Imagine you are taking a walk with your family in the biggest and busiest market. A speeding van comes mowing down people and goes away. This is the new kind of terror attack for which dangerous weapons are not needed. In Barcelona, Spain, this happened. To kill innocent people, terrorist have come out with a new way. Now terrorists do not have to go to training camps to get trained for months. Now they have to just learn driving, pick a truck or a van into a populated area and crush people.
This is the fifth biggest attack in Europe. In July 2016, in Nice, France an attacker with a 19-ton truck killed 84 people and injured 458.
In December 2016 in Berlin, Germany a terrorist ran over a truck on people. In that attack 12 people were killed and 56 were injured.
In March this year on Westminster Bridge in London, UK, a car ran over people. Five people were killed and 49 injured.
In April, in Sweden's capital Stockholm, five people were killed in a similar attack. In Barcelona, the modus operandi was repeated.
You may have understood how easy it is for terrorists to carry out such attacks. Now they need not plant a bomb. Nor do they need to hijack a plane for 9/11 attack in New York or send trained terrorist to carry out 26/11 kind of attack in Mumbai. Terrorist now need a person who knows how to drive and is willing to carry out this kind of attack. Am I giving ideas to terrorists? They are already doing it!
Are we prepared for this?
In Barcelona, the van was rented and in Berlin, the truck was stolen. This is so easy in India where 540 cars are stolen everyday. In Barcelona, the attacker Musa-O-Kabir had rented the car using his brother's ID card. In India, one can simply get whatever ID he wants. For mere 500mb, people offer PAN card, Aadhar card photocopy to anyone.
Festive season is coming up. We are the second most populous nation in the world. Getting a van or a truck using fake ID card and then ramming it into festive crowds is so easy out here. We are just not prepared. At no front. Our people to police ration is 729:1 while in Barcelona it is 198:1, in France, it is 256:1.
Now, let's look at our intelligence network, which has been exposed over and over again. This network did not have any idea when our Parliament was attacked, or when Mumbai attack happened. These attacks required meticulous planning and yet our intelligence agencies were caught unawares. Imagine then, how they will detect when the terrorists virtually need no planning. All one needs is brainwashed persons who are ready to lay their life and there is no dearth of brainwashed youth in India.
You may feel we have scared you, tried to spread panic. But remember, this fear also teaches us and makes us alert.
