Author: N D Shiva Kumar
Publication: The Times of India
Date: February 23, 2008
Introduction: The Changing Face of Terrorism
Doctors, engineers and techies. The face of
terror has changed in Karnataka. In less than two years, seven youths with
professional degrees or registered for professional courses have been held
in the drive against terror. The number is set to increase as the state police
sets out on a manhunt for more educated youths who are absconding.
Bangalore has contributed a fair number of
educated professionals to the terror network and the profile of the arrested
youths best explains the changing trend in terrorism. The finesse of their
planning and execution is shocking.
It began with the arrest of Muzammil Sheikh,
a software engineer, in connection with the 2006 train blasts in Mumbai. Mumbai
cops arrested him following information that his brother Faizal Sheikh was
an LeT leader.
Next to be unearthed were the Ahmed brothers-Dr
Sabeel Ahmed, MBBS, and Kafeel Ahmed, a PhD scholar in aeronautical engineering-arrested
in connection with a London terror plot and the attack on Glasgow airport
in the UK. Kafeel was fatally burnt in the Glasgow attack and Sabeel is in
a UK high-security prison. A cousin, Mohammed Haneef, a physician in an Australian
hospital, was accused of terror links but courts found no evidence and freed
him.
In the last one month, of six people were
arrested by Karnataka cops-three are medical students from North Karnataka
region and a graduate engineer from Bangalore. While Mohammed Asif and Allabaksh
were MBBS students, Asaduallah Abubaker was an ayurvedic medicine student,
and Yahya Khan an engineer. Senior police officers confirm they are looking
out for more associates of the arrested, mostly doctors and engineers.
Why the educated?
Al-Qaida changed the functioning of terror
groups worldwide. The strategies have changed, providing ample opportunities
for the educated. The Karnataka Anti-Terrorist Cell has found that terror
plotters use latest technologies-be it for sending messages, cracking high
security internet zones, communicating or for triggering IED. It also gathered
information on how operators use steganography, cryptography, encryption and
voice over Internet protocol to share vital information on developments, planning
and execution.
