Speech at the Indian Embassy in Copenhagen, Denmark by Nikhil Pande

Posted by admin on April 24th, 2009 filed in Life

Namaste everyone,

My heart felt sympathies to all fellow countrymen who lost their lives; even more to those who lost their near & dear ones during the thoroughly planned & well coordinated Mumbai terror attacks.

A grand salute to the brave staff of The Taj & Oberoi, our black cat commandos, the servicemen assisting this operation and all those who directly or indirectly fought the terrorists. They all made every Indian feel immensely proud of being an Indian. They made us feel that we are placed in safe hands – a daunting task under the circumstances.

What happened in Mumbai is an unpardonable crime. My anger knows no bounds especially because of the confused response of the authorities adding to even more chaos in the international community.

It was very unfortunate and extremely shameful that human lives were lost due to negligence on various fronts. What we had in Mumbai was a complete systemic failure. All systems grossly malfunctioned.

What can we learn from the 26/11 terrorist attacks?
The most important lesson is that this can happen again. There are so many vulnerable national assets all over the country and we are ill-prepared to protect them. Terrorists used aircraft in New York, trains and buses in London, trains in Mumbai and Madrid and they came by sea to Mumbai. They could target many of our national iconic sites like Vishakapatnam, Jamshedpur or Lucknow. They could target the IT industry in Bengaluru which has already faced terror attack earlier. These are all irrecoverable assets. We must take every step to safeguard them.

The second lesson is that we must never forget what happened. No stone must be left unturned till all the perpetrators – wherever they are in the world – are punished.

Third, we must not let our tolerance be viewed as weakness by international community.

Fourth, to prioritise national vulnerabilities and set about protecting them.

Fifth, we need to admit failures and mistakes then go about correcting them. Spare no cost, upgrade intelligence capabilities; carry out the much delayed police reforms and arm our elite commandos with world-class gadgets to match their caliber regularly. Spare the Army from routine counter-terror activities and above all; re-establish the rule of law. Sharpen covert capabilities. And not let Pakistan, which is a nuisance, become a threat.

Lastly, media should have acted with greater responsibility since they influence the thoughts of the nation – their job is much more than just reporting.

If you forget everything from the talk until now – please do not forget that the overall desi mentality HAS to change drastically. Resilience to terrorist incidents may indicate that the people may have overcome fear which is a positive development. However, we have a problem because indifference to suffering is based on the hope that “I” shall not be the target and tragedies are only meant for “the other”. There is inadequate public response because it is generally assumed that prevention of terrorism is exclusively the task of the state. This attitude has to change and only the state can help this change. The average citizen must be encouraged and educated to help the state by providing clues, warnings and assistance in investigations.

The best and perhaps the only way to fight terrorism is to develop and sustain an effective intelligence system, not only at the centre but at every level down to the constable. Unless we have this; we will continue to be the soft target of terrorism.

There is loads of work yet to begin, if we want to win the war on terrorism. India must get ready to detect, deter and destroy this menace before it harms us even further. That the government has brought about few reforms in intelligence system post 26/11 is a positive development. We must rigorously follow upon these until we have a strong counter terror system in place.

With immense hope and expectations not only from the leadership but also from the common Indian person; I sincerely believe, if we all come together, “Yes, absolutely we can” win the war against terrorism.

Jai Hind!