Moral Decay and Goa's Susceptibility to Terror

by NANDKUMAR KAMAT
Posted on 2008-12-08
WE don’t have to look only at the sea or the air to monitor the entry of terrorists when Goa has created an ideal environment to establish and sustain their benign local sanctuaries, ironically with full social approval.
The parallel, underground and secular economy of Goa has become larger and stronger than the official economy of the state. It has penetrated, influenced and corrupted the state’s law and order machinery. It has infiltrated key government offices. It sustains the politics and politicians of all hues and colours. It patronises all forms of gambling, adulterations, bootlegging, smuggling, drug peddling, rave parties, sex trade, trade in illegal firearms and explosives, pilferage of industrial alcohol, creation of bogus documents like land ownership deeds, passports, degree certificates, driving licenses, ration cards, EPICs. No taluka, town or village is excluded from its’ network and free from its’ operation or influence. Roughly two lakh people are supporting it. As long as it continues to enjoy such popularity and patronage – any security measure against a perceived external terrorism threat would not work. The system needs to be cleansed internally with a high-pressure hose to get rid of the dirt and toxins it has accumulated after Goa’s liberation.
For a moment let us consider an ideal government, an ideal leadership and a determined political class willing to adopt a ‘zero tolerance policy’ at any or all costs. It would first seal all the official and unofficial entry and exit points or landing points – along the coast, at the mouths of rivers and creeks, along Goa – Karnataka and Goa-Maharashtra border.
Drugs, sex, arms, explosives make a powerful combination. According to Interpol, Goa’s flourishing drug trade links both the Middle Eastern ‘golden crescent’ and the Thai ‘golden triangle’. There are powerful international players involved in this lucrative trade. Ravi Singh’s ‘I was a drug addict’ (Orient paperbacks, 1979) needs to be made a compulsory reader for all the elected representatives and cops posted in the tourist belt. It portrays the hellish side of the tourist paradise and the corrupt elements in the police force.
But 30 years after Ravi Singh succumbed to drugs at a young age of 21 years, Goa’s drug trade has grown phenomenally. So would the ideal leadership strike at its’ very roots? To do that it would have to spy on its’ own people and trap the double agents and informers within the system. It should not show any mercy to those who are on the pay roll of the drug merchants. It would have to strengthen the hands of those honest and patriotic officers who’re not purchasable. People talk openly about the police who have allegedly amassed wealth beyond their known means of income. People point to their properties and businesses and the ‘benami’ companies, which they have floated. The importing points for all types of narcotics and psychoactive substances are well known. The main dealers are prestigious figures. They have political patrons in and outside Goa. The operation to get rid of the drug trade in Goa would be single most important operation in our post liberation history. But unless it is completed all the talk about the preparedness against terrorist threats would remain purely academic consolation.
Tourists are free to enjoy good music including techno/trance but within the limits of the laws of the land. But no rave party on the coasts, plateaus, cliffs, valleys and in forests is free of drugs. Smaller rave parties are now organised in private residences. The police ignore this new menace. All kinds of explosives can be easily obtained in Goa and even Agente Monteiro knew the gullibility and vulnerability of the system when he had plotted a series of bomb blasts way back in 1964. Did our police commissioners and collectors ever ponder over the rampant use of explosives to kill the riverine fish and wild animals? Why are these activities still continuing under the very nose of our local police thanas? What steps has the fisheries department taken to ensure action under the Indian fisheries act, 1897 that bans ‘blast fisheries’?
Similar incidents are occurring in Marmagoa bay near St George, Grande and Pequeno islands. Smuggled explosives are used to blast and remove underwater corals. Foreigners then take these as souvenirs. These uninhabited and defenseless islands are also suspected to be scenes of rave parties, sexual orgies and dropping points for smugglers and arms dealers.
In a state where hundreds of people, especially in rural areas are accustomed to handling dangerous explosives like Geglinite/dynamite – the terrorists would find it easy to get local recruits. The forest department has reported helplessness in confiscating more than thousand illegal firearms near sanctuary areas in North and South Goa. Why are the respective district collectors turning a blind eye to possession of such illegal firearms? These firearms are smartly hidden around the houses by the people in anticipation of raids. They also enjoy political patronage. The government needs to view this issue very seriously because those who are accustomed to possess illegal firearms can also help the terrorists in hiding their arms and ammunition.
Goa’s booming trade in adulterated petroleum products need to be a cause of worry for security agencies. If these operators network with the terrorists then it would lead to a catastrophic situation. In Loutulim, a petroleum adulteration den had blown up a few years ago. The incident was hushed up and the petroleum adulteration business was allowed to prosper.
In January 2006, a huge intra and interstate racket involved in pilferage of diesel from barges was exposed. How the central and state governments with all their power and might are permitting these activities? Such a situation is very convenient for terrorists. Those who make an earning by stealing petroleum products would do anything for money.
Moral decay in society makes the ground fertile for the terrorists. If terrorists have not yet brought Goa on their radar, then they may be just busy in consolidating their clandestine network. They may have already recruited local operatives from Goa’s parallel economy. They might have already planted their informers inside the government. They know the weaknesses of the corrupt system and its’ agonisingly slow response time. So they might have full details of the counterstrategies.
Goa’s internal security problems also pose a permanent threat to India’s national security. The parallel economy has to be destroyed ruthlessly. The rule of law should prevail, sparing none. Goa needs its’ own rational and realistic security doctrine, a functional cabinet committee on security, a professional state security advisor and a high powered, no nonsense state security advisory council. Without solving internal security issues- planning to counter only external threat, perception like terrorist attacks would be an incomplete exercise.