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Terror strikes in Uttar Pradesh : No room for complacency |
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B.I. Saini
Friday’s terror strikes in three major cities of Uttar Pradesh - Lucknow, Varanasi and Faizabad - show that Pakistan-based and inspired terror outfits are continuing their operations in India despite the problems Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf is facing. Some analysts were thinking that now that the regime in Pakistan is battling for its own survival, it would have no time to export terrorism to India, as it had been doing in the past. But this hope has been belied. Terrorist incidents
have been taking place in one or the other part of the country almost without a pause.
In the year 2007 itself, several major terror strikes have taken place in different parts of the country. In February, two boys died in an explosion at Surankot in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir. Within two days of the Surankot incident, two powerful explosions ripped through two coaches of the Lahore-bound Samjhauta Express, about 100 km. from Delhi, resulting in the death of 67 people most of them Pakistan citizens, who were returning to their country after visiting relatives and friends in India. This was followed on May 19 by a blast at the 400 year old Mecca Masjid, near Char Minar in Hyderabad in which 16 people died including five in police firing on mobs which went berserk at the blast. May itself saw a bomb blast in Guwahati when seven people were killed.
Hyderabad had another bout with terror on August 25 when two explosions created mayhem at a crowded park and a popular eating joint, killing 42 people. October 11 saw a bomb going off at the Sufi shrine of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti in Ajmer when thousands of devotees had gathered there to break the Ramzan fast. Two pilgrims were killed in the incident. This was followed four days later by a massive explosion at a cinema complex in the northern city of Ludhiana on Oct. 15 in which seven people were killed.
Friday’s bombings in Uttar Pradesh are the eighth in the country so far this year. What is remarkable is that no part of the country has been free of bomb blasts triggered by elements acting at the behest of Pakistan-based terror outfits. Pakistan itself is witnessing recurring incidents of bomb explosions since President Pervez Musharraf’s political clout started waning in the last few months. Islamic fundamentalist organisations in that country appear to have launched a sustained campaign to weaken the General further. The trend has intensified after the Pakistan Army operation to drive out militants who had virtually occupied the Lal Masjid right in the centre of the Pakistan capital.
Observers of the Pakistan scene say that though the Islamic fundamentalists may be targeting Gen. Musharraf, they could not succeed in their nefarious designs to the extent they appeared to be doing without the support of some elements within the establishment. The accusing finger is pointed at Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) which appear to have become a state within a state. Elements within the ISI have not stopped mounting terrorist strikes across the borders in India, even when the Pakistan Government has been taking part in the deliberations of the India-Pakistan Joint Mechanism against terror.
The way terrorist elements triggered bomb blasts in three different cities of Uttar Pradesh within a space of 15 minutes shows that a highly trained force was responsible for these blasts.
Security and intelligence agencies both of the Central Government and of the States have to wake up and try to unearth jehadi modules of terrorist outfits in different parts of the country. Of course, it is never possible to check all terrorist strikes, but a more pro-active approach is needed from the Centre as well as the state governments to save the country from the menace of terrorism.
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