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| Image: Flickr User - Apoorva Guptay |
By Nilanthan Niruthan
The likelihood of more urban terrorist attacks complicates New Delhi’s security and foreign policy.
In what was widely reported as a “high-level discussion on the IS threat,” India’s Union Home Secretary LC Goyal recently chaired a meeting with the director-generals of police and the home secretaries of a dozen states that were seen as vulnerable to terrorist organizations like the Islamic State. Two fairly predictable solutions seem to have been proposed at the meeting: strengthening law enforcement mechanisms by sharing information, centralizing intelligence and providing police officers with specialized training; and offering a counter-narrative to the Islamic State by engaging with community elders and religious groups who can help stem the tide of radicalization.
The meeting came in the wake of a grizzly “fidayeen” attack in Gurdaspur, a modest city in the state of Punjab. The armed assault was carried out by three gunmen and ultimately resulted in seven fatalities, including four policemen. The terrorists had first opened fire on a bus coming through from Jammu and Kashmir, after which they hijacked a car and staged a brazen assault on a police station and an adjacent community health center, grievously wounding five policemen and three civilians. After a firefight that ended nearly 11 hours since the attack first began, a 28-man group from the Punjab SWAT Team killed all three assailants. About three months before the attack, the Intelligence Bureau had warned the Delhi Police that a fidayeen attack was being plotted by the Pakistan based Jaish-e-Mohammed against the capital city.
Read the full story at The Diplomat