Terrorist bombings: A failure of Indian Intelligence
Kashif-ul-Huda
The popular Indian tourist city Jaipur was hit with a
series of bomb blasts on Tuesday resulting in over 80
people dead. Outside of the troubled regions of Jammu
and Kashmir and the North-East, this is the tenth
terror bombing in India targeting civilians since
2005. In what is now all too familiar, blame game and
finger pointing have started after these blasts as
well. While the law enforcements promise to deliver,
Indians have increasingly becoming more insecure at
the moment when they are poised to play a bigger role
internationally.
After each of these blasts Indian authorities have
blamed Pakistan or Bangladesh based terrorists for
these attacks. While accusing 'Islamic' terror groups
for these attacks, law enforcement agencies start
arresting Muslim youths of the area, in many instances
torturing them. None of those arrested have ever
proven guilty for any of these terrorist acts.
Indian Muslims were once proudly showcased
internationally by the Indian Prime Minister for the
fact that they were free from terrorist activities. In
2006 when visiting India, President Bush remarked to
his wife that "Not one Indian Muslim has joined Al
Qaeda." Since 2005 a new wave of terrorist attacks in
India was blamed on Islamic groups originating in
Pakistan and Bangladesh. Slowly the blame shifted to
Muslims of India because they were thought to be
providing local support to these terrorists. Indian
Muslims have increasingly come under pressure from the
media, law enforcement agencies and right wing Hindu
groups.
Indian madrasas became a special focus of attention of
these groups. In response, the Darul Uloom at Deoband,
one of the oldest and largest seminaries of Islamic
learning in the country, recently organized an
anti-terrorism conference attended by a large number
of Muslims scholars. This gathering issued a fatwa
against terrorism, declaring it to be against Islamic
teachings. These conferences are now being organized
in many parts of the country. This is a sign of
desperation and the only thing a powerless community
under siege can do.
Many Muslims find it difficult to believe that some
among them may have resorted to terrorism. Given that
several series of raids and detentions by the state
authorities have never resulted in any conviction
Muslims of India have reasons to suspect that they are
being unfairly targeted.
For their part the Indian intelligence agencies seem
to have failed miserably to prevent or solve these
terror strikes, a large number of them designed to
create tensions between Hindus and Muslims by
targeting their places of worship. Since 2006, four
mosques and two temples have been targeted. Indian law
enforcement agencies have arrested a large number of
Muslims after every blast but none of the
investigations have so far led to disruption of any
terrorist group in India.
In three years, terrorists have struck India in the
East, West, South and North. These bombings have been
of low to medium intensity blasts. In most of these
cases, ammonium nitrate was used as an explosive
material, pointing to a local group. RDX, another
explosive material, can only be obtained through army
contacts or through an international link. Use of easy
to obtain ammonium nitrate and the modus operandi of
these terror bombings suggest a local group with
limited resources.
Terrorists have used bicycles or bags to plant bombs
in crowded public places. To increase the impact of
their low to medium intensity bombs, terrorists have
strategically chosen the targets—mosques on Friday and
temples on Tuesday— to kill the maximum number of
people. The bombs were packed with metallic objects to
increase the lethal power of the explosions. In most
cases, some of these bombs have been found unexploded,
potentially providing valuable clues to the police.
But these clues have not lead to solving of any of
these terrorism cases. The intensity or frequency of
bombings shows no sign of slowing down pointing to the
miserable failure of Indian security agencies.
Muslim and some secular organizations say that these
investigations have failed because investigators have
been looking for leads in all the wrong places. Some
like human rights activist Teesta Setalvad says that
linking Islam with terrorism is nothing but a well
planned conspiracy against Muslims. They believe that
the most to gain from these attacks are extremist
Hindu groups, also knows as Hindutva groups, so known
for their ideology of Hindutva which claims India is
for Hindus. There have been confirmed cases of their
involvement in at least some of the blasts. In April
2006, a bomb blast in Nanded, Maharashtra in the house
of a Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS, parent body of
all Hindutva groups) activist first alerted secular
groups to the possibility of their involvement in
terror bombings. Two Bajrang Dal members died in that
blasts reportedly during making of the bombs. Bajrang
Dal is a militant associate of the RSS.
Just last month, Home Minister of India Shivraj Patel
informed the Parliament that Maharashtra police,
anti-terrorist squad, and India's premier
investigating agency Central Bureau of Investigations
have come to the same conclusion that some Bajrang Dal
members were involved in Nanded blasts.
In September of the same year, three bombs exploded in
Malegaon, a Muslim majority city of Maharashtra. Local
witnesses reported recovering a dead body with a fake
beard on it, suggesting that terrorist disguised
themselves as Muslims to plant the bombs. The bombing
was timed to coincide with a Muslim festival when the
targeted mosque and the graveyard were full of people.
In June of 2007, a low intensity blast in a Muslim
majority area of Assam that killed one and wounded 40
person was initially blamed on Assam militants United
Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) but in a very unusual
statement ULFA denied the responsibility and blamed
the RSS for the bombing.
In July of last year, a former chief minister of
Madhya Pradesh, Mr. Digvijay Singh, issued a statement
that bombs and explosive materials was recovered from
RSS sympathizers in that state. He has repeated his
statement since and has demanded a ban on Hindutva
organizations.
Of all these blasts linked to Hindutva groups, the
investigating agencies have not tried to work their
way up to the organization to find out the masterminds
or the conspiracy. Meanwhile, the blasts have
continued; in the south of the country, in January of
this year, Tenkasi a small town in Tamilnadu witnessed
two bomb blasts—one targeting the local RSS office and
another one a bus stop. No one was killed in these
attacks but Hindutva groups organized demonstrations
to create tension between Hindus and Muslims. The
Tamil Nadu police investigated the blasts and arrested
seven Hindus as responsible for them. All of them were
been found to be RSS activists, and one of them is the
General Secretary of a local RSS front, the Hindu
Munani.
All this and the continued incidents of terrorist
bombings in India have increased the demand for an
impartial and effective investigation that looks at
all clues and leads. Muslims have long argued that
biased investigations have resulted in harassment of
Muslims and have not resulted in any positive outcome.
The latest bomb blasts in Jaipur are a proof of that.
A group of prominent intellectuals and peace
activists, comprising of Asghar Ali Engineer, Ram
Puniyani and several others, have demanded that a
National Commission be set up to monitor the progress
of investigations into these bomb blasts cases. This
might help speed up the process of investigations,
find valuable clues to catch the culprits, provide
justice to the victims, and prevent future attacks.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Kashif-ul-Huda is the editor of news website
www.twocircles.net . He can be contacted on
kaaashif@gmail.com
Sukhia Sab Sansar Khaye Aur Soye
Dukhia Das Kabir Jagey Aur Roye
The world is 'happy', eating and sleeping
The forlorn Kabir Das is awake and weeping
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