National security is not about nautical miles – high-time we respect our security forces

Raising uninformed doubt or one driven by half knowledge is a type of cynicism India can ill afford.

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Chitra Subramaniam| The News Minute| January 4, 2015| 3.45 pm IST

Something is seriously wrong here. The same people in India who defended Italian marines for killing Indian fisherman off the coast of Kerala in 2012 (our fishermen may have strayed too far) are now questioning Indian coast guard action on December 31st 2014 which resulted in a Pakistani boat blowing up on the high seas killing four of its occupants. Someone said video tapes – did we ask the Italians to do the same? Indeed two wrongs don’t make one right but the assumption that India always gets it security issues wrong is a reflection of our faith in us.

Why was the navy not informed? Maybe it was not necessary. What was the chain of command? Who should know it better than people who form the chain.

Terrorists, bootleggers, bandits – whatever their business, the boat from Pakistan they had no business being where it was, and not responding to identify and submit calls. Worst case scenario – fishermen were killed in cold blood. Another scenario – perhaps many lives were saved.

Not knowing is not an option for security officers and the armed forces. It gets worse in the high seas or glaciers where temperatures are minus 50 degrees C. There is a price to be paid for not knowing giving the benefit of doubt, plausible deniability and that price can be very heavy. How easy it is to sit in the warmth of our homes and television studios waxing eloquent about what could be, should be, was not and is, possible and plausible.

Take two. In less than three weeks, the world’ most powerful politician President Barack Obama of the United States (US) will be in Delhi as the country’s chief guest for the 26th January Republic Day celebrations. January has a host of events in Gujarat that will bring business and political leaders to for investments and high level talks. Press reports and private briefings suggest that the Obama visit is being preceded by the most elaborate security cover to date to ensure all goes well.

It has too. Famously said and often repeated, terrorists have to succeed only once, while governments have to succeed every time – every time, always, everywhere. People in New York probably feel the presence and pressure of security measures, but that must reassure them that a 9/11 will not happen again. Do Mumbaikars live with the same degree of comfort that their 26/11 will not be repeated?

Read our interview with Vinita Kamte, wife of Ashok Kamte one of four officers slain by terrorists during that attack from sea on Mumbai.

India is nestled in a dangerous neighbourhood. Our borders are porous our seas are open to attacks but our conversations and media are accommodative of all voices. Most nations around us as well as India have lost leaders to terrorists whose resolve seems unabated. The recent Peshawar school attack last December which killed 145 people including 132 children is a cold reminder of the type of cynicism that fires the Taliban in Pakistan.

Further west is a country in full disarray as US troops leave Afghanistan.

India is the only democracy in its region and with democratic rights the first of which is freedom of speech and expression, come responsibilities. There is a price to pay for freedom and that price is to respect government action, a healthy respect and robust questioning – not wild accusations without evidence. Raising uninformed doubt or one driven by half knowledge is a type of cynicism India can ill afford.