Overtaken by terror

Another 26/11 anniversary has come and gone. We need to think about why terrorists appear to be out-thinking counter-terrorism machineries

Written by Vappala Balachandran | Updated: November 30, 2017 11:19 am

26 11 attack, 26/11 anniversary, 2008 mumbai terror attacks, terror attacks, counter-terrorism, Islamic State, India terrorism

The most worrying aspect of global terrorism is that individuals who are already on the CT machinery radar are seen committing carnage.(Ilustration: C R Sasikumar)

The tendency to merely list our resistance capability on every anniversary of the 26/11 attack should be replaced by an analysis of whether our preventive machinery is able to match the changing terrorist methodology. Unfortunately, governments follow linear thinking. We are no exception. What appear in our discourses are lists of new special squads, better weaponry, satellite imagery, coastal radars and transponders to prevent coastal infiltration. No doubt these are relevant in certain situations but is our counter-terrorist architecture flexible enough to match or surpass the exponential thinking of terrorists?