The spate of unsolved bomb blast cases in the National Capital Region has put tremendous pressure on the local police. Delhi Police commissioner, T.R.Kakkar, complains of lack of personnel and resources to adequately combat crime, including terrorist bombings. The 30 December blast in which four persons were killed and about 30 injured, appears to have prompted the government to provide additional resources to the police. A Rupee 30 crore special sanction by Prime Minister Gujral was announced on 1 January 1998. This money will help set up seventeen new police stations and recruit 5,000 additional policemen. The Delhi state government ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party has also mooted the idea of registering every single Delhi citizen.
According to a police spokesperson, "Additional strength was sanctioned for the Delhi Police in 1987 on the basis of data collected in 1984. Since then there has been no increase in the manpower of the force. The population of the city has increased from about 60 lakh in 1980 to about 120 lakh at present. Going by the ratio given in the Srivastava Committee report, Delhi needs as many as 65 new police stations." The Delhi police has been sanctioned 17 new police stations and soon 26 new police stations will come up. At present, there are a total number of 1,482 beats in the Capital with each beat covering about 8,097 persons on an average.
However, the Delhi Police would be mistaken if it thinks that terrorist attacks can be countered by sheer numbers. Intelligence, reliable and timely, is the key to anti-terrorist operations, not the number of policemen on the streets.
If the Delhi police has so far got away with its abject performance, it is because the citizens of New Delhi are inured to violence. They have seen so much of it in recent times that even bomb blasts have ceased to create public outrage.
According to intelligence sources, these bomb blasts are being perpetuated by isolated groups funded by Pakistan`s secret service, the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI). In some instances, the group leaders are Pakistani nationals while in other, they are either fringe Muslim or Sikh elements using criminals to carry out their bombing operations. Most of the persons being used are without any criminal record whatsoever. This makes investigation all the more difficult. Without precise intelligence, it is almost impossible to zero in to the real perpetrators. This means, that the low level terrorist threat in New Delhi will continue through 1998. Indian policy makers will have to think how to make these operations expensive for its planners.
| Date | Incident | |
| January 4 | Bombs exploded in a Haryana Roadways bus on Sonepat Road, and in a jeep taxi a few kilometres away in quick succession. One passenger was killed and 11 others injured. | |
| February 25 | Another set of twin blasts, this time in the Subzi Mandi area, one in the vegetable market and one in a Blue Line bus. | |
| June 20 | Two blasts in quick succession in Sadar Bazar and Chandni Chowk. Three persons received shrapnel injuries and burns. A third bomb was defused at Lahori Gate. | |
| June 25 | A rickshaw puller was critically injured in a crude bomb explosion near Jaipur Golden Hospital in Mangolpuri. | |
| July 12 | Three Blue Line bus passengers were hurt when a crude bomb exploded inside a bus heading towards the Inter State Bus Terminus. | |
| July 14 | Eighteen persons were injured in an explosion in a Blue Line bus near the Red Fort. | |
| October 1 | Two explosions disrupted a religous procession in Sadar Bazar leaving 30 injured. A few hours later three blasts ripped apart three carriages of the Frontier Mail train which had just left Delhi. Three passengers were killed and several others injured. | |
| October 10 | A child was killed and 18 others injured in three consecutive blasts at Shanti Van, Kingsway Camp crossing and Chhata Rail near the Red Fort. | |
| October 18 | One killed and 23 wounded when two bombs exploded in the crowded Rani Bagh market in North West Delhi. | |
| October 26 | Two explosions shattered the tentative calm days before Diwali, this time in Karol Bagh. A young woman was killed and 34 others injured. The toll could have been higher but police detected and defused a third bomb. | |
| November 30 | The last of the twin blasts assaulted the Chandni Chowk area again. The devices were set off outside places of worship causing panic among the Sunday crowd. Three persons were killed and 73 wounded. Chief Minister Sahib Singh Verma demanded the sack of the police chief. | |
| December 30 | Delhi is subjected to another terrorist assault in the fading moments of 1997. Four commuters are killed and about 30 others injured when a bomb explodes in a Blue Line bus at Rampara Chowk near Punjabi Bagh. This last blast is of the highest intensity, and occurs even as two policemen caution commuters to look for any suspicious objects lying under their seats. |