When they chose to live by gun, let them die by gun
The death of Maoist leader Kishenji in an encounter, which has been dubbed as “fake” by his fellow colleagues, underground and overground, and the findings of SIT that Ishrat Jahan was killed in a fake encounter in Gujarat along with her terrorist colleagues by the Gujarat police, has once again put the focus back on so called extra judicial methods adopted by the law enforcing agencies to eliminate hardened criminals.
Kishenji could have violated the provisions of the Indian Penal Code hundreds of times, could have killed hundreds or could have contributed directly or indirectly to the killing of a thousand people but that it not being talked about. Had Kishenji lived for another 10 or 15 years say till the year 2025, can anyone imagine how many more innocent security personnel, tribals and farmers would have been killed by that time. What is being talked about is the alleged act of omission and commission by the security forces in the difficult terrain of Lalgarh and Jangal Mahal in West Bengal not about the background and the killing machine which Kishenji was.
I am not concerned about how he was killed, whether the encounter was genuine or not. My only concern is the “concern” expressed by a section of overt and covert Maoists. When you become a Maoist, go underground, hit the forests, take on the security forces head on and then kill people, you must know what fate awaits you in the end. This definitely is not the jails but the gallows. You lived by the gun all your life and died by the gun. When you did not follow any norms or law, why do you expect that the colleagues and friends of those whom you gunned down, would follow that.
Same is the case with Ishrat Jahan and her fellow LeT operatives. No other than the then Home Secretary G K Pillai says that she had terror links, intelligence inputs were given to the Gujarat government that there was a terror plot to kill chief minister Narendra Modi and that she was a LeT Operative. David Coleman Headley, the terror mastermind, also apparently told the NIA that she was a LeT suicide bomber. Even the LeT claimed her to be its member in its website. Should the Gujarat police have waited for her and her terrorist friends to accomplish her mission of killing the chief minister before doing anything?
I can understand hue and cry being made after the death of an innocent person by security forces. I can understand that those policemen who killed two innocent businessmen in Connaught Place more than a decade back be given due punishment and they have got it. But I fail to understand why a noise is being made at the killing of merchants of death.
The question is who benefits if LeT operatives and Maoist commanders are killed? Not the commandoes and policemen who put their lives at stake and will continue to get a salary of 10 to 15 thousand per month even after a prized terrorist were killed. Not the senior officers who will get their promotions in the stipulated time. It is the society which benefits. I am benefiting. You are benefiting. You enjoy your freedom only when such menace does not lurk around in the vicinity.
Having closely watched terrorism in Punjab ever since I was a school student and its end after a loss of thousands of people, the only question which comes to mind is who benefited when terrorism in this border state came to an end. Obviously the country, the society and the people were the beneficiaries. The security forces and Punjab Police did not benefit from this. People can move about without fear, do their business freely, can venture out at any time they want. Was it possible when terror was the buzzword in Punjab ? The answer would obviously be a resounding no.
It was only when the policy of “bullet for bullet” was adopted in Punjab that the average life span of a terrorist was reduced to six months. Senior police officials who battled terrorism in Punjab recalled that when terrorists were put into jail, they converted the criminals and inmates lodged there into terror machines, indoctrinated and trained them. Even two hardened terrorists lodged in a jail were able to indoctrinate 100 lodged there. No judge was willing to convict them. They used to get bail at the first appearance in court itself. There was no witness, no evidence, nothing against them. How could you implement rule of law then?
Rule of law returned to Punjab only when unconventional methods like “bullet for bullet” were adopted. If you fire a bullet or have killed someone ever, be prepared to meet the same fate. This was the unwritten code of Punjab Police and it succeeded in wiping out terror from the face of Punjab . Perhaps this is the only example in the country where terror was completely uprooted.
Indian Penal Code came into being in 1860. Though there have been some amendments, the British version largely remains even now. When IPC was formulated, there were no terrorists around, there were no Maoists, there were no LeT and terror outfits. There were no suicide bombers then nor were there indoctrinated and motivated countries out to fight a covert war with their neighbour through all means. Also isn’t the IPC also meant to punish the guilty, including death to the mass murderers, even though the process could be extremely lengthy and complicated.
Why not simplify the process even now. Why not bring suitable amendment in IPC to fight new forms of terrorism and crime. If someone like Kishenji is caught, tried and given death penalty say within six months, no security force would care to fire a bullet and would instead catch the culprit. It is only when the security forces know that even if they catch a terrorist the menace of terror would not end as the terrorist would continue to enjoy the hospitality of the government (like Afzal Guru, Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar, Kasab and others).
Let us go back to February this year. What did the Maoists do in Odisha? They simply abducted a Collector and got a dozen of their colleagues freed. The state catapulted even though those Maoists, who were freed, had killed scores of people and the security forces managed to arrest them after putting their life at stake. It could have been repeated in West Bengal . Keep Kishenji in jail and allow the Maoists to go for a kidnapping spree to get him released. Should the CRPF have done this?
Rewind the date to December 24, 1999 when Indian Airlines aircraft was hijacked and taken to Kandahar Afghanistan Lahore Dubai Kashmir . It was not the government but the country which lost its face in the international community after the dreaded terrorist was released. The same Masood’s name figured in dozens of anti-India terrorist activities later on.
It was time when terrorists got due punishment they deserve, if not by the courts, then by law enforcing agencies. Ask questions and give severe punishment even if a single innocent life is lost. Don’t ask questions when peddlers of death meet the fate which they want for others. Don’t create a situation when the security personnel start thinking and contemplating what to do when they see the likes of Osama Bin Laden in front of them. Just allow them to pull the trigger. (November 27, 2011)
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