Dear Editor,
The recent heinous acts committed by bands of terrorists have not only stunned the nation but also exposed what harm an ineffective and lax security apparatus can do to a country. We have the Vigilance Police Station located at the epicenter of the worst violence in our history, yet the authorities never saw it necessary to have the outpost adequately staffed around the clock by both police and army personnel and equipped to respond to any major outbreaks of violence.
With our security forces’ backs against the wall and under pressure to arrest the crisis they embarked on plans to bulldoze the Buxton backlands. But have they given any thought to the fact that the vegetation will grow again? They should have enacted emergency plans to develop the backlands after the bulldozing to construct housing and playing fields, and put the residents, most of whom are unemployed to work.
Entities should have been created to employ residents to clean the drains, weed parapets and maintain roads in the community. This policy should have served as a model to be employed in other communities. We have to instill a sense of pride in our villages instead of hopelessness and despair because when people are desperate they commit desperate acts.
Now we have purchased two light helicopters with bright lights and infra-red sensors with the ability to carry a few personnel. Some in the administration’s are adamant that the purchase of these helicopters is ‘just what the doctor ordered’ based on reality TV.
However did they not notice the numerous police vehicles, armoured personnel carriers and other emergency vehicles involved in the pursuit? Would the administration’s short-sightedness translate into a waste of millions of US dollars because the country’s terrain is different? Our situation is totally different thus these two helicopters and their small crews cannot successfully put down an armed attack on a village by large numbers of gunmen when they are unable to ferry the overwhelming forces and fire power quickly to the hot zone. We need the equivalent of a helicopter gunship and a troop carrier that has the ability to withstand a few direct hits from small arms fire while ferrying a dozen or more fully equipped military personnel into a hot zone quickly. And to complement the strike force in the helicopters we also need armoured personnel carriers, fast boats and communications equipment.
To send ten and twelve soldiers in an open pickup truck without protection and communications equipment to engage groups of entrenched gunmen is suicidal, regardless of how bright the helicopter lights are, or how sensitive the infra-red sensors are if you cannot identify friend from foe and communicate with the helicopters.
Yours faithfully,
Joe Owen
