India shouldn’t take lightly the threats to its security from within and outside. Not just in border States, police forces countrywide should ginger up

As 2016 approaches, India needs to be acutely conscious of the security threats facing it. Nothwithstanding Prime Minister Narendra Modi's initiatives to ease ties with Islamabad, underlined by his emblematic Christmas stopover in lahore and warm interaction with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, India needs to keep its powder dry.

Whatever Mr Sharif's gestures, one can hardly ignore his and his brother Shahbaz Sharif's close ties with the Jamaat-ud-Dawa'h, the parent organisation of lashkar-e-Tayyeba, and their head and the architect of the 26/11 terrorist outage in Mumbai, Hafiz Saeed. Besides, in respect of India, the shots are called not by Mr Sharif's Government but the Pakistani Army, whose chief, General Raheel Sharif is implacably hostile to this country. Add to this the gains made by Pakistan by using the bulk of the aid received from the United States to increase its strike capability against this country, and India needs to not only remain alert but urgently replenish its arsenal and enhance its military capability.

Simultaneously, India needs to sharpen its efforts to cope with cross-border terrorism. While Pakistan is the obvious source, one can hardly rule out vigil on the Bangladesh border. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is a genuine friend of India and New Delhi needs to do everything it can to strengthen her position. This is particularly important because the West does not adequately realise the need to do so thanks to the utter ineptitude of Bangladesh's Foreign Ministry which has let her down badly.

The situation in Bangladesh is serious. Fundamentalist Islamist terrorist organisations like the Islamic State and offshoots of the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, with capacities for violence grossly disproportionate to their numerical strength, have been carrying out murderous attacks on secular bloggers and other objects of their vicious hatred. Their antipathy toward India is well known, as is the support they receive from similar elements strongly entrenched in West Bengal and Assam. Going by experience, the danger of their mounting terrorist attacks in the heart of India from the peripheries can hardly be ruled out.

India also needs to be careful about the Nepal border. Apart from the potential danger inherent in the issue of ties between Maoists of both countries, there is the question of Pakistan's use of Nepal's territory to conduct hostile activities against this country. While the hijacking of Indian's (then Indian Airlines) flight IC-814 from Kathmandu to Delhi on December 24, 1999, remains the prime instance, smuggling of spurious Indian currency notes, made in Pakistan, to fund terrorist activities and undermine the Indian economy, has been a constant effort, which Kathmandu has not been able to prevent. Given this, and the important role Gurkhas play in the Indian Army, it is imperative to end without delay the current tensions between the two countries over the agitation by the Madhesis.

India has doubtless strengthened vigil along the Nepal border and increased the deployment of the Sashastra Seema Bal (Armed Border Force — formerly Special Service Bureau) which works in close coordination with the Research and Analysis Wing. The administrations of the border States, however, remain inadequate when it comes to coping with cross-border terrorism. Particularly, Uttarakhand's practice of leaving police administration in rural areas under Patwaris, needs re-examination.

Not just those of the border States, police establishments countrywide need gingering up to cope with growing internal and external terrorism.

While the Indian Mujahideen remains to be crushed, the Islamic State, which has already declared its intention to strike in India, is making recruits. It will be unwise to think it will not grow here. Those who were dismissive of it when it first emerged in Syria and Iraq are now eating their words. It will be defeated but not before it has played havoc with the lives of millions and left a large territory in West Asia in ruins. We cannot take the slightest chance in India.