Mumbai Mayhem: The Insecurity of Security

I have been seeing with amusement, the after effects of the 26/11 tragedy. Heads of politicians have rolled. I am still to see accountability of the bureaucrats who are responsible for their lapses. The intelligence gathering of information was correct, but the collation and inference failed. So the elected representatives have been made accountable, who in any case have to go back to the masses every five years for re election. Is the bureaucrat to be suffered for 30 years once he passes the central services exam? No situation is permanent and no man indispensable. But because he is supposedly an expert in that field, he definitely is more accountable then most.

I have heard that in a particular condominium on the outskirts of Delhi, a DIG was stopped at the gate as a routine security check. His accompanying security guards beat up the Guards of the complex. So the custodians of our security felt insulted when an employee was only carrying out his job . We also see a look of disdain when we are made to stand in a queue for our turn, be it be at the airport or at a security check. The aam aadmi is equally to blame for our arrogance and self importance. Our style icons, be they politicians/actors/ sports personalities can so easily make discipline a habit, for others to emulate. We read recently about a cricketer who felt insulted just because one of his friends was frisked as part of security, at the hotel access. He in fact should be the style icon for encouraging the security man in doing his job, rather then be selling a popular aerated water or face cream. How many times we ourselves are guilty of jumping lines for something as trivial as buying cinema tickets. We all need to introspect for our own indiscipline, within.

I also saw with much disdain on a popular TV show, an actor who made a statement that we see Pakistani flags fluttering on houses/ shanties in Mumbai, and not much is being done about that. She was pounced upon by somebody in the audience. Why don’t we have the courage of convictions to accept the truth. They flutter, with impunity, because these are vote banks and unfortunately not brought to justice. Truth hurts. I am also amused that the people of Mumbai want to buy Bullet-proof jackets for their police men. Well, that is not their job nor expertise. You have a trained Police force, who must be given adequate funds to meet their requirements, and a system in place to ensure accountability. If you think the Police is incompetent to do that, then in any case he does not even deserve the salary that he gets. Let the Public not get over zealous and take on everyone’s job in society. The visible bane is that we have a diarrhoea of ideas abut constipation in action.

Today we heard that all beach parties in Goa have been cancelled for the next fortnight due to security fears. So I presume, that next time there is a security alert that an aircraft may be hijacked, all travel will be stopped and aircraft grounded. That would be the escapist route. We must have adequate security measures and regular security audits to ensure that all loopholes are plugged. The “show must go on.” ........security is about fire prevention and not about fire fighting.
Anne Wilson Schaef said,”Security is an attempt to try to make the universe static so that we feel safe”......that however is not the answer. We must have measures in place to correspondingly increase security and search levels once there is an an intelligence warning. We cannot just cancel events and let the terrorists overtake our lives just because we cannot take on the increased work load. That actually is their aim, to throw our lives in turmoil. We as a nation must understand, that they do not control our lives. We have the will and means to prevent, strike and negate all these forces. We must set up standard operating procedures and have periodic security audit checks.

We have been seeing that the Government has been making a lot of effort to make our neighbouring country accountable for what took place in Mumbai. As usual, we take the high horse and they the slippery road of denial. Well, we all know that they already have huge problems on their Western front, in an area which is called “Gair Ilaqa”, which is controlled by feudal war lords/ Taliban. It would be in the interest of the Taliban for the forces to be diverted to the Eastern borders to take on India. With the American forces pushing from the West/Afghanistan,perhaps the time has come to squeeze the middle, and look for a permanent solution. Pin point/ strategic strikes may not work. The US forces have had enough experience without adequate results in that kind of warfare in that terrain.

In the meanwhile, while our Government looks for options to root out the fundamentals flaws, be they within or across our Borders, it is the duty of every proud Indian to invoke a sense of discipline in thought and action. We must encourage the security man to do his job with diligence. The VVIP syndrome that most of us have, must give way to an essence for a secure surrounding. Each one of us must be an icon towards that goal. The problems of the insecurity of security will automatically fall in the scheme of things, for a safe tomorrow. We owe that to our children.

Jai Hind
Maj Moshe Kohli (Retd)
James F Bymes: "Too many people are thinking of security instead of opportunity. They seem to be more afraid of life than death."