DON'T TRIFLE WITH SECURITY
and/or www.mantra.com/jai
By Joginder Singh
THE PIONEER
http://www.dailypioneer.com
Monday, March 24, 2008
Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi recently visited a
Maoist-infested tribal village in Koraput district, Orissa,
with minimal security cover. As the protection of a VIP is
the responsibility of the State Government, Koraput
District Superintendent of Police said; "Although I
physically tried to prevent Rahul from visiting the place,
his security personnel engaged me in arguments for about 15
minutes." The police advised him against the visit, but Mr
Gandhi was in no mood to listen. His SPG escorts, too,
resented any move to prevent him from visiting the
sensitive village.
This is not the only case of Mr Gandhi giving his security
escorts a slip. On the same day, he had also slipped out of
his Z-category security ring and rushed into a crowd of
thousands at Bhawanipatna in Orissa's Kalahandi district.
It naturally gave the local police a major scare. On the
face of it, the entire episode may look a non-event, as no
harm was done to the VIP. But the truth is that as long as
things go normally, nobody bothers. If nothing happens,
some people take the view that they knew that nothing would
happen. But if something untoward happens, then hell breaks
loose and the heads start rolling. Sometimes, even riots
take place to avenge the killing of a VIP.
Security, evidently and obviously, is a nuisance. It puts
too many restrictions on the protected person. As long as
there is a requirement of safety, people have difficulty in
pursuing what matters most to them. It is more so in the
case of politicians who cannot achieve their objective
unless they meet people without hesitation.
The VIP security is one of the most important duties of the
Intelligence Bureau. It is responsible for assessing the
threat perceptions to important persons, including the
Prime Minister, President and other national dignitaries.
The threat perceptions by it are categorised as extremely
serious, very serious and serious on the basis of
intelligence inputs received from various sources,
including the local police. The extent and dimension of
threats are decided on the basis of this evaluation.
The threat assessment to various protected individuals is
reviewed periodically. It may look 'courageous' to defy the
restrictions necessitated by the requirements of security,
but many tragedies have been faced due to such negligence.
Moreover, the situation in the country is not the same as
it was a few decades ago. There are a myriad of problems --
terrorism, insurgency and even espionage operations
conducted by external agencies hostile to the country.
To a normal person, force is not a remedy. Terrorist
outfits, however, believe that this is the only solution.
They believe that the essence of their fight against the
present system is violence.
Several important personalities have been assassinated
since 1947. Mahatma Gandhi (1948) tops the list. He was
followed by Mrs Indira Gandhi (1984), Rajiv Gandhi (1991),
Beant Singh (1995), etc. Besides, several MPs and Ministers
were killed either in the country, including Jammu &
Kashmir and Jharkhand.
Our neighbourhood, too, has been the victim of terrorism.
The most shocking incident took place in Nepal on June 1,
2001, when the entire family of King Birendra was
assassinated. In Pakistan, the Bhutto family has been the
victim of terror; Benazir Bhutto has been the latest
entrant in this list. Other important victims were Egyptian
President Anwar Sadat (1981), US President John F Kennedy
(1963), Robert F Kennedy (1968), Martin Luther King Jr
(1968), Sri Lanka's President Ranasinghe Premadasa (1993)
and SWRD Bandaranaike (1959), Swedish Prime Minister Olof
Palme (1986), etc. Even Bangladesh was not left untouched
and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was assassinated on August 15,
1975.
The above list is only illustrative and is not exhaustive.
People in public life are the face of the country. But
there are some who are more than equal and that is why
there is a different gradation of security and provision of
different agencies for guarding them. The concern for
accessibility to the public has to be balanced with the
need of the security. After all, it is true that security
can be an intimidation for the public.
Security is a vital matter of a sovereign state. There can
be no alibi for failure of a state to provide protection
and security to its citizens, as well as to those who are
concerned with the affairs of the state. It is also true
that this duty cannot be discharged without the support of
the citizens as well as the protected ones. Moreover, it's
better to err on the side of caution and advice of all
those who are in the know of things, rather than face
unfortunate incidents.
On a number of occasions of breach of security guidelines,
political considerations have outweighed all other
considerations. Basically, security is a two-players' game
-- between the protector and the protectee. It also
involves accepting legal limitations, formal and informal.
The protected person has to become conscious of the
security needs. After all, security personnel are the
employees of the political master and they cannot enforce
security regulations except by making polite requests. As
Inspector General of Police, I had once to take away the
key of the car of a Union Minister to prevent him from
going and meeting terrorists in Srinagar in the 1990s. But
after I went away, I learnt next day that he had got the
terrorist's car to go to them.
It should be understood by the protected person that the
intention of the security is not to isolate him from his
constituency, but to ensure his safety.
It must be said to the credit of Ms Sonia Gandhi that she
once cancelled her visit to the terrorist-affected area in
February 2008 during her visit to Jammu & Kashmir, when she
was apprised of likely jihadi attack on her. Even BJP
leader L K Advani cancelled his participation in the
rallies on the advice of security apparatus in January
2008.
The security of the SPG protectees is not a matter of party
politics, but an issue of national importance. Any harm to
them will encourage terrorists and other anti-national
elements.
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