It's been a month since the train bomb blasts, and we are all still floundering hopelessly looking for answers. A sweep of construction labourers here, a combing operation on Bangladeshis there. A few arrests, and we're none the wiser. Where is Moriarty? Certainly not in Nallasopara. Some of the actual arrests included erudite young men, a unani doctor among them. Even these small fry were no ruffians, lurching like lemings down a cliff.
So the scale of terror now indicates academic minds are at work. In conversation with a terror expert a few days ago, I learnt that efforts over the last few months, by the think-tank he is part of, to inform the government of the changing profile of terror is listened to with classroom boredom.
Terror, said the gentleman, was now a business conglomerate, being managed like a large multi-national corporation. Funds were on a larger scale than ever before, and along with super sophisticated equipment, constantly underestimated and sometimes, unmatched, by governments. Our intelligence systems, both technical and creative, have to constantly innovate, think out of the box, to stay ahead. Finding ways to smuggle bombs, or parts of bombs, undetected into airports and onto trains, needs meticulous planning, vast resources, technical expertise. Most important, it needs imagination. What we need most to combat that imagination, is lateral thought, not lathis or tear gas, to think a step ahead.
But lateral thought seems to be limited in our anti-terrorist squads, admittedly with an impressive track record of nabbing caches of arms and explosives. And they don't seem to be encouraged to be otherwise. Increasing police presence at an airport is not going to avert an airplane attack. A handful more constables checking bags for chainsaws, are no match for combustible Gatorade.
Terror groups now have bigger goals, bigger ambitions, bigger fish, than communal riots in India, to fry. Speculating on a singular entity like the Al-Qaeda (as some media are prone to), is extraneous now. Al-Qaeda could well be finished, and numerous splinter groups like the Lashkar-e-Toiba are seen as having more global ambitions. According to one theory, India is a launch pad for outfiits like the LeT, an experiment in local, before going global. Choreographed train blasts must precede an airline attack over the Atlantic. Remote triggers meant for crowded trains, must precede chemically volatile sports drinks meant for high-security aircraft. This is the evolution of terrorism.
Sherlock faced Moriarty only once (in a meeting that ended both their lives), but through all his cases, he never lost sight of him. While dirtying our hands in our own rotten gullies, where common criminals hide, we cannot lose sight of emerging Napoleons. Their armchair imagination, and our underestimation of it, is their main strength. The penalty we pay is terrifying. About the AuthorRaksha Shetty Raksha Shetty has been a journalist for 8 years, and is now Principal Correspondent in the Mumbai bureau of CNN-IBN. She joined CNN-IBN at the channel...Read Morefirst published:August 13, 2006, 02:13 ISTlast updated:August 13, 2006, 02:13 IST
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"Napoleon of crime". That's how Sherlock Holmes described his arch nemesis Professor Moriarty. Through the rotten gullies of London town, through the crooked, gnarled cat-and-mouse games people play in the world of crime, ran one common thread. Moriarty. A mathematical genius who orchestrated London's crime from his academic armchair. Holmes was a compelling character, partly because of his ability to sift through layers of mindgames in different locales. And recognize Moriarty in a murder. The Mumbai police could take a leaf out of his book.
It's been a month since the train bomb blasts, and we are all still floundering hopelessly looking for answers. A sweep of construction labourers here, a combing operation on Bangladeshis there. A few arrests, and we're none the wiser. Where is Moriarty? Certainly not in Nallasopara. Some of the actual arrests included erudite young men, a unani doctor among them. Even these small fry were no ruffians, lurching like lemings down a cliff.
So the scale of terror now indicates academic minds are at work. In conversation with a terror expert a few days ago, I learnt that efforts over the last few months, by the think-tank he is part of, to inform the government of the changing profile of terror is listened to with classroom boredom.
Terror, said the gentleman, was now a business conglomerate, being managed like a large multi-national corporation. Funds were on a larger scale than ever before, and along with super sophisticated equipment, constantly underestimated and sometimes, unmatched, by governments. Our intelligence systems, both technical and creative, have to constantly innovate, think out of the box, to stay ahead. Finding ways to smuggle bombs, or parts of bombs, undetected into airports and onto trains, needs meticulous planning, vast resources, technical expertise. Most important, it needs imagination. What we need most to combat that imagination, is lateral thought, not lathis or tear gas, to think a step ahead.
But lateral thought seems to be limited in our anti-terrorist squads, admittedly with an impressive track record of nabbing caches of arms and explosives. And they don't seem to be encouraged to be otherwise. Increasing police presence at an airport is not going to avert an airplane attack. A handful more constables checking bags for chainsaws, are no match for combustible Gatorade.
Terror groups now have bigger goals, bigger ambitions, bigger fish, than communal riots in India, to fry. Speculating on a singular entity like the Al-Qaeda (as some media are prone to), is extraneous now. Al-Qaeda could well be finished, and numerous splinter groups like the Lashkar-e-Toiba are seen as having more global ambitions. According to one theory, India is a launch pad for outfiits like the LeT, an experiment in local, before going global. Choreographed train blasts must precede an airline attack over the Atlantic. Remote triggers meant for crowded trains, must precede chemically volatile sports drinks meant for high-security aircraft. This is the evolution of terrorism.
Sherlock faced Moriarty only once (in a meeting that ended both their lives), but through all his cases, he never lost sight of him. While dirtying our hands in our own rotten gullies, where common criminals hide, we cannot lose sight of emerging Napoleons. Their armchair imagination, and our underestimation of it, is their main strength. The penalty we pay is terrifying.
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