The US State Department's alert of possible millennium-eve
terrorist threats takes one back to December, 1988. Some US Embassies in the Scandinavian
countries had received anonymous telephone warnings of likely explosions in a US aircraft
in Europe during the holiday season. All of them had conveyed the warnings to the State
Department and one of them had also mentioned them on the notice board of the Embassy to
alert the local American community. The State Department, in turn, passed on the warnings
to the airline companies, but did not alert the travelling public.
Later, a Pan Am aircraft was blown up off Lockerbie by suspected
Islamic terrorists, killing all the passengers, most of them US citizens. The State
Department was strongly criticised in the Congress and outside for not informing the
public about these anonymous warnings on the ground that they remained unverified.
Since then, it has been the policy of the State Department to
take the public into confidence about such terrorism-related information, with appropriate
instructions. After the Mumbai blasts of March, 1993, there were rumours of the
possibility of a similar explosion in the New Delhi airport. In an advisory, the State
Department advised US citizens to avoid travels through the New Delhi airport till these
rumours were proved to be false.
When the Govt. of India protested to Washington over this
advisory on the basis of unsubstantiated rumours, the State Department expressed its
helplessness in view of the expectations of the Congress and the public that all such
information, whether low-grade, unverified or unverifiable, should be shared with the
public. The advisory was withdrawn after three weeks.
The recent alerts issued by the State Department to the American
public about the possibility of millennium-eve terrorist incidents have to be seen in this
context. Moreover, there is a greater need for alertness and caution during the
millennium-eve celebrations not only in the US and West Europe, but also in other
countries such as India, which are important tourist destinations, due to the following
reasons:
* To maximise the impact of their operations, terrorist groups
time their attacks to coincide with important occasions such as national days, religious
festivals etc. The Al Qaeda organisation of Osama bin Laden and other Islamic terrorist
groups allied with it have been projecting the Christians and the Jewish people as their
principal enemies. The millennium change-over is seen by them as an important religious
occasion of significance to the Christians and the Jewish people when the Islamic
terrorist groups should express their anger against them.
* The millennium change-over coincides with the Ramadan fasting
period of the Muslims. In the past, many spectacular terrorist incidents of Islamic
terrorist groups were timed to coincide with the fasting period. The New York World Trade
Centre bombing of February, 1993, coincided with the beginning of the fasting period and
the Mumbai blasts took place towards the end.
* Fridays, particularly the last and the last but one Friday of
the fasting period, are important occasions for the Islamic terrorist groups to express
their anger. The blasts in Nairobi, Dar-Es-Salaam and Islamabad took place on Fridays, but
not during the fasting period. The Mumbai blasts took place on the last but one Friday of
the fasting period immediately after the mid-day prayers. The millennium-eve celebrations
fall on a Friday (last but one?) of the fasting period.
Keeping these factors in view, even otherwise, it would have been
advisable for all countries, which are victims of Islamic terrorist groups and which are
important destinations for Western and Israeli tourists, to step up their anti-terrorism
precautions during this period and educate suitably the public and those in the travel
industry such as airlines, hotels etc
The need for such precautions has become all the more greater
because of the reported arrests of suspected followers of bin Laden in Pakistan and Jordan
and of an Algerian and his suspected Canadian accomplice in the US and suspicions of their
planning to organise terrorist incidents coinciding with the millennium change-over.
Mr.Michael Sheehan, Counter-Terrorism Co-ordinator of the State
Department, has put the alerts and precautions in their proper perspective in the
following words: " One (objective) is to share information we have regarding threats
in a prudent manner and the other is not to be overly alarmist as to unnecessarily
frighten the American people, especially those travelling abroad."
Similar precautions would be advisable in India.
