The world today is embroiled in deadly wars, claiming the lives of thousands of innocent civilians, taking the global economies & trade by storm, dwindling world peace, and severely stymying the growth trajectory of nations. From Russia-Ukraine to Israel-Palestine, Hezbollah, and Iran, these barbaric (proxy) wars in the pursuit of hegemony over land, power and religious sentiments have already brought much anguish into the lives of people. And unfortunately, the end of all these bloody wars just doesn’t seem imminent. Rather, possibility of the situation falling further apart seems all likely due to the double standards and war profiteering by the so-called advocates of human rights aka the developed nations. The USA is too powerful a country having its mighty presence in almost every part of the world. It may work as a catalyst to bring a ceasefire (by hook or crook) post the upcoming November Presidential elections. Or else, India, the newly emerging world power with its excellent diplomacy and notable global image, could find a peaceful way out. However, the possibility of either of the above is as meagre as thawing in the India-Canada diplomatic relations anytime soon.
As the global order is grappling with these human-induced catastrophes, India, the South Asian superpower, fortunately, under the leadership of PM Modi and the ruling NDA govt (not seeing it through an ‘andh-BJP bhakt’s’ lens. This post has nothing to do with my political affinity. Facts say it all.) is more or less in a sweet spot – all thanks to the outstanding diplomacy of Mr Jaishankar, the unwavering commitment & valour of the Indian defence forces, and the comparatively improved foreign, economic, defence, social & educational policies (a string of loopholes still do exist as mentioned in Why 400+ is a No?). As a breather, Bharat, by its steady adoption of state-of-the-art defence and intelligence infrastructure, hasn’t faced as many torments of terrorism in the last decade {except for the Uri, Pulwama, and few other cowardly attacks in J&K} in contrast to the decade earlier. Also, unlike previously, and quite unexpected on the enemy's side, most of these acts have gotten a well-targeted and brutal response from India, Surgical Strike and Balakot Air Strike to name a few. Wish it was, but all is not that hunky dory, as the relatively newer forms of extremism - radicalisation, ethnic violence, intolerance, vigilantism, communalism, and fundamentalism are still afflicting much pain to the country.
As these contemporary forms of violence are retarding and decelerating the developmental aspirations of India, another nightmare that holds the potential no lesser than a typical terrorist attack is expanding its ominous feet in the Indian security landscape. Wilful obstruction of railway tracks by miscreants and attempts to cause derailment is turning out to be a new concern not just for the Indian Railways but for the entire security space at large. Unless nipped in the very bud, this crisis will eventually have way gorier results than the existing conventional ones. In the last few months alone, we have come across disturbing news of various such tragic incidents of sabotage of railway tracks by iron rods, cement blocks, heap of soil, or even LPG cylinder. By the divine grace of the Lord, none of these misacts has caused any casualty though, long-term ramifications indeed frighten me. Yes, the prompt diligence of drivers and other officials responsible, has, of course, averted a calamitous accident so far, and hasn’t let these perverts bring any direct dire consequences. BUT (capitalizing for a reason), all these malevolent actions by these ‘to-be terrorists’ must now be frowned upon, condemned, and attached the utmost importance by the defence policymakers.
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| Photo by Trevar Skillicorn-Chilver on Unsplash |
Top brass of the internal security professionals and the south block’s defence strategists who have greyed their hair working for the overall security of this nation, and who actually hold the powers, resources, and authority to curtail this frantically growing threat should contemplate the devastating implications of this nefarious nightmare taking shape and devise a detailed strategy for its counter. The dreadful results of a major railway accident (that too without any purposeful damage) could easily be estimated with the June 2023 Odisha Train Collision killing over 290 passengers. These offenders with a terroristic mindset, intentionally planning an attack on similar lines will only get a boost from such accidents, and their motive to bring grievous suffering into the lives of people will get further bolstered. God forbid, that situation would not be any lesser than giving a live AK-47 in the hands of a terrorist and left in a crowded place – bloodbath and rampage!
Unless this newly emerging issue is systematically dealt with at the earliest, these acts would unfortunately unfurl into a PTA (Potential Terrorism Act), which may have far worse repercussions than even the deadly 26/11. But, why so? Coz, no matter how powerful or meticulously trained defence forces’ counter-terror capabilities will be, they will only come into the picture once the accident has occurred. It's a peculiar problem that won't really be tackled by ordinary means or direct confrontation. Mostly developed in rural or deserted belts of the country, India’s massive rail network of over 60,000 km, making it the fourth largest in the world, serves here as a disguise in blessing, with the railway tracks and infrastructure remaining vulnerable to such perils. Agree that manning the entire rail network won’t really be a realistic idea, but now is the high time when this issue must be brought over the discussion table.
Developing checkposts and deploying a dedicated force at strategic locations won’t just help deal with this issue, but may also put an end to other similar petty or even heinous criminal syndicates in the area; pinpointing the states mostly getting affected (like UP and Rajasthan) and conducting comprehensive research over the demographics & socio-economic backgrounds of offenders, developing sensible hypothesis and coming up with valuable conclusions (yes, going into the intricacies alone would help); and advancing the trains and signalling system by state-of-the-art technologies could be some of the reliable ways to counter this menace. Agree that all the above would put a heavy toll on the railway’s exchequer that’s already in a hand-in-mouth situation because of its abysmal Operating Ratio caused by abnormally low [yes, you can literally travel Kashmir to Kanyakumari, i.e. a whopping 3500 km in a comfy air-conditioned coach well in under ₹3500. Applying simple unit economics, it will come close to Re 1 for a km. Can you believe it?] train fares and much dearly treatment of its employees in terms of perks and emoluments (what the Indian Railways need to do isn’t really the scope of this post though, will certainly come up with a post on that). Indian Govt should provide unflinching and all possible support towards this cause as any life lost can’t really be quantified in terms of money. Safety of passengers and lives of citizens always supersede the finances, no matter what!
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Airports do exist, and many too in isolated areas. Flights do keep very low altitudes at the time of take-off/landing. If succeed in their misaims here, these wrongdoers won’t just stop at trains.