The need for security sensitisation arose when a suicide bomber attacked the office of the Hyderabad Police Commissioner's Task Force at Greenlands in 2005. It became imperative after terrorists detonated an Improvised Explosive Device inside Mecca masjid on May 18, 2007 killing nine namajis.
Even as law-enforcing agencies went around the city tom-tomming the necessity to make public and private places secure, the terrorist struck again three months later laying bare the poor security arrangements. Shaken by the two deadly terror strikes in the same year, the police acted tough cancelling licences of a couple of film theatres for laxity in safety measures.
Now, following an intelligence alert that a terror operative is moving in the city carrying explosive substances, police are once again on a special drive of making the city safe. The response of police had been ad-hoc with regard to security at public places since the first major terror attack in the city five years ago.
Security experts argue that the ongoing police response to the terror alert is at best a ‘knee-jerk' reaction. A glaring flaw in the entire security strategy of the police is inadequate emphasis on making the common man stakeholder.
Unless citizens are involved in the exercise , the ongoing security drill would only peter out. Strangely, police can only persuade the managements of malls and business establishments to comply and have minimum security systems, as there is no law on making public places secure. Ironically, there is no consistency even in that persuasion. This explains the abysmally low security consciousness among people and lackadaisical attitude of owners of malls, theatres and other places witnessing considerable congregations.
Strangely, the security drive in Cyberabad is not as vigorous as in Hyderabad, where there is no guarantee that entertainment places in Cyberabad are not on the radar of terrorists.
