 |
||
|
||
|
||
Author: Joginder Singh
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: June 4, 2007
Religion is a sensitive issue. Battles have been fought over issues that may *prima facie* appear trivial. In a country like ours with a multi-ethnic population, incidents of religious fracas have been quite common. And terrorists fish in the troubled waters to incite violence as their alternative means to disrupt normalcy in this country.
On March 30, 2002, in the attack on Raghunath Temple, Jammu, seven persons were killed. On September 24, the same year, two terrorists attacked Akshardham temple in Ahmedabad, killing 35 people. In 2005, bomb blasts rocked Varanasi; 21 were killed and over 62 injured when terrorists targeted Sankat Mochan temple and the city's railway station. Then there were bombings in Malegaon in Maharashtra in 2006 and Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad in May this year, claiming many innocent lives.
The terrorist attacks at Raghunath temple in Jammu and Akshardham temple in Ahmedabad were attempts to provoke the majority community to retaliate and thus cause civil strife. The foul ploy did not work. The terrorist strategy failed in Delhi too in 2005, as law-abiding citizens' desire to live in peace mercifully prevented communal riots, though the blasts occurred on the eve of Eid and Diwali, on October 28 that year. The Delhi bombings killed more than 50 persons and seriously injured more than 100.
After failing to provoke Hindus to attack Muslims, the terrorists triggered more blasts on April 14, 2006 during the Friday prayers in the Delhi Jama Masjid badly injuring a dozen. After that, three compartments of the Lahore-bound Samjhauta Express were burnt to ashes to cause both communal disharmony and spoil the peace initiatives taken by India and Pakistan.
Thereafter, a mosque and a graveyard respectively in Nanded and Malegaon in Maharashtra were bombed on the occasion of Shab-e-Baaraat at a time when the devout were offering prayers, killing 13 persons injuring over 27.
Mecca Masjid is known as one of the historical mosques in southern India, It was built in the 17th century and the bricks used in its construction were reportedly brought from Mecca, the holy city after which the mosque was named. A bomb placed in a tiffin box near this mosque's *wuzukhana* (water storage for ablution before offering *namaaz*) was exploded through a remote control device, probably a mobile phone. The terrorist attack claimed 16 lives and wounded 67 people.
There was mass outrage at the terrorist attack and the police had to open fire to control the furious public. Though the attack was intended to fuel communal riots, the nefarious objective failed.
The needle of suspicion in every such case invariably points to the terrorist groups thriving in Pakistan. It's ironical that the proclaimed Islamic republic supports elements that offend Islam through terrorism. Poetic justice may be seen in the April 28 incident when Pakistan's Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao and his son Sikander, also a Member of Parliament, were injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up at a public rally, killing 30 people and wounding 50 in the NWFP.
"For years, terrorist camps (in Pakistan) have been only half a secret, as everybody knows they are there, but no one would officially admit it," said a Pakistani official under the condition of anonymity, adding, "They are hidden; no ordinary people can go there." The camps are used by terrorist groups such as Jaish-e-Mohammed (Army of Mohammed) and Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (Army of the Pure). For more than a decade, the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate has been sponsoring such groups to attack India to keep Pakistan's dispute with us over Jammu & Kashmir alive, just as it nurtures the Taliban to pursue Pakistani interests in Afghanistan, Western intelligence sources have noted.
Pakistan's name is increasingly being mentioned worldwide in the context of terrorism. When police in Britain foiled a major terrorist attack targeted at trans-Atlantic flights, for example, the investigation trail led them to Pakistan. Be it Al Qaeda or Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT), they cannot survive for a day without active support from rogue states. All terrorist groups are interlinked. They plan attacks on religious places of both the majority and minority communities in India with covert directions from our recalcitrant neighbour. In fact, Sikh terrorism of the 1980s could not have continued for long but for its support.
It is important to reiterate a warning issued by the UN expert panel group whose report on terrorism says, "Members of Al Qaeda and their associates are deployed in many countries across the world and, given the opportunity, they will have no compunction in killing as many people as they can from those nations that do not conform to their religions and ideological beliefs and which they perceive as their enemies."
There is a long history of sponsored terrorism. And there have been many rogue states besides Pakistan - Libya, South Yemen, Syria, Iran, Cuba and North Korea - that would go to any extent to create problems for the countries they do not like. Throughout history, terrorism has been used by those who could not prevail upon others either by persuasion or example. But the mischief has inevitably failed eventually every time, either because people - terrorists may or may not realise - cannot be frightened to submission.
Yet, the menace of terrorism cannot be left to die its own natural death. A Jammu & Kashmir Police publication in 2003 said that there were 56,041 incidents of violence, including 10,093 explosions, 29,931 firing incidents, 5,561 arson, 763 rocket attacks, 4,597 abductions, 229 cases of hanging to death, 275 arms snatching cases and 4,592 other acts of violence between January 1990 and December 2002. More than 30,000 civilians were killed during the 14th year of terrorism in the State during the same period. The security forces seized 24,785 AK-type rifles, 9,387 pistols and revolvers, 58 carbines, 1,003 RPGs, 91 light machine guns and self-loading rifles, 742 rocket launchers and 2,270 rocket boosters during the same period. Besides, 6,865 kg of RDX, 47,219 grenades, 5,228 anti-personnel mines and 4,176 rockets were also seized.
Let us not underestimate terrorists. Any target for them is easy enough to strike as long as they can show to the world that they are mightier than established Governments. Most of them are brainwashed to believe that for their dastardly acts, their seats in heaven are booked. Let the terrorists' delusion remain. In fact, Governments can make terrorists meet their god without further delay.
|
||
|
||
|
||