`Country ill-equipped to tackle professional terrorists'

By Our Staff Reporter

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, SEPT. 20. In a yet-to-be-released book, a police official who held a sensitive assignment in Jammu & Kashmir, has stressed the need for the country to wake up to the threat of `professional terrorism' of the kind that was witnessed recently in the attack on the World Trade Centre in New York.

In the book titled, `Terrorism, Insurgencies and Counter Insurgency Operations', Dr. N.C. Asthana, who is at present DIG, Vigilance, says Indian insurgents have never gone about their business in a "professional" manner and that most of the terrorist attacks in the Kashmir valley are utterly amateurish.

The current "ineptitude" of the insurgents should not lull the security forces into complacence, he says. The mentors of the insurgents are bound to become alive to the deficiencies of their wards and could be expected to take corrective measures.

According to Dr. Asthana, the indications are already there. Terrorists and insurgents are increasingly resorting to the use of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and landmines. For, the intelligent terrorist has realised that rifle is a romantic weapon but bombs and biological weapons could prove more devastating.

Dr. Asthana points out that terrorists in Kashmir launch the attacks more with the aim of creating news and reporting back to their handlers in Pakistan than for inflicting serious damage on Indian targets.

The terrorists fire from concealed positions with little aim and the fact of having fired seems to be more important to the terrorists than causing casualties, he says. Most fire in macho fervour with their rifles on full auto, causing little damage.

Dr. Asthana says the terrorists being infiltrated into India have little training in professional combat or skills in guerilla warfare and are merely ideologically motivated amateurs.

He stresses the need to raise elite commando "swat" units backed by a centralised agency for gathering intelligence of operational value in order to add more teeth to the anti-terrorist operations of Indian forces. Such elite units should be set up under the State police departments for combating anti-terrorist and counter-insurgency operations.

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