Everyman's War: Strategy, Security and Terrorism in India

by Raghu Raman

War has never been about killing soldiers or civilians although it may appear to be so. This myth, propagated by movies and books, masks the reality that war is an extension of policy by other means. All warfare’s essential objective is to retard the adversary’s economic and geopolitical progress and advance one’s own interests.

For as Leon Trotsky observed, ‘You may not be interested in war; but war is interested in you.’

Every atrocity committed by security forces strengthens the support base for the terrorist movement, which is why terrorists often provoke security forces into reprisals against innocent populations.

is because intelligence doesn’t fail. Intelligence is not a project—which can fail or succeed. It’s a process that has elements of planning and execution and so for ‘intelligence’ to succeed, it needs to be acted upon successfully.

One, specific intelligence is very hard to come by in real time. Yes, the dots do exist, and while they are easy to connect post facto, it is exceptionally difficult to do that in real time.

Such false positives take a heavy toll on security apparatuses. For instance, each time a city goes on alert, it causes incredible damage and trauma. Airlines and passengers lose millions every year because of airport alerts, millions of man-hours are lost because of security checks on roads, airports, hotels, hospitals, and malls. The very act of acting on intelligence can make a society behave as if under a siege.

Which is why as a society and a nation, our ability to respond must be swift and decisive because the hope of prevention cannot be a strategy.

Hence, an expectation that terrorists will be identified and pre-empted requires observation and analysis of information, which may be construed to be intrusive. Society must make the decision about what to give up to achieve a larger objective.

Terror is an instrument of waging war, and war is a continuation of politics by other means. Any act that threatens the sovereignty or well being of a nation, or causes it to drain resources that would have otherwise been expended on developmental activities, is an act of war.