OUR REPUBLIC DAY!!!

If very less incidents of sabotage, assasination & terrorism take place in the state of J&K in a particular year, the militants have always stepped up the activities just before 26th Jan every year.
J&K a state which is so picturesque that I have many times thought to relocate there. However let us look at how things are slowly unfolding as you read this blog.
In all terrorist attacks till date one or the other terrorist org claims the responsibility. This is done so as to make common people know that the outfit is strong and can strike at will. Basically it is done for 2 major reasons - 1. To let the sympathizers know about the commitment towards the so called CAUSE & 2. Terrorize people so it becomes easy to generate money, etc from them. But since the past few weeks some incidents in the valley were planned & executed differently. To explain this I must take you back to the past.
In June, 2009 one Basharat Ahmad, 16, son of Muhammad Maqbool Bhat of Chakpath, Larkipora went missing after visiting a nearby installation of 36RR. The villagers protested strongly after the incident & blamed the army officials. The army is there to fight the militants but cannot do anything againsts protests. This involves hunderds of people shouting on the streets & throwing stones at the SecurityForces. These protests are doctored by the local separatist groups. I have seen many of these in the past. What does this yield? National/International media attention, disturbance to the army officials thus they are not able to carry out their duties, popularity to the group & its leaders who have staged this protest, etc. Basharat was found unconscious under the influence of some psychotropic substance in the nearby village. Later he said that he was at his uncles place.
Thus the strategy is changing...from a full fledged attack to protests, etc.
Now lets look at the month of JAN 10.
1. A guerilla attack on a police station in Sopore which left one constable & one civilian dead. Protests are ON for the death of the civilian. J&K police has temporarily lost credibility.
2. In Anantnag on the Bijbehera road where I used to have breakfast one Special Police Officer (SPO) Abdul Rehman was shot at. He is being treated in the nearby hospital.
3. An IED (improvised explosive device) was triggered in Tral, was hidden under a bridge which was being used by a police vehicle. 4 police personnels were injured in the attempt.

Suddenly the tactics are changing....These incidents are hinting at something else...The security forces are used to normal attacks wherein the Militants stay ground & die.

Physical Security - Flawed as ever

PHYSICAL SECURITY - FLAWED AS EVER
A smart turnout, a physique which compliments the uniform & the wonderful sound of the clicking of heels with a graceful salute is what I was used to. Being more in civil areas I now do not have an experience of it.
Sometime back I visited Mumbai & happened to visit a well known shopping mall in Bandra (W). I had a presentation the other day & I had forgotten to put my tie in the bag thus it served a good excuse to buy a new one. We haven't forgotten how & what the terrorists did in Mumbai sometime back. In all cases the mere detection of weapons & explosives would have saved many lives. Many scholars have written about 'Terrorism', none has been able to define it, they all agree to this fact that its difficult to define. As humans we end up over analysing certain things. Instead of defining effort should be on to stop it. All terrorist attacks are to instill fear in the minds of citizens & thus vigilance & prevention of such things should be on the top of the list.
Coming back to my Mumbai visit, I was accompanied by some Mumbai Police chaps. They belong to the elite unit responsible to act first in the wake of any attack. We all entered the mall complimenting some really beautiful girls (just amongst ourselves).
We obediently went through the metal detector framce. It beeped loudly as all were carrying the standard issue 9mm. There were 7 security guards loitering at the entrance & a smart security girl frisking females. According to me the only qualification she had was her gender & may be the ability to speak english. To my surprise one of the guards smiled at me on hearing the beep & observing the light on top of the frame. I smiled & said, " Kharab ho gaya hain kya tera machine?" Quickly he replied, "Arey nahin sahab, woh to itna hi bajta hain agar apke pass keys, coins ho to." One of my chaps smiled & replied, " Haan Haan mera belt ka buckle dekha? Kitna bada hain. Iski vajah se hoga."
The gurad at the entrance was tasked with one of the most difficult jobs, to opne the door for every customer. Whenever you go to a shopping mall the next time observe the first guard at the entrance. One of his hand will be folded at the back carrying the click counter to count the number of walk-ins. I sometimes feel if a threat enters & pumps in metal into him the chap will not even get time to click or even think of clicking.
Here we were, fully armed & had reached the 4th floor. No detection no frisking. We simmonned the chap incharge of security, he was absent. Then the old chap responsible for administration & security appeared after 30 mins. When the identity was disclosed & the weapons kept on his table he started sweating. One of my friends conducted a quick training session of how to frisk people & effectively use the metal detector.I will obviosly skip the discussion we had with the old chap as I dont want to tell you all the level of shamelessness the chief administrator had achieved.
The brightest minds complete management education & join companies like the one which owned the mall. They give a chance to agencies which recruit uneducated, unfit chaps from the villages of UP, Bihar & Assam to become a security guard. I have gone through innumerable security checks & trained many to design them, but nothing can beat the time taken by the guards at Pune Central to put the mirror under the car & the guard at Esquare Pune to check the baggage carried by women. The time taken by them beats the time taken to blink an eye. Do they actually know what an explosive/I.E.D (improvised explosive device) looks like?.
The irony of the situation is that most of the guards are hired to keep an eye on the customer & the employee. This can be one of the points in the profile but obviously should be second to 'SECURITY'.
But the harsh reality is right in front of us. Ex-servicemen will never work at a salary of 5K as a guard. The beauty of it is that Security Industry is a huge one & most the corporates/business houses have failed to understand the importance of Physical Security.
REVAMP IS REQUIRED.

