15 Years After 26/11, India is a Transformed Nation in Security Realm, But It Still Needs That X Factor
News 18When Pakistani terrorists inflicted the dastardly 26/11 terror attacks on Mumbai in 2008, India was caught grossly unprepared. The fact is that India has not witnessed a major terror attack against unarmed civilians since 26/11, and that is because the country has consciously worked to strengthen its counterterrorism apparatus since 2008. Similarly, the Intelligence Bureau, among India’s most important spy agencies, saw its budget being raised by 13% from Rs 3,022 crore in the previous fiscal to Rs 3,418 crore now. In its annual threat assessment report, USA’s Office of the Director of National Intelligence earlier this year informed Congress that “under the leadership of PM Modi, India is more likely than in the past to respond with military force to Pakistani provocations.” India took its campaign of establishing deterrence against Pakistan a step further in the aftermath of the February 2019 Pulwama attack. A big factor that led to Pakistan’s current state of affairs has been India’s proactive global diplomacy since 2014 that exposed Islamabad as a patron of terror groups and a destabilising and rogue entity in the Indian subcontinent.