As per latest news Kolkata is up on the terror radar.
But I feel Kolkata is relatively safe from a mass scale terror attack. Two reasons that come to my mind –
Reason 1:
Kolkata is a safe heaven for terrorists operating from Pakistan and Bangladesh. They come here to lay low till the next assignment and prepare for the same (mentally and logistics wise) . If you track most of the terrorist strikes in last five years, most of them had some or other logistical link to Kolkata (or West Bengal). The reason they have selected Kolkata to do the same are:
- Big metro city with 12.5 million people. So it is easy to hide!
- Excellent connectivity with the rest of the country through the rail network.
- Very lazy and indifferent police force.
- Excellent hideouts! Even police is scared to raid some places.
And the most important reason is – Close proximity to Bangladesh from where terrorists smuggle themselves into India for few hundred rupees with their weapons of destruction through the porous border.
Reason 2:
Terrorists have never taken Kolkata seriously because an attack here does not result in any political or financial impact on national scale.
So, Whats the conclusion?
Therefore they are less likely to attack Kolkata on a mass scale anytime soon. This will throw open their hide-out to major hunt-and-shoot operations, disrupting their major operations in the pipeline! They will surely send terror-mails about their planned attacks in Kolkata, since their main weapon is terror and not rifles and grenades. If people in this city gets terrorized, changes their lifestyle, live in a state of uncertainty – their mission is accomplished!
But, this does not mean that the security be relaxed here. You never know!