Can't get one guy, and we have an entire secret service

Indian media coverage of the US state department 'bounty' for information leading to Laskhar-e-Taiba/Jamat-ud-Dawa chief Hafeez Saeed on April 4, 2012 riled me up.

Firstly, I was left wondering why NDTV had to have at least 5 different articles on the same event, all published the same day. It looks like some of these are syndicated articles, from Agence France-Presse, etc. but can't a top media house in the country come up with its own article as the main piece on one of the biggest terrorists in the neighbourhood?

http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/us-should-give-me-the-10-million-bounty-hafiz-saeed-193986
http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/bounty-on-hafiz-saeed-why-now-193849
http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/us-contradicts-pakistan-says-it-was-notified-about-bounty-for-hafiz-saeed-193886
http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/lashkar-e-taiba-founder-says-us-bounty-at-indias-behest-193690
http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/us-bounty-is-an-act-of-terrorism-hafiz-saeed-193668

Foreign minister SM Krishna and the Congress-led Indian government have 'welcomed' the news of the US state department's 'bounty'. I think part of the nation's psyche now is that of playing it very safe to gain international acceptance for anything and everything, at the cost of being sitting ducks and unrealistically trigger unhappy. Why does India have so less self-confidence?

• "Let's not go after Hafeez Saeed ourselves, let's just keep sending demarches to the Pakistani high commissioner. What if the international community thinks we are Israel-like? Oh, that would be a disaster for Gandhian principled India. What if we jeopardise our chances for the UN security council?"

These, I think, are the biggest concerns the government has, even after the international community has all sympathy for India after the 26/11 attacks on Mumbai, and acknowledges the LeT as being an international terror organization with Hafeez at its helm, at least behind the scenes. What more does the government of the day need to go after the fellow with a covert strike? Sure, a surgical military strike is inviting war, but situations like these are precisely why we have a secret service. Not one, but several (R&AW, the newly formed NIA, IB).

Israel deals with terrorists that attack it ruthlessly, no holds barred. The recent assassination of Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh of Hamas, allegedly by a Mossad team of operatives, did create international uproar, and if actually an Israeli hit it got the work done for Israel's national security. Hasn't Hafeez Saeed convinced the international community that he deserves being taken out by any means? Sure, it would be wonderful if he were to be convicted, but what is the chance of that happening? Does the foreign ministry ever weight the implications of another Hafeez Saeed public rally or fund-raising campaign?

I'm sure the Research & Analysis Wing's assets have a lot of information on the fellow's whereabouts. They might even be trailing him, but probably don't have sanction for a hit from the foreign ministry. With all the chaos in Pakistan now, isn't this the right time to sanction all the covert hits that we need to rid the region of as many terror camps and as much of that dark ecosystem as possible?

The R&AW does not, as far as I know, even need any sanction from the foreign ministry. The head of the service reports directly to the prime minister, and all it takes is a 'yes' from Dr. Manmohan Singh to bring justice to the victims of 26/11. The people will regain a lot of confidence in the nation's security apparatus. Oh, but the government doesn't get to take credit for covert strikes, what a missed PR opportunity that would be?!