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HYDERABAD - Climate of Jehad
Seven-year-old Saleem came dressed as told. He covered his face and brought along his new gift-a toy Kalashnikov-to join the rally. The December 6 protest rally is an annual feature of Hyderabad but it is also illustrates how the jehadi mindset takes hold of a boy's mind. He is told to prepare for a holy war to rebuild a mosque at Ayodhya, and terrorism is glorified by toy guns. That's how the Darsgah Jehad-o-Shahadat (DJS) keeps passions inflamed in the bylanes of the old city. History blends with propaganda to create an explosive cocktail.
No wonder there is a section ready to play host to those carrying the real weapons in their jehad. "This is quite disconcerting and the terrorist threat is serious," admits Police Commissioner P. Ramulu. Perhaps more serious than the nihilism of the People's War Group.
For the itinerant terrorist, Hyderabad is a haven. There are plenty of safe houses both in the old city and pockets in west Hyderabad. The security of these enabled Mohammed Ishtiaq, a let activist from Pakistan to cultivate relationships, marry a Hyderabadi girl and pass off as a local for three years.
Ishtiaq may have stayed that way longer but for a tip-off from the Delhi police after blasts in the capital in the summer of 1998. The Hyderabad Police tracked him down and arrested two other Pakistanis, Mohammed Shafeeq and Farooq Ahmed-both trained by the let-with a large cache of weapons and 18 kg of RDX.
The alarm bells first rang in November 1992, when Additional Superintendent of Police G. Krishna Prasad and his gunman were shot dead in the labyrinthine Bhavani Colony while raiding a terrorist hideout. The militants had links with the Mujahuddin-e-Islam of Kashmir which in turn was handled by the ISI. Subsequently, activists of outfits like Iqwan-ul-Muslimeen and Tanzeen Islahul-Muslimeen developed Hyderabad as a major terrorist centre for the ISI.
"The isi strategy was to create several modules with non-descript names and independent of one another to put us off any strong leads," says a senior police official. Later, they secured local recruits and sent them to Pakistan for training. They included a wanted killer Abu Omer, who returned to India with a Pakistani passport and attempted to kill former Mumbai mayor Milind Vaidya in March 1999 before the police caught him at a guest house in Lucknow.
Hyderabad has been targeted by the ISI because of its communal mix and strategic location. It is both the hub from where militants head for get-aways in contiguous Maharashtra and Karnataka and the hide-outs of others who carry out operations elsewhere. Activists of the Al Umma, responsible for the Coimbatore blasts of February 1998, were provided shelter in the Secunderabad cantonment.
What baffles the police is the frequency
with which terrorist facilitators change labels. Often, dormant groups
are activated for specific missions. "We can't take any action as we lack
evidence," admits a top official. At best the special task force for ISI
activities can monitor jehadi groups. But there is no way it can anticipate
when impressionable boys like Saleem turn activist and start harbouring
terrorists.
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