Author: B Raman
Publication: Rediff.com
Date: February 19, 2007
URL: http://www.rediff.com/news/2007/feb/19raman.htm
Sixty-six innocent civilians were killed following
explosions in two coaches of the Samjhauta Express going from Old Delhi to
Attari on the Indo-Pakistan border around midnight on February 18. The incident
took place near the Deewana railway station, about 100 km from Delhi. This
train was started in 1975 to facilitate travel by poor Muslims in the two
countries to visit their relatives. The train from Delhi to Attari generally
carries Indian Muslims going to visit their relatives in Pakistan and Pakistani
Muslims (mainly Mohajirs) returning to Pakistan after visiting their relatives
in India. It should not, therefore, be a cause for surprise if many of those
killed are Muslims.
It has been reported that fire engulfed the
two coaches after one or two explosions. Thus, fatalities would seem to have
been caused as much by the explosions as by the fire. V N Mathur, general
manager of Northern Railway, has been quoted as saying that two suitcases
were recovered from the spot -- one on the rail track and one from the train.
Both the suitcases contained improvised explosive devices. According to him,
one of them also had incendiary material, either kerosene or petrol.
Presuming that these accounts of one or two
explosions caused by IEDs are correct, the Deewana incident resembles the
Mumbai blasts of July 2006 in three respects -- the terrorists attacked a
soft target; it was an act of mass casualty terrorism; and they chose a train
as their target.
There are also two major differences. In Mumbai,
the terrorists attacked different suburban trains with a multiplicity of well-timed
and well-orchestrated explosions. This required a high degree of sophistication.
In the Deewana explosion, there is so far no evidence of such sophistication.
When one attacks different suburban trains, one is sure of killing many people,
but the killing is indiscriminate and not targeted. At Deewana, they have
attacked one inter-city train, by which many Indian and Pakistani Muslims
travel. It was a targeted attack, with the knowledge that many Muslims were
likely to be killed.
From the point of view of targeting Muslims,
the Deewana explosion resembles the Malegaon explosion of September 8, 2006,
in which many Muslims were killed. However, at Malegaon there was no attack
on trains or other means of transport. The IEDs were kept near a mosque. The
level of sophistication at Malegaon was higher than the one at Deewana, but
lower than what one had seen at Mumbai.
It is important for the experts to have a
look at the modus operandi, targeting and motivation in all the explosions
at Mumbai, Malegaon and Deewana. They should not be treated as separate incidents
unconnected with each other.
The suburban trains of Mumbai and the targets
of attack at Malegaon were not politically significant targets. The Samjhauta
Express was. It is an important and the oldest component of the confidence-building
architecture which has come up between India and Pakistan. Except between
2002 and 2005, when it had remained suspended following the attempted attack
on Indian Parliament by Pakistani terrorists in December 2001, it had functioned
fairly well, much to the convenience of poor Muslims in the two countries.
It is not a train of the affluent elite. It has been the preferred mode of
transport of poor people, who cannot afford to travel by air or road.
The timing of the Deewana attack is intriguing.
It took place a day before the visit of the Pakistani Foreign Minister Khursheed
Mahmood Kasuri to New Delhi for talks with his Indian counterpart.
One has to await further evidence before assessing
who might have been responsible for the Deewana tragedy. The Lashkar-e-Tayiba,
the Pakistani jihadi terrorist organisation, and its Indian collaborator the
Students' Islamic Movement of India were found responsible for the Mumbai
explosions. SIMI was reportedly found responsible for the Malegaon explosions.
One does not as yet have any idea as to who might have been responsible for
the Deewana incident.
I am strongly against the Indo-Pakistan peace
process as carried on by the present government. It is playing into the hands
of Gen Pervez Musharraf and his horde of jihadi terrorists whom he and Pakistan's
Inter-Services Intelligence have been using to make India bleed. At the same
time, I am against postponing the so-called peace process because that would
be interpreted by the terrorists as a major success for them. By all means
continue talking with Pakistan, but talk strongly and make it clear that till
terrorism stops, there will be no progress on other issues. Discontinue the
joint counter-terrorism mechanism fraud sought to be perpetrated by Musharraf
on us. Discard the softness which has crept into our counter-terrorism policies
and in our diplomacy. Strengthen the hands of the police, give them the required
special powers and let them have a free hand in their investigations.
(The writer is Additional Secretary (retired),
Cabinet Secretariat, Government of India, New Delhi, and presently, Director,
Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai. E-mail: itschen36@gmail.com)
