Given that one of the terrorists was a known criminal, it raises questions: Was he under inadequate surveillanceIJ Was there a lack of legal sanction to hold suspects
The ghastly outrage in Paris did not fall out of the blue. The city had earlier suffered a number of terrorist attacks, the worst of which was clearly the one on the office of the magazine, Charlie Hebdo, which evoked an angry and sad nationwide reaction and sent shock waves throughout the world. Besides, several attempted attacks were foiled in the city and elsewhere in France, including the one in an Amsterdam-Paris train in August aborted by two off-duty American servicemen, their civilian friend and compatriot, a British financial consultant and two Frenchmen all of whom received the legion of Honour, France's highest award.
That the recent outrage, which left 129 dead and over 350 wounded, 99 of them critically, could occur despite this background, raises serious questions about the efficiency of France's efforts in containing terrorism. At least one of those involved in the attacks was known to the French police for participation in petty crimes and suspected terrorist activities. This suggests either, or both, of two things. First, he was under inadequate surveillance and/or there was a lack of legal sanction to hold suspects with terrorist links pending the completion of investigations against them. Inadequate surveillance, in turn, points to a shortage of information — gathering foot soldiers and gaps in France's security-intelligence-police-military set up, which must cause particularly serious concern given the strict surveillance law enacted in the country in July this year.
The mandatory investigations that follow the occurrence of outrages like the latest one in Paris must, in the present instance, carefully scan France's security armour for chinks, identify these that were exploited, and suggest remedial measures. The Government must then effectively plug the gaps since the availability of intelligence with pin-point accuracy is an absolute requirement for victory in the war against terrorism, as those waging it depend for its success on their ability to strike at unsuspected places with dramatic results in terms of the casualties caused, important institutions of the State destabilised or destroyed and showing the State as totally incapable of winning the war against terrorism. The latter, again, boosts the morale of those already gathered under terrorists' flag and helps in securing new recruits who feel they are joining a glorious and victorious cause. Nothing attracts like the smell of success.
Also, there is need for more effective cooperation between French and other European security establishments. The recent strikes in Paris were reportedly planned in Belgium where a number of arrests have been made. Ayoub El-Khazzani, 26, who tried mass carnage in the Amsterdam-Paris train was reportedly brainwashed in a Spanish mosque and was known to the French police as he had travelled to Syria where a large number of young people from Europe have joined the Islamic State of Syria and levant.
It is, of course, not easy to keep effective watch on the several thousand who have come back from Syria, brainwashed and ready to bring jihad to the continent. Nor can one control their movements given that national boundaries and border checks have virtually ceased to exist for citizens of European countries or the holders of Schengen visas. There are, again, a vast army of alienated young men in Europe's Muslim ghettoes who resent discrimination and lack of economic opportunities and are easily vulnerable to extremism. Particularly at risk is Europe's railway network which has 1,00,000 trains carrying 40 million passengers daily and thousands of stations, including 3,000 in France alone, most of which have virtually no system of checking passengers.
It is going to be a long winter of watchfulness and hard work for security and counter-terrorism officials in Europe followed by unending preventive operations until the source of the threats the continent faces is eradicated in Syria and Iraq.