It seems that the Indian Nation had started rejoicing too soon on the good news that terrorism in Punjab was on the decline. As a grim reminder that the reprieve was temporary, serial violent and spectacular blasts shook Bombay last Friday. The intractable problem of terrorism shall, it appears , remain one of our major national concern.

Traditional forms of crime can be analysed, investigated trends charted, perpetrators of the crime can be analysed ,investigated trends charted, perpetrators of the crime indentified and preventive measures taken. However grave or grievous the crime it can be left to the police -at best it is a local affair.

But the phenomenon of terrorism is of a different genre altogether. A terrorist act stands for much more than it actually is. It has an impact -both temporal and spatial -much beyond its immediate and visible signs of damage. It can cause whole nations to be gripped in a fit of hysteria and frenzy , fear and revulsion. Jet age introduced this new kind of disease and the future, if anything holds out greater threats. Societies are being increasingly organized and reshaped by massive dose of technology. The economies of scale are the current rage-ever bigger aircrafts , powerplants,higher skyscrapers,bigger cities so on. As a counterpart the technology of miniaturisation, remote control and stealth is helping nations project their power with speed, with secrecy and minimum logistical problems.

A society so intricately organised and wholly dependent on centralised technologies is highly vulnerable to dislocation . A single malcontent -he may be a terrorist or a militant depending on the geographic location of the viewer -can threaten to bomb a nuclear power plant or an airborne plane and bring down the resolve of the mightiest of governments . Suicide attacks are not a new phenomenon. What is new and has left us all breathless is that the terrorist can get much greater purchase out of it. Because societies - which have forged such grand monuments to the idea of progress have also fabricated incredibly powerful weapons of destruction rendered even more deadly by stealth technology. The hideous asymmetry is brought out dramatically by the fact that six ounces of semtex, a low signature high grade explosive therefore easy to smuggle in can blow up a jumbo jet worth crores of Rupees and with four hundred people on board . This is the kind of threat to which less developed and primitive technologies are not exposed to. If ever such a contingengy arose the area could be hermetically sealed off-ligated as it were- and the intruder brought down by that age old and trusted method of merely overwhelming him by superior force-give or take a few injured or dead.

But the society can not be expected to shun the use of technology. And no matter how caring and compassionate the state there will always be individuals and groups with a grievance ready to take to terrorism because it is a high state and comparatively low risk game. The remarkable success of some of the terrorist actions has firmly established it as one of the most important acts worthy of emulation by groups pitted against authorities whom they can not normally defeat , blackmail or pressurise .Therefore terrorism is here to stay and we would be well advised to count our options and take stock of our resources.

Terrorism is difficult to combat because of its great unpredictability . It is almost impossible to anticipate the victim or the perpetrator of such crime with great certainty everytime . It is extremely difficult , to locate and neutralise the terrorist well in time. A force which has long believed prevention to be better than the cure often finds itself outmanoeuvered. If it is a lucky day,a good clue turns up or just on a serendipitous outing the police arrive before the bomb goes off. But that is a dream sequence.

No matter how organised the intelligence with its networks of spies , sleepers , and stool pegions, elaborate system of eaves dropping and electronic surveillance, they can never get into the head of the potential trouble maker. He could be a shadowy trouble figure strewing transistor bombs in crowded buses ; he could be a discriminating Japanese tourist with a predilection for French Symbolist poetry carrying a copy of Rimaud , on board a TWA flight.Later , as it was one of the three Japanese Red Army mercenaries who gunned down thirty people at Lod Airport. Or terror may be delivered through something as innocuous as cars parked- a sight which would fail to arouse the suspicion of even the most paranoid policeman-in the basement of the Bombay Stock exchange or Century Bazar and else where. But they blew up with killing effect all over on that Friday in Bombay. So the response of the police to such terrorist acts is usually reactive and defensive which gives the perpetrators of the act considerable head start . The terrorist operates as if he is well and truly a member of the global village. The mischief makers of the world-drug lords, smugglers , forgers , petty criminals as also some hooligan leaders of national states- unite to promote the terrorist cause. They swap weapons , forge passports arrange for hideouts and sanctuaries. They have two things in common- an authority or an establishment to fight ; and a diabolic unconcern for human life and misery. On the other hand enforcement agencies pursuing the fugitives are still subject to national boundaries and international treaty obligations civil liberties and human considerations. It is as one of the two competitors in a race was required to clear hurdles while the other was given a free run of the lap.

But there is a more fundamental and excruciating dilemma facing the police. Small , new fangled and rapidly multiplying terrorist groups have great potential and tactical advantage over the police. By their ability to strike they not only arouse acute anxieties , they expose police to the charge of inefficiency , callousness or worse. Daring the police to act-in a hurry , in an excessive and vindictive manner. To allay anxieties and under pressure of adverse media notice-the police response it endangers may sometime be worse than the disease itself.

Terrorist groups have on occasions de-establised governments or won independence but they are all the time capable of subverting open societies. In terrorist stricken states, authoritarian regimes are , not formally installed ; nor even intended. They quietly smuggle themselves in. The familiar democratic freedoms-taken for granted for so long- imperceptibly vanish. Laws become more Darconian ; legal safeguards against detention without trial more tenuous. The security apparatus becomes bloated and trigger happy in proportion to the people abdicate their right to stand up question and fight. In face of terrorist onslaughts all other institutions of open society crumble and police, becomes the repository of all residual power. Often enough the open society in its desire for security becomes a colluding party to the abrogation of its civil liberties and freedoms. And who has ever baulked at more powers and authority?

But leaving the extreme case, even in healthy vibrant democracies, in response to the new threat-surveillance and frisking - is already becoming an indignity earlier generation would not have countenanced . Patrolling, snooping, and road blocks a nuisance one has learnt to live with. One becomes so inured that even gross invasions of privacy go unnoticed.

The threat of terrorism is far too potent and ubiquitous to be left to police alone. It is the society that will have to draw on its instinct for survival , and its infinite repertoire of strategies for combating threat. Bombay showed the way by bouncing back to life within no time. If the idea of the blasts was to start a million mutinies now and incite communal clash in every bye lane the response couldn't have been more appropriate because it breaks the heart of terrorist to see that the life can proceed in normal, human ways , even in face of its worst depredation. It defeats the very idea of terrorism by not capitulating to its terror.

Meanwhile as the main agency responsible for containing terrorism, police will have to accept the superhuman task of performing at peak all the twenty four hours a day, 365 days an year. Assorted skills like un armed combat sharp shooting, expertise in handling explosives would stand them in good stead. The ability to hold out dourly in protracted hostage situations battle of nerves would be great assets. But above all it must be accompanied by a stoic determination to resist the last temptation of police to don the mantle of the big brother. Otherwise it would be merely a trade off of terror. It would be a sad day indeed when the defender of an open society turns it enemy.

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