The 19th century American poet John Godfrey Saxe’s poem, “The Blind men and the elephant” aptly depicts India’s approach to national security. The opening verse – “It was six men of Indostan/ To learning much inclined/ Who went to see the Elephant/ (Though all of them were blind) /That each by observation /Might satisfy his mind,” may well be a description of our lack of holistic understanding of the issue of national security.

Though a National Security Council was constituted as early as 1998, we still lack a national security policy document. Sadly, this is the state of affairs in a country that faces a wide range of conventional and non-conventional threats from external and internal sources. The 26 November 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai that paralysed the nation for three days showed the chaotic state of internal security management. The 1991 Kargil war showed the aberrations in our handling of hybrid threats. Both incidents triggered a series of actions after some conventional knee-jerk responses to revamp the national security structure. In typical Indian style, there were many thoughts and ideas on various issues, but their laid-back implementation shows a lack of urgency.

Our halting response to Pakistani terrorist attacks on the Pathankot Air Force station in January 2016 and on an army camp in Uri in September 2016 exposed the fact that national security is still a work in progress, perhaps forever, because we do not have a policy in this regard.

This formed the theme of a speech by J&K governor N.N. Vohra recently. He is perhaps the best qualified to analyse the issue, not only because of his 13-year long stint in Jammu and Kashmir, both as an interlocutor and as governor, but because has been involved in the security management arena for over three decades. His rich experience in the highest echelons of decision making in New Delhi, including as principal secretary to the PM as well as secretary in the Home and Defence ministries, added value to his address.

The advent of terrorism in India has made the effective management of national security “the most crucial challenge faced by the Union,” Vohra said. Unless there is peace and normalcy, it would not be possible to achieve meaningful growth and development for promoting the welfare of our people.

Has India been able to evolve a comprehensive national policy and required infrastructure to safeguard it on all fronts? Vohra notes, “so far we have neither secured the required Union-State understandings, nor developed a pan-India approach, which would meet the requirements of a National Security Policy”, a damning indictment of the present state of affairs.

Constitutionally, states are “vested with powers to make all required laws to take all necessary executive decisions for ensuring internal security within their jurisdictions” while the centre has “the much larger responsibility of protecting against war and external aggression and internal disturbances”. However, in the last nearly three decades, issues relating to management of internal and external security have got “deeply and inextricably intertwined”.

According to Vohra, Pakistan’s proxy war in Jammu and Kashmir obliterated “the scope for segregating the management of issues relating to internal and external security.” Accordingly, it would no longer do to merely focus on defending our frontiers as the sources of security threats have extended far beyond our immediate neighbourhood to countries in Southeast Asia, Middle East and the western hemisphere and relate to innumerable targets and activities within our country.

Vohra bemoans the failure of the states to become self-reliant in effectively managing internal security. They need to take urgent steps to carry out long pending police reforms. As a consequence, states have been relying on the centre for deploying central armed police forces and even the army for restoration of normalcy in disturbed areas. He takes states to task for failing to set up Police Complaints Authority and State Security Commission, segregate law and order from investigative functions and set up separate intelligence and anti-terrorist units.

He is equally hard on them for not providing unstinted support to the centre’s efforts to safeguard national security, particularly in taking pre-emptive action to deal with emerging internal disturbance. This has probably resulted in the centre refraining from deploying central armed police forces unless the state requests it. The demolition of Babri Masjid is a case in point. 

The UK Intelligence Services Act (1994) providing for a parliamentary intelligence and security committee to examine the administration and policies of intelligence agencies is worthy of emulation. Intelligence agencies are holy cows and their functioning and accountability continue to be grey areas. This is an area requiring urgent action as their role in areas that impinge upon national security has increased. But the moot point is, will they be amenable when Parliament has Members with questionable security baggage?

When the dividing lines between external and internal security are increasingly blurred, an understanding between the centre and states is essential for successful security management. Vohra points to the tortuous course taken to establish the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) in the wake of 26/11 Mumbai attack as an example of the lack of understanding between the centre and states on the imperatives of national security. Unfortunately, with different political parties in power at the centre and in states, such a suggestion is viewed with distrust and suspicion.

It is well known that political parties in power, particularly in states, use the police for their own political advantage, rather than to aid good governance.  Vohra points to the findings of the inter-ministerial committee on the Mumbai serial blasts, which revealed the unwholesome nexus between corrupt politicians, dishonest public servants and organised crime and criminal mafia of the Dawood Ibrahim gang. This enabled several tons of RDX to be brought in for the blasts. Obviously, unless states implement police reforms, not only will rule of law be vitiated, national security will also be threatened.

Vohra emphasises that to “move towards assured national security management” it is essential to implement reforms and improvements in the entire criminal justice system. Speedy delivery of justice plays an important role in this and the judicial reforms are essential as well. The moot point is how the states can be compelled to carry out police reforms? Will the political parties set aside their differences and come as one in the interest of national security?

What should be the elements of national security for India? Professor Prabhakaran Paleri in National Security: Imperatives and Challenges (2008) lists as many as fifteen elements of national security, ranging from military and energy security to more obscure ethnic security and genome security.

Vohra is in sync with Paleri when he says, “It has …. become extremely essential to safeguard almost every arena and to particularly secure arrangements relating to food, water, energy, nuclear power, science and technology, environment, ecology, finance, business, commerce, banking, cyber space and other important quarters.”

In conclusion, NN Vohra suggests three viable actions:

-        The centre in close consultation with states should evolve and promulgate the National Security Policy and draw up a time bound action plan and establish a national frame work.

-        The centre should establish the National Security Administrative Service to run security related organisations and “progressively” the security management apparatus of the states.

-        As Union Home Ministry is burdened with the management of disparate subjects and overburdened, a national security affairs ministry should be set up.

In a nutshell, Prime Minister Narendra Modi should get his act together. But despite enjoying a comfortable majority, his Government is facing flak from a desperate Opposition on every initiative. If he can convince them to join hands to craft a national security policy, the nation will be thankful to him.

The writer is a former military intelligence specialist in South Asia, associated with the Chennai Centre for China Studies and the International Law and Strategic Studies Institute

Courtesy: India Legal, www.indialegallive.com