India to put Commonwealth Games security plans to the test

The Hockey World Cup in New Delhi at the end of February will be the litmus test for the security arrangements during October's Commonwealth Games. Standard procedures for checking the preparedness, reaction times and ways of handling emergencies by the security agencies will be the same. These include plans for tackling chemical or biological attacks.

Come October, New Delhi will be on high alert for almost two weeks and there will be continuous aerial surveillance. More than 150,000 policemen, about 2,000 close-circuit cameras and the latest security gadgets will be employed at an extensive three-tier security ring in the stadiums and games village that the government has planned.

India's Home Minister P Chidambaram, who took office after the Mumbai terror strikes, recently said he was “fully aware of the security situation and the issues that have to be addressed. Terrorism and Naxalite (Maoist) violence are the key challenges before the country.

“Besides there are areas that are sensitive in the context of public order and communal harmony. The home secretary has informed me that the action plan has been substantially implemented. I intend to review the results.”

International security conference

An international security conference is planned for June to keep all concerned nations informed, and more importantly, involved.

A number of athletes from Australia – the top team in the games – have already expressed their reservations about competing in India, with former swimming champion Dawn Fraser even calling for the event to take place elsewhere.

Other athletes due to compete in New Delhi are Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, Australian swimmer Stephanie Rice and British cyclist Chris Hoy, who each won three gold medals at last year's Beijing Olympics.

Strategic analyst Hartosh Singh Bahl said that India needed to do more to prevent any major mishaps.

“The external circumstances are not in India’s control. The things that we can control are responses within the country. To do that we need two things,” he explained.

“One, we need to anticipate terror strikes better – if we can anticipate them, we can prevent them. But there will always be some strikes that get through any kind of intelligence network we set up, so second we must be able to respond better. We need to boost our intelligence network across the country and we need more investment in basic intelligence, human intelligence gathering.”

"Misplaced fears"

Organizers maintain that the Commonwealth Games will adopt security methods similar to those used at last year's Beijing Olympics.

But terrorism expert and India’s foremost security analyst Ajay Sahni said the fears over security were misplaced. “India has demonstrated a tremendous capacity to lock down clearly-defined areas and targets for clearly-defined periods of time. If we know the target is Delhi, I am fairly certain of our intelligence and security capabilities and that we will be able to ensure that nothing happens here for the duration of the games.”

Diplomats have already been told that every vehicle meant for athletes will be put through an anti-sabotage test during the Games. Each of the 23 venues will be completely sanitized seven days before the event.

Author: Murali Krishnan
Editor: Thomas Bärthlein