Sleeping on your watch? If so, own up & step down

A close examination of the waypoints that led to the Red Fort clearly informs us that the internal intelligence agency of India did not see the car‑bomb coming. This is despite the fact that they had a broader alert about the plot which helped limit the damage – Jaideep Saikia 

Certain people in India—mostly retired intelligence officials who hail from the Indian Police Service (IPS)—are gloating about the fact that a bigger conspiracy and consequently a far higher degree of death and destruction were averted in the recent Faridabad terror module incident.

Indeed, it is true that India was saved from a catastrophe because of the smart policing and vigilance of an IPS officer of the 2014 batch, G.V. Sundeep Chakravarthy. The officer began an investigation after the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) posters began appearing in Srinagar’s Nowgam. It led to the discovery of an almost nationwide terror module which was linked to the JeM. The epicentres of the conspiracy spanned Jammu & Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. 

But the smugness that followed the unearthing of a larger plot should have been avoided. It was very unhealthy. I was aghast when I listened to excuses that the internal intelligence set-up of India is congratulating itself for the discovery! Such malignant pleasure has probably weighed aspects in such a manner that it discounted the untimely deaths of 13 innocent lives. 

I, however, am not one of the many who are using the excuse of lesser intensity of a heinous crime to pardon what I term a huge oversight. Even one innocent death or an injury, especially if it happens on the watch of an agency charged with early warning (in this case the internal intelligence agency of India!), is inexcusable. 

But the average Indian mind has become so “tolerant” of bombings, hostage situations and gunnings-down that they feel that innocent lives lost are a part of everyday life. Such an attitude is dangerous, and the Indian state must unravel ways and means to set this right.

I live in a country where I want to live in peace and go about my legitimate business of thinking, travelling, reading and writing without let and hindrance. I do not want to live in an atmosphere charged with unknown perils. I have full confidence in our beloved Prime Minister to ensure that I exist on this planet in harmony. I am appalled that a few retired and very senior intelligence officials from the IPS, and even the Military Intelligence, have sought to condone intelligence failure by mouthing aspects such as “Oh! It is impossible to check every vehicle. Every inch of India cannot be guarded, etc., etc.” I, therefore, ask as to how the United States (US) has been able to thwart almost all Islamist-inspired attacks since 9/11 (11 September 2001). The 60-odd terrorist incidents that have taken place in the US, including the “lucky” attacks and the foiled ones, were all homegrown and primarily by deranged minds like the Orlando shooter, Omar Mir Seddique Mateen. 

In other words, they have been able to stringently secure their homeland, even if it meant that people from other countries who have settled in the US, or ones who visit the country for business, education or tourism, are subject to inconvenience. 

Why cannot India take a leaf out of such fortification and enact laws like the USA’s “Patriot Act”? Harsh times require harsh laws. This is particularly so in the case of India because the country well knows that the rogue, terror-sponsoring state of Pakistan (and Bangladesh can be added to the club now!) will never relent on their anti-India stance ever. Their reason for existence is rooted in a “destroy-India” premise. 

One will devote another column to a stratagem about how to offset Pakistan-Bangladesh’s terror-breeding ecosystem. I had forwarded actionable excerpts of such a design to practitioners of theory, including the then BJP prime ministerial candidate, L.K. Advani, who had sent for me during his election campaign in Assam in 2008. If the BJP had won the 2009 general elections, India would have been a very different country. I hope observers of the BJP and Advani Ji know that the current National Security Adviser of India, Ajit Kumar Doval, is the creation of L.K. Advani, and it was Doval who accompanied Advani Ji (as a possible “prime minister-in-waiting”) to Mumbai when the 26/11 Mumbai attacks took place.

I have always had Advani Ji’s blessings. Once when I had gone to call on him, post Modi taking over the reins of power as India’s prime minister, Advani Ji pleasantly surprised me by saying that he had left a parliament session to come and meet me in his Prithviraj Road residence. 

In any event, the long and short of the article’s essence is that a complete overhaul of India’s top intelligence apparatus has to be undertaken. The old school has failed to comprehend the larger picture by which India is being compromised time and again. The present head of internal intelligence just does not have the ability to think “out-of-the-box”. The days of traditional intelligence engineering are over. Today, a country that has been repeatedly afflicted by terror must know the imperatives of the three ocular sights. These, apart from the technologies and gambits (as in a game of chess!), are a “satellite’s point of view”, a “room’s point of view”, and an “ant’s point of view”. It is only a sophisticated combination of the three aforesaid views that would bring forth the clairvoyance and the sophistication that India needs to attain and achieve at this crucial time in its history. There is a clear need to “ring out the old, ring in the new.” The country needs a set of fresh attire in its wardrobe of internal intelligence.

