Tackling terror together
The bad news is that there has been one more
blast in which 15 innocent lives were lost and scores injured, this time in Delhi Delhi
The best way such blasts can be prevented is by
proper investigation, identification of the group concerned, and by arrests of
perpetrators and their supporters, thus eliminating the threat. If the group
and its members are not correctly identified, they will only get encouraged,
and continue to target our cities at times of their choosing. This is
unfortunately what appears to have happened in this case.
Investigation is hard work most of the time, with
the investigator collecting clues and leads from the scene of crime, and by
identifying and examining scores of witnesses, most of whom will be reluctant
to depose because of fear. The pressure from the media and bosses will only add
to the investigator’s burden, obstructing his style of working. In cases such
as the above mentioned, it is vital that the investigator gets constant inputs
from intelligence agencies, and assistance from all the state police forces,
for the perpetrators could be operating or hiding in any state.
Their modus operandi, including the nature of the
improvised explosive device, the explosive used and how it was packed can be
matters of study, and will assist in identifying and locating the terrorists.
The fact that attacks take place in different cities, and that the police of a
particular state may not be interested in what has happened in another state
gives that terrorist group an advantage. This can be tackled only by an agency
with an all India
It is still too early to make a guess but groups
like the SIMI have been getting training to indulge in blasts and sabotage. Youngsters
from Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Gujarat ,
Uttar Pradesh and other states had participated in such training in Wagamon,
near Kottayam, Kerala some time back, which is the subject matter of a case
investigated by the NIA. This group is known to have had such training in Gujarat and Karnataka also. We do not know how many other
training sessions this group has had elsewhere, and who else participated in
them. This needs to be investigated and the profiles of all the youngsters who
participated prepared. The SIMI is known to be closely associated with the
Indian Mujahideen, and both have links to the LeT. This should be seen in the
context of David Headley’s disclosures to the FBI and the NIA, that a project
involving Indian youth has taken shape, called the Karachi Project, in Pakistan Pakistan
There were reports in the media that the NIA has
cracked the case, and arrests have been made in Kishtwar, Jammu & Kashmir.
There were four e-mails sent from different places claiming responsibility for
the blasts, the first one from Kishtwar, on behalf of HuJI. It is in connection
with this e-mail that the arrests have been made. It is reported that a group
of seven had planned the blast, and that the two schoolboys arrested had been
used to send the e-mail. The DG NIA has said that most media reports in this
regard were speculative, and requested the media to desist from such reporting
as the investigation is delicately poised at this stage. The investigators have
to work out several aspects of the case before drawing firm conclusions,
including tracing the persons who placed the IED, the nature of the IED and the
explosive used. Forensic reports had hinted at the use of PETN, a highly
sophisticated explosive, and the construction of the IED, which was also
extremely sophisticated as seen by the fact of the burning out of all its
ingredients. All these points have to fall in place to claim that the case has
been worked out. This will take time.
An example of the need to have proper
investigation to catch the right culprits to prevent future attacks is what
happened in Chennai in June, 1990. There was an attack at Kodambakkam on June
19, 1990, when the Eelam Peoples’ Revolutionary Liberation Front leader
Padmanabha, and 12 of his colleagues were massacred by terrorists using AK-47s
and grenades. Many belonging to different Tamil militant groups including the
LTTE were picked up and questioned. Two of the terrorists who participated in
this crime led another team and on May 21, 1991, assassinated former Prime
Minister Rajiv Gandhi. It was during the investigation of this case that the
Padmanabha case was solved.
Suthenthiraraja is one of the terrorists who had
participated in both the crimes. He is facing the death sentence; Sivarasan,
the one-eyed mastermind of the assassination who committed suicide in Bangalore Hyderabad India
Radhavinod
Raju
is a former director general of the National Investigation Agency. E-mail:
radhavinodraju@gmail.com
New Indian Express
28th September 2011