The Spy who ran away!!!!!!!!!

THE SPY WHO RAN AWAY!!!
Our day starts off with newspaper reading. Newspapers have always been a source of information to all of us. But the fact that the media as a whole has a very important and responsible role to play has been identified by a very few.
We like or we dont like it Spying is the worlds oldest... profession and many dare devils have done a lot for their Nation State when they crossed the borders to collect information and transform it into INTEL. It is the complete responsibility of the Security set up of that Nation State to identify and neutralise these covert threats.
When India was engaged in countering the Pakistani threat on the high mountain peaks in 1999 Sayeed Ahmed alias Mohammed Desai was engaged in spying on Military Establishments in Khadki. Once he was arrested the newspapers and the internet kept writing about him. My objective is not to narrate what happened when he was arrested, but to give an insight as to where the complete system faltered.
We talk of Spies and Spy Rings. May it be Inder Badhan Bhatt, Chaman Shaikh or the latest catch Shailesh Jadhav, we take pride in reporting that these people were nabbed but have we ever thought how important it is to address this issue from a very logical angle. It was reported in a pro-Desai manner by one E-Newspaper of the city that certain circumstances have forced the ISI spy to stay back in the Sahakarnagar Police Station. According to me if at all the person who wrote this was uncomfortable with the fact that Desai cannot go back home (Read the country with maximum number of Terrorist Camp - Pakistan) he was free to arrange a special flight for his dear friend Desai. The damage done by Desai and people connected to him is still unknown.
Also the circumstances in which he vanished were very interesting. A police man takes a person who has already been proved guilty under the Official Secrets Act, a citizen of Pakistan for breakfast to nearby joint and the policeman moves out of the scene. Sometime back my friend forgot his wallet and was stopped by a policeman for a driving licence check. He requested the man in Khaki to let him go back home and bring his wallet, but then he was not allowed. Though my friend was at fault as he did not carry his licence when he was driving, the point that I want to make is how on earth did the policeman develop trust with an ISI agent???
Its interesting to bring to your notice that since 1999 this complete thing was given importance by a leading Middle East English Language Daily http://www.arabnews.com/.
on 25th January, 08 one Shahid Raza Burney of the same English Daily reported and I quote, “Since Desai’s clothes and other valuables were at the police station, we expected him to return soon,” Inspector Shaikh said. The statement if at all is authentic I cant stop laughing.
Rest all is up to the system. The system which is strictly used to hunt down the man on the run. The fact that he has visited places like Hyderabad makes the issue a little more serious. http://www.arabnews.com/