N. Nagarraja Rao
It has been well-established that the Indian Mujahiddin has been spreading terror in India at the behest of the LeT and the fountainhead of terror incitement, the ISI. But our Home Minister, when asked in New Delhi whether the IM was behind the blast in Hyderabad, decreed that he does not comment unless he had evidence. One wonders what made him to comment on ‘Hindu terror’ as if he had unimpeachable and incontrovertible evidence.
Needless to say Sushil Kumar Shinde has done great disservice to the country by publicly accusing the BJP and RSS of encouraging ‘Hindu terror’ without evidence to support his claim. Though, he later expressed regret for his observation, the damage was indeed irreparable and Pakistan is cashing in on it by blaming all terror in India on Hindu fanatics.
The running thread through all these blasts is that the masterminds invariably get away and they end up in Pakistan from where they draw sustenance and training. Evidently, there is a great deal of meticulous planning that goes into the incidents and they are conscious that India is too soft a state with inadequate deterrent against those who shelter and aid them.
Another thing that comes out clearly is that the LeT’s props in India, the Indian Mujahiddin and SIMI, almost invariably manage to hoodwink the authorities. NIA, which was bent upon inventing Hindu terror in the Gokul Chat, Lumbini Park and Samjauta blasts cases may have to eat a humble pie as the state CID is now stumbling upon local operatives and sleeper cells in the past cases too. Ramachander Rao, a leading Advocate and defence counsel for Swami Aseemananda, Devender Gupta and Lokendra Sharma in the Gokul Chat case, claims that the evidence is pretty weak in all these cases and may fall flat on NIA.
With a Home Minister who seems utterly unequal to the task and the absence of an effective co-ordination mechanism between the Centre and the States to act upon intelligence reports, vulnerable targets, especially crowded bazaars and places of worship, continue to be soft targets for terrorists. In the face of a lack of deterrent against terror attacks and unbridled running of training camps for terrorists across the border, the terror machine can only get further emboldened.
Prior to latest discovery of Hindu terror by the NIA, India Today had claimed in an ‘exclusive’ that what is one to make of the reports of the narco-analysis tests conducted on SIMI activists, including Safdar Nagori, his brother Kamruddin Nagori and Amil Parvez in April 2008, which claimed expediently that SIMI activists “had helped carry out the Mumbai train bombings of July 11, 2006 and the Samjhauta Express blasts of January 2007…with the help of Pakistani nationals who had come from across the border. Narco-tests revealed “SIMI’s direct links with not only the Mumbai train bombings, which killed over 200 persons but also links with the Samjhauta Express blast of February 2007 which killed 68 persons.” The reports of the Narco test on Nagori claimed that he had revealed that “some persons from Pakistan” had purchased the suitcase cover at Kataria market, Indore, while a SIMI activist “helped them to get the suitcase cover stitched”. Nagori is said to have named Abdul Razak and Misbah-ul-Islam of Kolkata as key people who provided crucial support to SIMI’s Indore unit in executing the Samjhauta train blast. As for the Malegaon blasts, Nagori is said to have ‘admitted’ during the Narco test that some Muslim members were involved and he was aware of it; and he attributed the Hyderabad blast to one Nasir—who according to Nagori disliked the owner of the Gokul Chat stall—who was arrested a few months’ prior to Nagori’s arrest. Other important information revealed in the exclusive story is the Nagori claim that “most of the SIMI activists knew about other bomb conspiracies across the country” and the presence of sleeper cells in Hubli. (Sandeep Unnithan, India Today, September 19, 2008)
The way the Hyderabad blasts were handled symbolise the official apathy. It appears we have reconciled to the idea of living with periodic terror attacks in various parts of the country. It is high time that intelligence agencies be streamlined, the co-ordination between the Centre and States improved and a stronger deterrent created against enemies of the state. At the same time, politicians must stop treating entire communities as vote-banks.
Police bosses and their political masters are guilty of not only ignoring the intelligence bureau alert about a possible terror attack but also conveniently closing their eyes to a highly confidential report filed by a senior field officer. Way back in 2007 in Hyderabad, few days after the Mecca Masjid Blasts.
The Indian Express carried a letter written by then Additional Commissioner (Crimes and SIT) Rajiv Trivedi who played a key role in probing several terror related cases. He shot off a letter on May 25, 2007 to Chief Secretary Harinarayana through Police Commissioner and the DGP. Trivedi clearly stated that “the terrorist network in Hyderabad remains alive and active. The frontmen of terrorist have continued to protect and further the terror networks, long-term subversive agenda and relentlessly decried the stringent law enforcement. Trivedi further warned “if the so-called spokespersons “succeed in browbeating the government. I strongly suspect we may witness more destructive actions sooner rather than later.”
Stating that police officers, who were crushing the fundamentalists with an iron hand, were being labeled as anti-minority by some sections of the people including a few politicians. “ One of their prime motives appear to be to somehow consolidate their own eroding constituency and make the police in general to submit their whims . There appears to be a more sinister motive to create a hostile atmosphere here,” he opined.
While not giving a free hand to deal with law and order firmly, can we expect police to deliver akin to letting a boxer to fight with one hand tied to his back. Not long ago even a rickshaw puller knows in Hyderabad who was calling the shots for postings in the old city of Hyderabad. A political party extracted maximum mileage in lieu of lending its support to ruling party in order to appease its minority vote bank.
