'Al-Falah shouldn't have existed'

First, Pahalgam, then Delhi, two major terror-related incidents within eight months have shocked the nation. Are there lapses on our part, or is there something else driving this surge?

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Vikram Singh, former UP DGP, decodes the dichotomy in an interaction with Anurag Kumar of The Statesman. In 1974, Singh joined the Indian Police Service (IPS) and held the post of Director General of Police (DGP) in Uttar Pradesh from June 2007 to September 2009. He retired in May 2010. He was awarded the President's Police Medal for Gallantry in 1986.

Edited excerpts:

Q. There has been a spike in terror-related activities in India. Are there lapses at the Intelligence level, or is it a failure of policing at the ground level?

A: Every terror attack is a cause of great concern and introspection. And there cannot be anything that is cent percent perfect. We should assess ourselves and identify our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Every such incident should pass through a stringent SWOT analysis.

You mentioned Pahalgam and Delhi. I would be living in a fool's paradise and would not be doing my duty if I could say that everything was well under control and the terrorist got a bloody nose. No, it is not that. In Pahalgam, there were multiple security failures. The district authorities, perhaps, were blissfully unaware, and the reinforcements and the QRT (quick response team) were not there.

As far as the Delhi blast is concerned, yes we could have done much better. Al-Falah University, its recognition, its starting, and its initiation all have a huge question mark. Such a university should never have come about. The promoters have served for three years in Tihar. And then all the accreditations and the approvals are basically fake.

Q. How do you assess India's current internal security environment?