Mumbai gets India's first regional base for anti-terror troops

The hub for some 250 National Security Guard (NSG) commandos, opened by Home Minister P. Chidambaram on Tuesday evening, is the first of four new centers across the country.

The others in Kolkata, eastern India, and the southern cities of Chennai and Hyderabad open on Wednesday.

Security officials say the new base — temporarily housed near Mumbai's international airport until a permanent facility nearby is operational next year — will reduce incident response times drastically.

But security analysts said India still has a long way to go to improve its counter-terrorism capabilities, despite an increase in defence spending since last year.

Ajai Sahni, editor of the South Asian Intelligence Review and executive director of the Institute for Conflict Management in New Delhi, described the regional NSG units as a “token” response.

“Any terrorist attack realizes its potential within the first few minutes,” he told AFP.

“If you have a unit in north Mumbai and south Mumbai is attacked, in the 45 minutes to two hours it takes to get there, the terrorists have already done their worst.”

Better training and equipment for India's overstretched and under-funded local police to help them contain the situation as the first line of defence would be a more viable option, he added.

“We're still committed to the 'Rambo' model. We think a handful of strong, well-trained men can take on the world.

That might happen in films but it's nonsense in reality,” he added.

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