War on terrorism – ‘a 360 degree’ thinking
Every strategy that is taken by Indian government against terrorism, is not only very conventional but also quite irritating for the common people because they have to face all sorts of harassments by police and army. To stop an incident, you have to find the ‘cause’ of the incident and you have to do a detailed analysis of the incidence. Following measures may be taken to stop terrorism :
No ‘Breaking News’ : every time a blast occurs, news channels show breaking news on the bloodshed. Since mass killing is a sensitive issue, it must be dealt with sympathy and grief and not with breaking-news mentality.
Media positioning : whenever you win against somebody and you call your opponent a ‘looser’, he becomes angry and thinks of the revenge. Do say, ‘Indian army today successfully killed 3 terrorists in an encounter…..’ or ‘Operation XYZ finished’, report that ‘Indian army defended their motherland against three militants who all died in the encounter’. In this way, terrorists will also understand that we are not attacking, we are only doing defense and hence we are the peace keeper and peace maker.
Another positioning is that terrorism is not only a political cause but it’s also a social cause, since, most of the terrorists come from poor class of society and most of them are not much educated. Ad- makers should think about that.
Human Face of admin. : common people prefer to stay away from the army and police forces because of their possible brutal behavour. All those special forces, whose indulge in keeping our city safe from terrorism, must behave like normal persons. I thing, one out of every five police or army people should be given short term HR-training on behavioral skills. This simple initiative can solve many unwanted civic harassment. Also, most of the police should be in plane dresses such that common people don’t feel scared.
Restriction on usage of CCTV : Due to this buzz of possible terror attacks, every small organization is using CCTV. They may have the possibility to use this TV for business purposes or other bad reasons also. So, if anybody installs CCTV, he has to take permission from local police station.
Focus on community development: every community or religion or cast should be treated equally not as per its religion but also as per its geographical/ regional presence and culture. I mean, if Kashmiris see that people from different states are coming to their states and reigning on them and most of them are not highly educated and still are not part of India’s mainstream politics, sports, business etc., then they may naturally have a common hatred against rest of India. They are thinking that if they remains part of India, then one day their culture will become extinct. Under such circumstances, terrorists are only misguiding these people to fulfill their evil mission. Our education minister must see the development in terms of education in the states like Kashmir and other north-eastern states such that youths in these regions can have the freedom of thought. Also, since, travel and tourism industry in these states is largely affected due to terrorism, Government should give loans to the unemployed youths of these states such that they can start their own business. Then the number of people joining terror groups will be reduced.
Follow Tata’s example : I personally think that the step taken by Sir Ratan Tata by reopening the hotel in Mumbai showed that Indians are not at all afraid of terrorism any more. Top level Indians’ body language should be just like Mr. Tata.
Strengthen the border security force : Since, most of the terrorists come from the camps based on outside of India, so our border-security should be strong and more recruitments should be done. Hidden cameras should be there in the border regions which will be taking automatic pictures of moving objects even in the darkness of night and under extreme temperatures.
Change the song : I think, the concept of an eminent singer singing patriotic songs on 26th January or on 15th August is very old. The best way of war against terrorism is to spread the essence of patriotism. Instead of old patriotic songs, spectacular ads should be used in print media, FM channels, television and also on internet. Celebrate Independence Day or Republic Day with a blast in the states of north-east India or in Kashmir. Media should also give publicity to those events rather than giving publicity to Delhi’s special celebration process. Free foods, chocolates, balloons, and patriotic leaflets should be distributed to the kids and common people by the government officials in the militant driven states.
Repositioning terror driven states : The image that Kashmir has nationally and internationally is getting worse day by day. Have we even seen any film on Kashmir whose story is not based on terrorism? Make new documentaries on Kashmir which should bring other problems that Kashmiris are facing. Same process should be followed for other similar states also.
Hidden attacks on Terrorists’ head quarters : India’s defense and foreign ministers must plan for possible commando attacks on the foreign land soil to ruin terrorists’ training camps.
By following these measures, India may be not virtually but actually free from terrorism.
Comment : The views expressed above are personal and as per knowledge and belief of Biswajit Ganguly.