The head of the Indian internal intelligence agency must take cognisance of the fact that there is a growing chorus of criticism that the agency under his supervision missed (underline missed!) specific intelligence that could have prevented the Red Fort blast. Some commentators argue that the agency’s failure to provide timely information amounts to much more than a mere moral lapse, and they are consequently baying for accountability. The fact that senior batchmates of the present internal intelligence agency chief were pushed out while he was promoted has also fuelled perceptions of a nepotism culture.

So, should he take responsibility and resign? If one weighs the recent operational setbacks and the public demand for accountability, a graceful exit could be seen as a responsible gesture, restoring faith in the intelligence community. Even a symbolic resignation would strengthen the system more than a continued leadership that has begun to stink. It would also pave the way for able junior officers who are waiting in the wings to take on the agency’s mantle. The government must be cognisant of the fact that two extensions have already dulled the edge of husbandry, and there could be a downfall in morale among a plethora of competent officers. India is in a state of siege. It cannot afford a division, however simplistic, in its intelligence setup. A close examination of the waypoints that led to the Red Fort clearly informs us that the internal intelligence agency of India did not see the car‑bomb coming. This is despite the fact that they had a broader alert about the plot, which helped limit the damage.

The head of the Indian internal intelligence agency must also be hauled up for not being able to detect the Faridabad “white‑collar” terror module when it began to cobble itself. The fact that they collected almost three tonnes of explosives (which must have taken at least six months!) showcasesthat the internal intelligence agency had absolutely no clue that such a conspiracy was brewing. It was only very “smart-policing” by G.V. Sundeep Chakravarthy, as aforesaid, that unearthed the plot. Operation Sindoor had put the internal intelligence agency into a self-congratulatory slumber.

The missed pieces of the puzzle led to a very costly slip and the unfortunate deaths of 13 innocent lives. A professional force, especially its boss, where the buck stops, cannot be condoned for such wanton loss of lives. If I am allowed to draw too simplistic a parable to the current situation, then I would say that having erected one’s mosquito net properly and tucked oneself in for a good night’s sleep cannot be a matter of smugness. Even if a single mosquito is able to enter the “encapsulated environment” that one thinks that the mosquito net has created, then a nightmarish night awaits. 

I also want to go on record here and inform the reader that I have been threatened for writing about internal intelligence accountability. A number of people, mostly retired IPS officers, have told me that I will not survive if I continue to berate the internal intelligence agency’s head in this manner, that he will exact revenge on me in the most gruesome of ways. I tell them all, “Come, do your worst, but I, a limping beggar, will continue to write and speak the way I do, for God and Country. Indeed, I have known the present head of India’s internal intelligence rather well—having worked “closely” at one point in time. In fact, I think one can even term him to have once been an integral part of my friend’s circle. But today I boldly say, “Not that I love Caesar less, but I love Rome more.”

India cannot afford smugness. Operation Sindoor should have been a comprehensive affair with complete destruction of Pakistan. If that was not possible, then one has to brace oneself for an India that is uncertain, frightening and fraught with invisible dangers.  In this context, I must congratulate the chief minister of Assam for the steps he has taken to apprehend supporters of the Delhi car explosion. Such unpatriotic people have no place in India. They must be deported to Pakistan or Bangladesh, where their loyalty lies.

The citizenry of this great nation seeks answers from the head of the country’s internal intelligence agency about why Dr Umar al Nabi got away. The country cannot brook any excuses. Precious 13 lives were lost, and with them their families, perhaps an old, ailing mother waiting for her dead son to return home after a day’s work or a newborn child who has not yet come to completely recognise him as his father. 

It is not understood as to how the head of an agency who was not able to net the sole, devious mosquito, and one who is going to give sleepless nights to 13 innocent families for the rest of their lives, can even think of going to bed! The confusion becomes even more complex when one realises that this man cannot even think of stepping down from a rostrum replete with abject failure.

(Jaideep Saikia is an internationally recognised and renowned strategist and thinker. He can be reached at jdpsaikia@gmail.com)