INDIA NEWS
Jan 16-31, 2022 - Vol 2, Issue 13
EDITORIAL
From the editor's desk India's security scenario has some worrying new Novak’s deportation is dimensions extraordinary, but so is the time we live in
N
ovak Djokovic has made world headlines this time in Australia in a different type of court.
The world no.1 tennis player Novak Djokovic landed in Australia on 6 January to find that the visa based on the medical exemption granted by the Independent Medical Exemption Review Panel appointed by the Victorian government, has been revoked by the Australian Border Force. Australian Open Chief Craig Tiley shared that over 26 players and support staff had asked for medical exemption on various grounds, out of which only few were granted. Indian rising tennis player Aman Dhaiya was one of the unlucky ones, despite arguing with the Australian authorities that being 17 years old, he was not allowed to have vaccination, as the Indian government had approved vaccines for the 15-18 years old only on January 3, leaving little time for Dahiya to be vaccinated.Naturally, Dahiya was questioning exemption being granted to Novak Djokovic. Djokovic’s controversy triggered a massive backlash from his fans both back home and in Australia, leading to a police action in Melbourne. From the angry Serbian President to the world no.1’s parents, the brickbats have unrelenting on Australia. Djokovic’s lawyers filed an appeal in the Federal Circuit Court where Judge Anthony Kelly ruled on 10 January against Djokovic’s visa cancellation and ordered his release from Immigration detention, saying, “the government had conceded Border Force’s decision to interview Mr Djokovic and subsequently cancel his visa was unreasonable in the circumstances”. His lawyers had argued that because he had contracted Covid on December 16, and so he was not eligible for vaccination for 6 months, and hence, the exemption from Tennis Australia and Department of Home Affairs was granted. It is a different matter that Djokovic is against vaccination in principle. Seeing the adverse publicity and backlash, that too in an election year, in which the federal government had its own set of fumbling to cover over the vaccine roll out, return of Australian citizens and students stranded overseas, and shortage of Rapid Antigen Tests, Prime Minister Scott Morrisson intervened for some damage control saying that the matter was being carefully reviewed by Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs, Alex Hawke. On 14th January, after much
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By D.C. Pathak
speculation, Alex Hawke revoked his visa for the second time under Section 133C(3) of the Migration Act in “public interest”, and to prevent a “civil unrest” by the “talisman of anti-vaccination sentiment”. PM Morrisson said the Djokovic’s visa has been revoked ‘in the public interest’ and since the Australians have made ‘many sacrifices’ during the pandemic their interests and safety needed to be protected. PM’s stand has apparently stuck the right chords amongst the larger Australian community. In the past 12 months thousands of Australians and businesses have suffered unfathomable hardship and pain due to “heartless” border closures and restrictions, strict isolation and quarantine regulations, and vaccination requirement. Families have been separated, and many have been unable to bid goodbyes to their near and dear ones due to border restrictions, despite being fully vaccinated. Children have been separated with mothers, and Australian citizens have been stranded overseas unable to return for months. This exemption flew in the face of them all. Djokovic’s lawyers challenged the Minister’s decision in the full Federal Court where Chief Justice James Allsop announced the court’s unanimous decision of dismissing the world no.1’s application, with costs to be paid borne by him. “It sends an appalling message to millions seeking to reduce #COVID19Aus risk to themselves & others. #Vaccination shows respect, Novak,” tweeted Stephen Parnis, a former vice-president of the Australian Medical Association. “I don’t care how good a tennis player he is. If he’s refusing to get vaccinated, he shouldn’t be allowed in,” he tweeted Even the Indian and English cricketers have been subjected to strictest of quarantine and Covid regulations, and therefore, granting exemption to Novak was definitely making a mockery of all those who made the “sacrifices” and went through a lot of pain to abide by the Covid rules and regulations, and do their bit to entertain in a safe manner. Sport now days is not just a sport, but is closely linked with the well-being of thousands who congregate to watch it.The pandemic does not discriminate, and so shouldn’t we! That he has been deported is not the key issue, but that he was allowed to enter in the first place, is. Novak’s double visa revocation and deportation is extraordinary indeed, but so is the time in which we all live.
