is sent back to Dubai from where he comes back to India on his legal passport. There is enough paperwork with him to show that he has completed the contract [re was sent for and his superiors were satisfied with his work. In Karnataka he selects a lonely stretch of the beach in a small village and trains some ten of his cohorts in all that has been taught to him. On completion of training the young men get back to their own states and wait for further orders. Our main trainer then shifts his residence to Pune in Maharashtra and hires accommodation in the name of one Sharooq Khan from District Satara once again with unimpeachable paper work to support his identity.

Then he gets the boys he trained to come over and collect their packages and two days later bombs are blasted away in several towns in Gujarat and also in Delhi and Varanasi. The Gujarat police find some leads but need help from other states to follow up on them. They inform the Intelligence Bureau. In one case while the IB is collating information, the Delhi police are asked to check the credentials of the owner of one phone number. The Delhi police proceeds in the normal course, and that ends in the Batla house encounter. Two policemen die two terrorists are arrested and two escape. The lB had so much work that they could investigate the information given to them and the Delhi police did not know the gravity of the investigation they were about to start.

What has been recounted is not a fabrication. The man from Pune is Riaz Bhatkal and he is now in Pakistan. The Batla arrest is that of Afzal guru about whom the nation knows great deal. One of the two dead is Atiq Ameen who has a very long history of terrorist activity. If you live in one state, take up temporary residence in another and carry out blasts in yet another state, which agency is going to collate and coordinate all the investigation? As the IB has its hands full, would it not be in order to authorize another organization to concentrate exclusively on terrorism? The United States where federalism is closely protected, the states accept that FBI does have a role to play and FBI is expected to get all the cooperation from the local state police to achieve its objectives. We would not have known about Headly and his activities had it not been for the alertness of the FBI.

Why then do some states object to having a clearing house to sort out all information of terrorists and terrorist activity? This can only lead to better investigation and faster arrest of criminals. The answer to this question is probably not going lobe determined by cold logic that it deserves. It can only be found in politics.Ever since independence, police in India have enjoyed huge powers. The colonial powers in fact placed no trust in the police and even legislated that statements made to a police person cannot be used as evidence in a court of law. This was because, denied the scientific means of investigation by shortage of money and personnel, the police used rough and ready methods to bring criminals to book and very often put the wrong guy on the dock.

Also, since pursuing cases in courts was a time consuming process, encounters were used as a rough and ready method of delivering justice. Some innocent people suffered but that was the luck of the draw. The bottom line however remained that police had enormous powers to make or break the lives of the common people. Politicians did not have such powers under the law but they have tried to appropriate them by interfering in day to day police administration. The result has been a huge amount of corruption with the police deeply involved in everything. Political parties may win or lose in elections, but whoever comes to power makes sure that the police administration is on its side. Transfers enquiries worthless non jobs where gifts for policing are frittered away are all too well known as a means of ensuring police play the tune by the political party in power. This is how things run in the states. (It is a different matter in metros because here the stakes are far too high even for the politician to contend with.) A modicum of control over the police often even delivers an election.

One has only to see large scale transfers that the Election Commission makes before an election is held in any state.States are wary about any devaluation of this control, which is what they fear if a police force operates in their state that they are not in control of. There is also another powerful reason that is often not made public. Most fringe operators, who go by the name of Indian Mujahedeen, all wield a great deal of political influence. A very obvious example is the Batlat house issue. Even though all the truth about it has come out in the open these people with their influence want to keep the controversy going and have as a result caused a great deal o embarrassment for politicians who have been pleading their case. Their handbook of operations in fact demands that they maintain contacts with politicians and make sure they help when things get out of hand.

I have no wish to be misunderstood I pride myself as a secular citizen but I am forced to admit that we do have some bad eggs amongst who have allowed themselves to be brainwashed almost to the point of insanity They are creating or at least trying to create a crisis within the country and even hope to get away with it. It may be said that Gujarat and Tamil Nadu are not in this category. That is true. They do however want all actions of the police to be controlled by the state, Modi to ensure Hindu domination and Jayalalithaa to deliver a death blow to Karunanidhi. If the Chief Ministers of the States view this matter purely as an exercise in politics, they are making a serious mistake. They are ever eager to demand that a central body like the CBI investigate a crime within their state when things get out of control. Why does it take them so much pleading to understand that terrorism is far worse than any stealing of funds or a hate crime? It involves the health of the whole nation.

Besides, the creation of a centralized initiative will in no way dilute the federal structure. Only a very small amount of police force will have to depute itself to the central initiative. This will of course be out of their political reach but this sentiment is a very small matter when the security of the nation is involved. These anti national individuals are also systematically pushing in counterfeit currency and it is feared that fully ten percent of the liquid money in our country has come from these elements. This is a matter of grave concern and only a centralized force will have the lime and willingness to travel over several states to track down the persons involved. It is time that politics for once is set aside in the larger national interest.To say that the BSF and the CRPF which are other central organizations working in various states, are intrusions on our federal structure is another effort to pull wool over the eyes of the people.

CRPF are undergoing serious personnel issues while fighting the leftist forces spread over several states and their efforts should not be trivialized. lf the Centre succumbs to the pleas of some states who oppose the initiative on terrorism, they are in fact playing into the hands of wicked schemes of the terrorists themselves and history will certainly pass judgment on them if and when, God forbid, terrorism gets out of hand in our country.