SYED TAUSIEF AUSAF comments on the UP serial blasts and criticises the lax security around courthouses.
The deadly six blasts in the courthouses of three cities of Uttar Pradesh, which killed 14 people including some lawyers, couldn’t have been carried out without the presence of an impenetrable network, meticulous planning, careful coordination and material help from some locals.
A team of hot-headed youth would have spent months in procuring explosives, analysing police presence in the planned target areas and watching the public movement in the premises. They took advantage of a lax security and struck with full force and achieved the desired result.
About 15 years ago, Mumbai witnessed 13 discrete explosions rip through the city. But the UP attacks encompassed a larger area: The three cities of Varanasi, Faizabad and Lucknow. This is evidence of the confidence and support that the perpetrators appear to have. They strike at will and nothing seems to be effective enough to contain the menace.
The source of their email sent to a local TV channel, claiming responsibility and describing the reason behind the unthoughtful act, has been established. The message says the strikes were in retaliation of the refusal of lawyers in the state to defend those incarcerated for alleged terror acts. The lawyers not only snubbed the Jaish suspects in the plot to kidnap Rahul Gandhi, they also thrashed them in the courthouse. This seems to have infuriated certain elements who unfortunately chose to avenge the humiliation in a very violent way.
What emboldens terror groups is the pathetic performance of investigating agencies whose work takes years and in most cases remains inconclusive. A market was blasted in Delhi three years ago before Diwali which claimed 50 lives. Local trains were blown up in Mumbai killing dozens of innocent commuters. Malegaon mosque was bombed in Maharashtra and then the Makkah Masjid in Hyderabad was targeted. Both tragedies claimed over 100 faithfuls. Similarly Samjhauta Express was hit to derail the peace process between India and Pakistan. But have the investigators, besides nabbing some “suspects” here and there, achieved any major success in their probe? The answer is a big no.
This criminal act is likely to be followed by a blame game. Everyone will refuse to hold the hot potato and throw it in somebody else’s lap. But this time around, this is interesting to note that ministers and officials will be reluctant to point to terror groups based across India’s borders. Because the so-called Indian Mujahideen, in their email, have repeatedly stressed that they are an indigenous group having no ties with any foreign country.
The gory episode should serve as a wake-up call to the Manmohan Administration. Its laid-back attitude will severely hit the booming Indian economy. The government needs to find out why terror attacks are occurring with such frightening frequency across the country. Nationwide efforts should be launched to find out the grudges of the disgruntled lot. This strike would not have perhaps taken place if the state government had ensured that there would be no harm to the suspects’ safety and honour. After all, who had given the lawyers the right to play the executive? A lawyer is supposed to be the guardian of law and should be the last person to violate it.
If ultras are able to drive past security cordons, it is because those manning checkpoints let them go. These loopholes have to be plugged immediately. Besides, intelligence agencies sometimes are not intelligent enough to share the information with police departments. And last but not the least, links between politicians, police and terrorists are a cancer yet to be treated. Unless this unholy nexus is broken and the culprits punished, rebels will continue taking out innocent civilians in their fit of anger.
[The writer can be reached at [email protected]]