Growing concerns a al terrorism

India's intelligence services are capable of handling terrorism threats, but the government should be focused too ;

I BY f , CHITRA SUDARSHAN

Ajic Kumar D oval has a n imp ressive professional track record s pa nning a ch alle ngi ng career in incellige nce. Belonging to th e Kerala Cadre of IPS, he won the Kit-ti Cbnkm in 1988, t he fi rs t to receive cha t ho nour outside the m ilir,'lry He was a field operative, acq uitting h imself well in several postings in India 's north -ease for seven year s an d in P akistan for six yea rs, before caki ng o n t he role of Chief of the Intelligence Bureau's Operations Wing between 2004-2005. Doval's explo its are legend ary- he was the Indian negotiaror with d1e terrorists wh o hijacked the Indian Airlines plan e to Kan dahar in 1999 - an d is by far o ne of d1e m ost successful I n telligen ce C hi efs ln dia h as produced. He is now me Directo r o f the Vivekananda Internatio n al Founda tion and is often invited t o s p eak o n India's int elligenc e and security, as well as counter terrorism efforrs

S p eaking a t the Australi a lndia Institute at the University of Me lhourne o n March 11, D oval impressed everyone present w ith his cla ri ty of th ought, a n o - n o n se n se approacl1 to Ind ia n national security, and an uncanny ability to so rt the whea t fro m the c haff, honing in on wha t is truly sig ni fican t.

Speaki ng abo ut ' T he Challenges of G l obal T er ror.i sm,' D oval i n his c h aracteristic style, began by de clari ng th a t d1e world is in many w ays less secure fro m terro 1:ism tod ay than a t the tin1e of 9 /1 1 , despi te

President Ohama 's claim s to t he co ntrary Yes, rne Al Qaida is in disarray; yes, d1ere has bee n a robust response to terrotism b)' the internation al comnmnity; yes, the US took cbe battle co p laces fro m where ter ror emanated; yes, even smaUer natio n s have now built up im migration and other co ntro ls and anti- terro r operatives

D espite these positive developments, the world today is in m any ways mote vulnerable than in 2001 because fastly, in Afghanistan, n one of the ob jectives of the US in terve n tion have not b een realised.

Th e T alib an is o n d1e verge o f retmn ing to power; states c~mti.nue to give free passage co terrorists witl1 impunity; and most in1portant of alJ, nothing h as bee n clone to counter the lslamisr .ideology d1at has been h.i jacked b y terrorists

Iron ically, Al Qaicla is m ore widely known today d1an in 2001 , an d there h as been no c.l1an ge whatsoever in ics core strategic goals or in. its strategy of using te rro r ro ach ieve diem O ne

A.I Q aicla opera tive w rote in an

Ajit Kumar Doval

Arabic n ewspap er in D ecember 2001, how small s p linter groups s h ould o rganise themselves in the afte rmath of 9/1 1 an d hmv Islamic disconcenc aroun d t he world m use be merged with the Al Qaida strategy. T here is en ough ev iden ce to s uggest tl1ey bave mor p h ed a nd ad ap ted q uire successful.ly to new con ditions.

T he T aliban are dictating terms in A fghanistan; th e strategic go al s of Mullah Om ar are n o t contested ; and tl1e fo urth genera tion warfare - that of fighting extremist political Islam in t he civ il society of Afgh anistan a nd P akistan is being lost, to n am e a few There

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Th e m a n wit h hi s n a tural God g ifte d p o we r o f second s ig ht. S uccess ful l y h e lpin g d es pe rate peo ple for th e pas t 2 7 ye a rs Lmm e diate r e turn o f yo u r Jove o ne , H us b a nd and wife d o m es tic probl e m s, F a mi l y problem , Bre akin g RU s ort o f b a d thin gs in y o u r li fe, Stress Rnd D e press ion , Court c a ses, B ad lu ck , L u c k y numb e r s, U nknown s i c kness . S e xual d if fi c u lties , Su c c ess in bu s iness e t c

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100% GU ARANTEED. QUICK POSIT IVE R E SULT S . CALL ON 0406 281 985 is today a greater degr ee of unity among the diffe rent factio n s and off- shoors of Al Qaid a, and they are more economically an d tech no logicall y resourced than before.

D espi te t his very gloomy progn osis, D oval b el ieves that me Indian Intelligen ce Services are very capable of meeting d1e challe nges th a t India faces from g lob al terroris m. It is th e political leadership d1a t mu st b e clear in its objectives an d have the will an d the vision co develop a co he rent strategy to co1m ce.r i t. The times call for c lear- hea ded dec ision m akers w ho have w h at it takes.

D oval answered several q u estions from d1e audien ce: about In dia 's ab ility co d eal with the Taliban in the event of its takeove r o f Afgh anistan (he believes India is eq u al co th e ca sk); ho m e grown terrorism i n and h ow it c an be add ressed at the political, civil society, comm unitarian and in telligence !eve.ls. D espite Pa.l,isran /ISI's strategy of pro m oting terror in India (a cheap option co n sidering the bigger strength of t h e fad.ian econ omy and militar y) ; he said despite Pakistan's best attempts co drive a wed ge b etween Indian Muslims a nd w id er so c iety, th e fo rmer have rebuffed P akistan's over tures and are working b a nd in hand with a UIndian s to thwa rt the export of terror In tlus, all are mi.iced in d1e pursuit of a common purpose

Doval began by declaring that the wor ld is i n many ways less secure from terrorism today than at the time of 9/ 11 , despite President Obama's cla ims to the contrary

Doval believes that the Indian I ntelligence Services are very capable of meeting the challenges that India faces from global terrorism

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