From Mainland to Tier-2 cities: Terror has a new address

The murders at Udaipur and Amaravati have become a security nightmare for the agencies

New Delhi, July 08: In the wake of the recent killings in Udaipur and Amaravati, India could now be witnessing a new model of terror with threat knocking at the tier-2 cities, a tactic often propagated by the Islamic State. The recent killings suggest a clear shift of focus from the mainland to the hinterland and the country's intelligence now needs to spruce up for this new shift.

While outfits such as the Lashkar-e-Tayiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad and Hizbul Mujahideen have kept their focus largely on Jammu and Kashmir, the Islamic State has stayed out of it.

If one takes into account the Nice attack in France, it was an indicator that the outfit wanted to move into the hinterland and create terror. While the killers in the Udaipur and Amaravati murders have not yet said that they have been associated with the Islamic State, the manner in which the killing hints otherwise.

In a bid to understand the entire model, OneIndia talked to various experts on the matter.
Abhinav Pandya, a Cornell University graduate in public affairs and a policy analyst specialising in counter terrorism, Indian foreign policy and Afghanistan-Pakistan geopolitics, told OneIndia that the Islamic State has very often spoken about attacking the Hindu regime in India. They have stayed out of Kashmir as there is too much international attention on it.

The Islamic State is looking for radicalised Muslims and realises that there are more such ones in smaller cities and towns. Issues such as the hijab row have emanated from smaller towns, Pandya says while adding that these cases show that the radicalised lot are more in smaller towns.

Another official analyses that the attacks in Udaipur and Amaravati are clear indicators that terror groups such as the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda have their focus on tier-2 cities. When terror enters small towns, the fear is higher as it feels like it is at your doorstep. For the terror groups it is a victory since they have achieved their motive of penetrating deeper into the system, the official explains.

"Take the case of Udaipur. It is a global tourist destination. Destination weddings take place there. It is the perfect city to spread fear," Pandya adds.

With terror entering the hinterland, the Intelligence agencies and security mechanism are exploring newer ways to deal with the problem. The monitoring on the social media has to go up two-fold, points out former Research and Analysis Wing chief C D Sahay.

If one goes for the deep radicalisation type of terror, it is very difficult to monitor such things, especially the Islamic State lone wolf model. The Islamic State's choice of weapons in lone wolf attacks in recent times has been trucks and knives. They also target smaller cities and create immense fear. Their idea is not to blow up a city, but to terrorise a city, Sahay explains.

When it comes to security, Sahay asks how many people can one provide security to. "A man walks in as an innocent customer and kills an innocent Hindu tailor. In the Amaravati case, an innocent Hindu chemist is killed by five radicalised elements. In the Udaipur case, the police were forwarded, but security was not provided. In the Amaravati case, the police tried to close it as a case of robbery," Sahay adds.

The question is not always about having Intelligence. It is about taking measures to prevent such incidents especially when you have an inkling about it, the former RAW chief says.

Sahay further points out that the police and the Intelligence and others part of the security establishment must depoliticise themselves first. In Amaravati, the police treated it as a case of dacoity because they were shy of admitting that there could be a terror module. Take the case of West Bengal, the police there have another model and there are problems galore over there too, Sahay says.

A crime on the other hand has only one model and that is based on the rule of the law and the security establishment is equally responsible to such incidents to take place.
Sahay says that the social media and the dark web is where most of the monitoring should take place. The Intelligence should be strengthened and more number of people with expertise should be added to monitor the web.