SECURITY THREAT TO KERALA

Kerala is fast on the way to losing the title ‘the safest state in India’. One has to presume that the Home Minister himself wanted to indicate such a danger signal when he regretted recently that his police force is reluctant to effectively implement the newly introduced Goonda Act in the state. The LDF Government has excluded certain sections while at the same time adding new ones like illicit liquor and Hawala trade while modifying the Goonda Act introduced by the UDF Government


The police themselves indicate that the mastermind behind the recent gold and bank locker thefts in the Trichur area were none other than the LTTE. But, apart from that, they still don’t have a clue about these well planned and executed crimes. And now, Intelligence circles reveal more terrifying news for the Kerala people,that the Naxal-LTTE connections are behind the large scale smuggling of drugs and Ganja into God’s own country!

The Naxal network extending from Nepal to Andhra Pradesh is one of the gravest threats to security faced by the nation today. The Naxal groups, who have assumed total control over certain areas of India, have not hesitated to take over even tax collection and the protection of the locals in these areas. It is reliably learned that Ganja from the fields of just such an area,Warangal in AP, is being smuggled into Kerala on a large scale and converted into various products. Apart from sale in the state, drugs are being smuggled abroad from the shores of Kerala and Tamil Nadu, as per intelligence collected by the authorities.

The threat increases multifold when it is established that the drugs mafia has close associations with organized forces like the LTTE and the Naxals. Even the possession of drugs in a small quantity is punishable in our land; but the truth is that the large scale stockists, the big fish, are often allowed a free run.

Though Rupees to the tune of crores regularly flow into Kerala via fake accounts and other channels, our authorities have not been able to establish how, for what and by whom this money has been utilized! Things have come to a stage where even murder is committed, on public roads and in broad daylight, in the name of Hawala racket.

The Central Intelligence has already warned the Kerala authorities that weapons on a large scale are reaching the underworld via Hawala channel. These weapons were used in the recent clashes which occurred in various parts of the Kerala. A parallel economy is developing in the state, which also adds to the woes of the authorities.

Kerala desperately needs to seek help from the Central intelligence agencies to fight drug smuggling and Hawala trade. And a crack team urgently needs to be formed in the Kerala Police to co-ordinate the fight. Would it be too much to ask all the political parties in the state to rise above petty politics, for once, to tackle these vital issues which are crucial to the security of Kerala?

Update - 2nd July 2007
The public criticism of the police, by the Home Minister, for not implementing the Goonda Act effectively, has done little to goad the police into hunting down the known Goondas in the state.All the District Ploice Superindendents have done is to effect precautionary arrest of about 25 goondas all over the state in a week and close the file, at least temporarily.

Ironically, certain conditions incorporated in the Goonda Act by the Left Government have come to the aid ( was this the very intention? ) of the various mafias involved in sand mining, illicit liqour/drugs dealing and girl trading.These conditions prevent the police from even touching these anti-social elements! So what purpose is served by such an act?A provision in the Act to impose a penalty of Rs. 1000/day on concerned police officials in case of 'unlawful' detention is also acting as a deterrent to more arrests.

The original Goonda Act introduced by the previous Government had empowered the police to arrest and hold in preventive detention anybody involved in any mafia activities.But the LDF Government included the provision that defendants in cases filed directly by the police (in the absence of complaints from the public) be exempted. The argument was that the Act was liable to be misused by the Police to persecute innocent people in the absence of such a provision. However, there is every indication that the Government was simply bowing to the pressure from the liquor and sand mining mafias in watering down the Act.

Police have no option but to file cases directly in the dirty areas of illicit liquor, liqour and drugs smuggling, fake currency, hawala trading, fake CD, girl trading and sand mining-the simple reason being that no citizen concerned about his own and his family's safety would dare come forward to register a complaint against these mafias.It is this criminal section that has been exempted from action by the Police as per the Goonda Act!

In short, the police have to make do with detaining those involved in small time assault cases and allowing even the known members of the real mafias to go their merry way.
Many senior IPS Officers in the state had warned the Government, in writing, that the new Act lacked teeth and would be ineffective. They had also pointed out that neighburing States like Tamil Nadu were implementing the Goonda Act very effectively by arming the Police with more power. A screening committee could be insituted to allay fears of the police misusing the Act. In fact, the original Goonda Act provided for scrutiny by a screening committee, including the Home Secretary, Asst. DGP and SP before issual of orders for preventive detention. So, what was the need for such a modification which, in effect, has rendered the very Act impotent?

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