It's not satisfactory. Neither the Vajpayee government nor the Manmohan Singh government have been able to work out a comprehensive counter-terrorism policy to deal with the security aspects on the one side and the political, economic and social aspects on the other. In the case of the Pakistani, Bangladeshi and other foreign terrorists, we have to be ruthless in neutralising them through appropriate security measures. In the case of our nationals -- whether Kashmiris or Muslims in other parts of India or the Naxalites -- we have to be more nuanced. A security-focused approach towards the terrorists and their organisations and a humane approach to the Muslim community and the poorer sections of our tribal society in central India from which they have arisen are called for.

In dealing with terrorists, who are our nationals, effective political leadership is as important as effective operational methods by our intelligence and security agencies. This has not been forthcoming. Our response has been ad hoc. Secularism is important in our approach to Muslims, but not in our approach to the Pakistanis and Bangladeshis creating havoc in our territory.

What is your prediction on the global war on terrorism? Do you think Al Qaeda will continue stealing the headlines?

International jihadi terrorism of the kind waged by Al Qaeda and its associates will continue to endanger peace, security and the economic well being of our societies for some years to come. The fight against terrorism and insurgency takes a long time to produce results. We took 19 years to deal with the Nagaland and Mizoram insurgencies and 14 years to bring the Khalistani terrorists under control. The Tamil Nadu police managed to bring Al Umma under control in a shorter period -- but still it took about eight years. Leftist ideological terrorism has been with us in some form or the other since 1947.

Even after 24 years, the Sri Lankan Government has not brought the LTTE under control The British took more than two decades to bring the Irish Republican Army under control. The French intelligence took 19 years to eliminate the group led by Carlos. Results in counter-terrorism take long in coming. The important thing is to see that the terrorists do not succeed in demoralising our population, weakening our political stability and disrupting our economy. Effective counter-terrorism depends as much on a strong political leadership as on competent intelligence and security agencies.

Image: Osama bin Laden. The writer says results in counter-terrorism take long in coming.

Photographs: Getty Images

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