Author: S.R. Ramanujan
Publication: Organiser
Date: July 30, 2006
URL: http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=141&page=29
There are 3000 madrasas in Maharashtra with
a strength of 200,000 students. 500 madrasas are in Mumbai alone, and it is
believed they are the potential breeding grounds for SIMI's activities.
By now, the drill is getting familiar after
each terrorist attack-An emergency cabinet meeting, declaration of nation-wide
alert, proforma condemnations, pious statements that the government would
fight terror at any cost, appeal for calm and appreciation of people's resilience
against such attacks. This goes on for a week. Meanwhile, the security forces
will gun down a few and brand them terrorists responsible for the attack.
Then, all will be forgiven and forgotten till the next attack.
According to reports, there are 3000 madrasas
in Maharashtra with a strength of 200,000 students. 500 madrasas are in Mumbai
alone, and it is believed they are the potential breeding grounds for SIMI's
activities. What is the sole objective of SIMI (Students Islamic Movement
of India) that was formed in Aligarh in 1977. It is to "liberate India
by converting it to an Islamic land".
What is the role of SIMI in 7/11 blasts? They
are the local collaborators of the Islamist terrorist groups operating from
foreign soil-an euphemism for Pakistan-in any attack against Indian targets.
SIMI's role was very much in evidence on Black Tuesday as well. It is possible
that the intelligence staff might have tipped off the Police sources. The
Police had to think one hundred times before taking any action. The moment
the Police apprehend a bunch of people bearing Islamic names, there would
be a howl of protests from our home-grown Liberals that minorities are harassed
and what would be the reaction of political class to such a development is
not difficult to imagine. Look at the way one of the key investigators and
deputy inspector general of Mumbai was shifted when his probe took him to
the doorsteps of an MLA for his links with the arrested terrorists of LeT
and SIMI. When this is the attitude of the political establishment, can we
trust them to fight terror?
In fact, SIMI has been receiving the unstinted
support of our great secular champion and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mulayam
Singh Yadav, and he was the one who vehemently opposed a ban on the SIMI when
it was imposed in 2001. Of course, Mulayam was not alone and he was in the
company of a good number of so-called secular leaders who were opposed to
a ban on SIMI. Very recently, the Uttar Pradesh Government had written a letter
to the Centre stating that the state opposed the ban on SIMI as it has not
carried out any unlawful activities in the state after September 2005. The
most powerful English national daily reported on July 9 - just two days before
the Mumbai carnage - that "lack of political will to enforce the ban
imposed by Centre on SIMI by UP Government might play havoc with the state's
security as the organisation is regrouping under a different name and could
trigger another series of destructive activities". On 7/11, the only
change was the scene of action with SIMI's role being the same whether Uttar
Pradesh or Maharashtra. Quoting an unidentified official source, the daily
reported that "with elections round the corner, vote bank is more important
for Samajwadi Party leadership. They don't want to annoy the minorities and
this is the sole reason why no concrete steps are being taken to put effective
check on their activities, what to talk of arresting the main leaders".
In any other country seriously fighting terror, leaders like Mulayam would
have been put behind the bars and his antics exposed besides dismissal of
the government headed by a sympathiser of terrorist outfits. But in India,
minorityism is the mantra and not the security of its citizens.
More than the intelligence failure, what provides
the atmosphere for the terrorists to strike at will and at a time and place
of their choice is the cavalier manner in which the political class reacts
or fails to react to crucial events of communal nature.
First, it is inconceivable to think that without
the support of the local population, terrorism from across the border or terrorism
of Al Quaida brand can develop roots on the Indian soil. We have seen it in
Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh. Take for instance, the public
protest by people from the old city of Hyderabad when the Gujarat Police came
to nab an accused in the murder of former Gujarat Home Minister. The state
government was a silent spectator. Well, there are also quite a few admirers
in Hyderabad for Azam Ghouri, a key LeT operative who was killed in an encounter
by Hyderabad police. Will the establishment have the courage to put such elements
who provide shelter to the terrorists under the scanner and apprehend them?
When there is no political will to do that, it is better not to talk of "war
against terror". There are also reports that the RDX consignment caught
by the cops in Aurangabad and Nasik was ferried from Hyderabad, the hub of
ISI in India.
Let's also look at various instances which
provide a morale booster to the terrorists and declare to the world that India
is a very soft state.
The latest one was what happened in Bhiwandi.
Normally, any citizen or group of citizens would welcome a police station
in their immediate neighbourhood, despite occasional police misbehaviour,
as it would provide security. But the minority population of Bhiwandi was
opposed to such a move and the opposition did not stop with peaceful protests.
They took law into their hands leading to police firing which killed two protestors.
As a sequel to this, the minority mob, in a brazen attempt, broke the skull
of two cops. What is the reaction of the "secular" crowd? Deafening
silence.
Kerala Assembly's unanimous resolution for
the release of Abdul Nasser Madani, an undertrial in Coimbatore jail for masterminding
the Coimbatore blasts in 1998 that killed 58 innocent people besides injuring
hundreds, speaks volumes on the mindset of our vote bank strategists. This,
both the LDF and the UDF expected, would pay attractive dividends at the recently
held assembly elections by placating the minority sentiments. What harm Madani
would cause in spreading more terror in the already fertile Kerala ground,
when he is out, was not the concern of the political class. What all they
wanted were votes and for this they were ready to barter the lives of innocent
citizens.
Civil Libertywallas are another category as
indirect abettors in providing the "right" atmosphere for terrorism
to grow. For them, the right to life of the terrorists is more sacred than
the right to life of ordinary citizens. When the ATS foiled the attempt of
Lashkar terrorists to rampage the headquarters of the RSS in Nagpur, and in
the process killed three terroritsts, civil liberty groups swung into action
with the all too familiar fact finding committees. Everyone knows that facts
are "gathered" before they set out on their mission. They concluded
that the "encounter" was stage managed by the Police. Did they want
the Police to wait till the ultras complete their mission?
Where did the "seculars" hide themselves
when Ram Vilas Paswan and Lalu Prasad Yadav conducted their poll campaigns
with Osama bin Laden look-alike in tow to appease the minorities? What sort
of a message it would have sent to the jehadis?
India must be the only country among the terror-infested
nations to have revoked an anti-terror law like POTA. The excuse for this
was two-fold. One, the law was misused and two, even when POTA was in force,
there were terrorist attacks on Raghunath temple in Jammu and Aksharadham
temple in Gandhinagar. Misuse of law cannot be the excuse for revoking a law
and if that is the yardstick there will be no law in our statute book. Yes,
there were attacks even when POTA was in force. Just because there are burglaries
even when the doors are closed, can we throw open the doors saying anyway
there are burglaries?