I
ntelligence being the anchor of security, two fundamentals of national security provide the reasons for a periodical examination of whether the Intelligence infrastructure and its methodology were in need of an upgrade and expansion. First is the reality that the threat perspectives were never static since geo- politics could alter and new adversarial fronts shape up. The second is the principle that says 'Security is a matter of degree' implying that it should never be presumed to be perfect and should be constantly improved. Our Intelligence agencies have performed very well with their existing resources and outreach but they might need a further backing, technological advance and new levels of coordination to measure up to the emerging challenges. Some of the new features of the contemporary security environs can be easily identified. There is a shift from open warfare to 'covert' offensives in the postCold War world and nearer home use of terrorism by Pakistan as an instrument of 'asymmetric war' against India in Kashmir and elsewhere has necessitated induction of the armed forces in security operations on our own soil. This has pushed civil- military cooperation to an entirely new level, called for close functional rapport between DIA and civilian Intelligence set-up and made it vital for the Army to train for adherence to Intelligence-based operations for minimising collateral damage. AFSPA may still be needed in the situation that was developing, but would require strict compliance in accordance with the spirit of law so as to avoid any charge of heavy handedness against the Army. Its operations fall under the umbrella of 'aid to civil authority'. The Army has generally performed its duties in difficult areas, quite well. Another prime threat to national security is the exposure to Cyber attacks of the adversary carried out by way of hacking of vital systems -- this is a new dimension of 'proxy war'. Cyber defence has an intrinsic challenge because the breach was detected only after the attack had occurred and mitigation therefore had to be prompt and effective. Civil military cooperation on research and Intelligence production in the sphere of cyber security has to be built on solid foundations. The 'jointness' of Defence forces being established by the CDS should help in evolving shared protocols for Intelligence agencies, NTRO and DIA under the auspices of NSCS. It is necessary to focus on prevention of cyber attacks -however difficult it might be.
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Also, it is now well known that social media has become the new instrument of combat and wherever it is used in a planned way to influence public opinion through a 'covert' operation, Intelligence will be required to get into its roots and identify the adversary behind the scene operating from within the country or outside. There are laws against the misuse of social media but Intelligence is now needed about the elements and forces who could be directing an 'information warfare' using this medium for false propaganda, fake news and 'radicalisation'. A new phenomenon -- going beyond the problem of NGOs with a hidden agenda -- is the advent of sponsored civil society forums and tinted writings designed to turn public opinion against a democratically elected dispensation. They sometimes acted in concert with the antiIndia lobbies at home and abroad that played up vague issues like 'majoritarianism', 'authoritarianism' and 'minority' rights to destabilise a constitutional set up. Intellectualism could even become the new tool of politics by proxy. This facet of civil society activity adversely impacting on the national security belonged to the deeper layers of 'unconventional war' in which even an open challenge to national integrity and sovereignty and ridiculing of the idea of paying respect to national flag and national anthem, were sought to be legitimised in the name of freedom of expression and democratic right. This is what NSA Ajit Doval warned against while addressing the IPS Probationers at Hyderabad recently. All of this however, does not detract from the fact that a large number of NGOs in this country are engaged in purposeful social and philanthropic endeavours to the benefit of India as a nation. Last but not the least, a potent strategic threat to national security of India now is attributable to the SinoPak military alliance -- an axis of a Marxist state and a fundamentalist regime -- that rests on a huge 'give and take' made by the two adversaries of India at the cost of the latter. These two hostile neighbours have a certain capability of
Another prime threat to national security is the exposure to Cyber attacks of the adversary carried out by way of hacking of vital systems
playing mischief on India's domestic front and are expectedly acting together even more closely following the scrapping of Article 370 relating to Jammu and Kashmir, by the Indian Parliament. The anti- India lobbies have also become active in this period encouraged to an extent by the leaders of the valley-based parties who always interpolated Pakistan in the equation between the citizens of Jammu & Kashmir and the Centre -- they never said a word about the terrorist violence instigated by that country from across the PoK using faith-based motivation to recruit terrorists. The policy of 'terror and talks don't go together' has been appreciated by the world outside. In the fitness of things Centre should initiate measures to deter those who promoted proPak separatism in Kashmir. Apart from an examination of the needs of individual Intelligence agencies for organisational expansion and added resources, the matters of coordination -- in both operational and long term endeavours -- within the entirety of national security set up covering civil, military and technological segments, may have to be given special attention. Moreover, the internal security front has made the police an important first responder in many situations and the collaboration between the Central security agencies and the State Police has therefore acquired a new-found importance. As threats to security like terrorism translate closer to the ground, the role of state and even District Intelligence has come into sharp focus. The recent DGPs conference demonstrated how the Centre- State cooperation in the sphere of Intelligence for national security could be kept above party politics. The Prime Minister's call for establishing a National Technology Mission for Policing under the chairmanship of Union Home Minister, paves the way for advancing in this direction. Comprehensive arrangements for Centre- State coordination can be evolved for serving the national objectives considering the fact that Police responsibility now goes beyond maintenance of law and order to include active participation in the safeguarding of Internal Security. Also, an important point for national security is to ensure that our Intelligence agencies attract the best of available talent from within and outside of the government. (The writer is a former Director of Intelligence Bureau)
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