Terror strikes and intelligence failure

Yet another blast rocks India and Hyderabad.

It has, for most Indians, become a routine. Some years ago we used to hear of such incidents only in J&K. It later spread to the national capital and surrounding areas.

Now, finally it has moved down south. The south always escaped such terror strikes but now even this region is not spared.

I have been reading the comments by rediff readers expressing their deep anguish with this act and their anger at the Indian governments impotency. The need to use an Israeli model of retaliation is more and more gaining ground.

One relevant fact I would like to point out at this juncture is Intelligence. After the terrible 9/11 attacks, there has not been a single strike against the US mainland. It is not just the threat of retaliation that has prevented this, it is the intelligence gathering system that has worked overtime to prevent the attacks.

The terrorists, have now moved on to other weaker targets like Europe and Australia so as to hurt America indirectly.

The point I am making here is the lack of Intelligence information or leads that could have been used to stop such acts in India. After all, the plotters and attackers do not come from far away lands. They live amongst us in the country or are from our neighboring countries.

If our Intelligence system is not able to get vital actionable intelligence information from our neighbors then I really dont understand what is it that they are up to.

What is the point in being all muscular when our most vital 'organ' wouldn't help us when needed the most !!

All this bullshit of being a regional power and getting a seat in the UN, etc is all tall talk. We need to get our act together. Islamic militancy and the Naxalite problems are eating the core of the Indian state and all that we can do is morn and groan.

If we don't have the guts to retaliate then we should at least have good intelligence agencies that are able to provide early information so that these attacks can be prevented in time.

The IB is busy spying on the opposition leaders at the governments behest and the RAW is busy covering its "A" with high profile defections from its ranks.

Perhaps, I am being too hard on these organizations. But at the end of the day, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. No point gloating over past successes when the present is all messed up.

We need credible intelligence please.