What should we deplore more? The politically motivated controversy over the need or compulsion to replace the existing laws to fight terrorism with tougher ones, or that even 72 hours after the Jaipur mayhem on Tuesday evening, the Centre and the Rajasthan government are clueless about the perpetrators? Finance minister P. Chidambaram candidly admitted, after national security adviser M.K. Narayanan briefed the Cabinet on Thursday, that our security apparatus is still groping in the dark to trace the identity of the outfit or the combination of outfits that unleashed terror on the Pink City. Almost reminding one of the adage of the stables being locked after the horses have bolted, the state government has constituted a special investigation team to collaborate with the National Security Council and the Intelligence Bureau to probe the event. It also plans to form an anti-terrorist special task force after consultations with such units in other states. One fears that the stage has passed when such routine responses were considered or were in fact adequate to meet terrorism’s challenges.

Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje herself has conceded that something potentially more effective is called for. “Today’s terrorists,” she said, “are well connected, use most sophisticated communication systems and have grown to be a very formidable enemy.” Her reading of the capabilities of the terrorists tallies with that of our security experts, who demand an entirely new, modern, sophisticated, well-designed, politically neutral and technology-guided counter-terrorism strategy consistent with patterns put in place by terror-prone nations globally. The security paradigm has to measure up to the expertise mobilised by terrorists and develop communication systems and channels capable of outwitting and overtaking them. In other words, our security system and personnel need to be a step ahead of those that challenge it.

In a sense, the surprise Jaipur attack, like those in a few other states, brought home to the people and government of Rajasthan the serious threat terrorism poses to India’s internal security system. Till Tuesday evening, Jaipur’s citizens were unaware that the city was playing host to sleeper cells and training camps of branches of Pakistan and Bangladesh-based outfits working in cooperation with cadres of the home-grown militant outfit Students’ Islamic Movement of India. A new outfit calling itself “Indian Mujahideen” has claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s outrage, raising suspicions that it might be a proxy claim intended to divert attention. A radical change in the Centre’s approach to counter-terrorism strategies, including a serious and objective examination of the adequacy or otherwise of existing laws, is indicated. This must be undertaken as an out-and-out security-oriented exercise totally devoid of political overtones.