Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai’s proposal to set up an Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) in the Bengaluru Police Commissionerate has met with criticism from within the department. While senior police officials said that there is a strong case to set up an ATS, they argued that the squad’s footprint should be across the State and not limited to Bengaluru.
While Karnataka has not been the target of major terror attacks when compared with some other States in the country, it figures prominently on India’s terror map.
“There is Bhatkal, which once contributed to the leadership of the Indian Mujahideen and a significant number of Islamic State (IS) sympathisers, fighters and recruiters from the State,” said a senior intelligence official.
While the coastal region has been a spring board for radicalisation, Hubballi and a few Malnad districts have also figured on the terror radar.
“Bengaluru has for long been considered a safe heaven for terrorists from Rajiv Gandhi's killers to even militants from the North East due to its cosmopolitan nature,” he added.
In this backdrop, an ATS in Bengaluru alone makes little sense, argued a senior police official.
Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Kerala, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar have ATS with a pan-State footprint.
“It’s not just Bengaluru. Every city in the State must have a dedicated ATS unit, which should have a State-level leadership,” said Gopal B. Hosur, former State intelligence chief.
The Internal Security Division (ISD), formed in 2008, had a similar mandate but only in the realm of intelligence. It is limited to collecting intelligence, but cannot make arrests or investigate registered cases.
While similar Counter Intelligence (CI) cells in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh have made their mark in the national security architecture with their work going even beyond their State boundaries, ISD has not delivered as much, said another senior official.
“The erstwhile Andhra Pradesh faced several terror attacks, mainly by Maoists, where the State lost both police and political leaders creating space for such an organisation, which is not the case in Karnataka,” said another senior police official.
Mr. Hosur added, “Officers posted to CI cells in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh are given a long tenure and several incentives, including monetary ones. Creating such a cell needs both political will and police leadership.”
Though Bengaluru has seen six terror attacks to date, it has been lucky that all of them were low-intensity ones which resulted in the loss of three lives.
Only Hubballi and Mysuru have seen similar low-intensity attacks. No lives were lost in these attacks.
