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The fault, dear Vajpayee, lies not in our stars...

Once the immediate drama of Flight IC-814 was over, most of India had two questions for the government: first, why was the security so lax that the hijackers were able to board the flight in the first place, and second, why was the plane not incapacitated before it finally landed in Kandahar?

My answer to both, given in some detail last week, was that Indian officials were unforgivably lax which led to silly mistakes.

This view, I know, is not palatable in many quarters. More than one person is eager to shrug off the blame to other quarters, preferably to some other country altogether. But the ultimate responsibility for ensuring the security of Indian citizens belongs to New Delhi, not Islamabad, Kathmandu, or wherever. And if you want proof of Indian laxity, look no farther than Mumbai...

Had the Indian security services paid attention to what was going on in India's commercial capital, the hijacking could have been prevented altogether. How? Because it was that cosmopolitan city which served as host to the hijack team before it went off to the Nepali capital.

Team? Yes, it was a team. And there were far more people involved than just the five men who actually held up the plane. There were about 15 or so people -- Indians, Pakistanis, and at least one Nepali. The foreigners in the squad obtained new identities which enabled them to move around freely.

It wasn't just names and clothes that they put on, they also got those pieces of paper to which the bureaucracy pays so much attention on the subcontinent. The first piece of identification, and probably the easiest to get, was a driving license. The second step was when Indian passports were obtained -- not forged, but perfectly genuine documents. Walk around any regional passport office (or transport authority branch) in India, and you are guaranteed to see a small army of touts who will sidle up and offer to get you a passport. It is a great game -- and probably a very profitable one for all concerned -- but it is one that cost the country very dear.

Actually, the only thing that was suspicious was the fact that they were walking around with genuine documents. It is rather rare to find drivers who actually carry licences in India! And Indian citizens who visit Nepal rarely -- almost never -- bother to cart their passports along. (Indians can enter Nepal by showing any proof of identity; those driving licences would have been enough.)

For good measure, one of the team even carried a letter from the Indian embassy in Nepal; this, by the way, was the only forged document being waved around. I assume they got that too from someone in Mumbai; everything seems to be on sale -- provided the price is right -- in India's financial capital!

That wasn't the end of the Mumbai connection. The Indian contingent that negotiated with the hijackers reported that the militants seemed to be in touch over the telephone with others in the gang; the intelligence agencies have now learnt that at least some of those conversations were with people in Mumbai and Delhi. (They used cellular units that are tougher to trace.) And in turn, these collaborators in India were in touch with others, some in neighbouring countries and some as far away as Europe.

What lessons can, or rather should, the Indian authorities draw from this sequence of events? First and foremost, stop pretending that militant activity is confined to the Kashmir valley. There is some evidence showing that the LTTE was in touch with groups in Assam and Punjab shortly before the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. Does anyone believe that those forces operating in Jammu and Kashmir will not set up bases and support groups elsewhere in India?

Second, there is no point asking the United States to help confront terrorism, or, alternatively, ask Pakistan to stop aiding the militants. Ultimately, it is India's duty to get its act together; the battle against terrorism has to start by cleaning up internally. That means tackling the underworld in places such as Delhi and Mumbai, not just putting up fences at the international border.

Finally, India will have to start considering ways and means to tackle terrorism at its source. It should be made clear that the cost of abetting terrorists and hijackers is far too high.

"The fault, dear Horatio," Hamlet said, "lies not in our stars but ourselves." If the Indian government needs a motto it would be: "The fault lies not in our neighbours..."

T V R Shenoy