BANGALORE - Bangalore and Ahmedabad, two cities that symbolize India's growing
economic might, came under repeated attack from terrorists on two consecutive
days late last week. Twenty-five low-intensity bombs ripped through them
killing scores of people.
On Friday, India's information technology (IT) capital Bangalore was rocked by
eight bombs in a span of 35 minutes. Twenty-four hours later, 17 bombs tore
through Ahmedabad, the commercial capital of the prosperous western state of
Gujarat, in 70 minutes killing at least 46 people and injuring over a hundred
others.
The back-to-back bombings come less than two months after
serial blasts shattered Jaipur, a popular tourist destination and capital of
the northern state of Rajasthan, killing about 65 people.
It is hard to miss the parallels in the strikes in Bangalore and Ahmedabad.
Both involved serial blasts, the material used in the bombs was a mixture of
ammonium nitrate, bolts and ball bearings, the blasts took place in a short
span of time and within a radius of 10 kilometers. Karnataka, of which
Bangalore is the capital, Gujarat and Rajasthan are all ruled by the Hindu
nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
As with the Jaipur blasts, a group calling itself the Indian Mujahideen has
taken responsibility for the Ahmedabad blasts. No group has claimed the
Bangalore attack.
Little is known about the Indian Mujahideen. The name first surfaced in
connection with a series of six blasts in courts in Varanasi, Faisabad and
Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh in November 2007. Then the group claimed
responsibility for the seven blasts in Jaipur and now Ahmedabad.
Intelligence officials say that the Indian Mujahideen comprises activists from
banned outfits such as the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), the
Harkat-ul Jihad al-Islami (HUJI) and the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT). There has been
considerable cooperation between these outfits in previous terror attacks, with
the Pakistan-based LeT and HUJI providing the funds and expertise and SIMI
providing the logistical support and safe houses. "Pinning the name 'Indian
Mujahideen' to a cooperative terrorist front that has existed for a while is
only to deflect attention away from its real sponsors across the border in
Pakistan," an intelligence source told Asia Times Online.
Still, the Indian Mujahideen's grievances have their roots in events in India.
In an e-mail sent to the media five minutes before the first blast in
Ahmedabad, the Indian Mujahideen said the bombings were carried out to avenge
the 2002 anti-Muslim pogrom in Gujarat, in which over 2,500 people, mainly
Muslims, were killed. Activists of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), the Bajrang
Dal and other fraternal organizations of the ruling BJP in the state were seen
directing and participating in the massacre of Muslims.
The state's BJP government did little to stop the violence. What is more, in
the six years since, justice is still to be done. Police refused to register
cases filed by victims. But for a handful, most of the accused walk free.
Victims and witnesses have been threatened by VHP and BJP leaders. Thousands
are yet to be rehabilitated. The Gujarat riots triggered deep rage among Indian
Muslims against the state. It is said to have contributed to hundreds of angry
Muslim youth joining terror outfits.
"The main point, which the sender of the message sought to convey, was that the
criminal justice system treated Muslims severely, but was lenient to Hindus," B
Raman, terrorism expert and retired director of counter-terrorism at the
Research and Analysis Wing, India's external intelligence agency, pointed out.
"The language used was typically Indian, the context and arguments used were
typical of Indian Muslims, and the issues raised were those which had been
agitating the minds of sections of Indian Muslims, such as the demolition of
the Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992, lack of action against the Mumbai police
officers who were found guilty of excesses by the Justice Srikrishna inquiry
commission [into the Bombay riots of December 1992-January 1993], the severe
penalties awarded to Muslims who had retaliated in [serial bomb blasts in
Bombay] March 1993, and the Gujarat riots."
An e-mail sent ahead of the court blasts in Uttar Pradesh too drew attention to
the Indian Mujahideen's anger with lawyers who had beaten up and refused to
defend suspected Jaish-e-Mohammed operatives arrested in connection with a plot
to kidnap Congress party member of parliament, Rahul Gandhi.
Even if the Indian Mujahideen hadn't spelled out the reasons for its rage in
the e-mail, the areas where the blasts occurred said it all. Four of the 16
blasts in Ahmedabad were in Maninagar, the electoral constituency of Gujarat
chief minister Narendra Modi, who was at the helm when the riots took place.
Modi often baits the Muslim community and secular Hindus with his aggressive
espousal of Hindutva and his virulent anti-Muslim tirades.
Bombs went off near a hospital run by VHP leader Pravin Togadia and near the
house of assembly speaker Ashok Bhatt. The blasts in the LG hospital and the
Civil Hospital were timed to coincide not only with the arrival of blast
victims but of ministers coming in to visit injured victims. The blast at the
LG hospital in Maninagar happened even as the BJP member of parliament
representing Ahmedabad, Harin Pathak, was visiting the injured in hospital.
In the e-mail, the Indian Mujahideen have also referred to the police. It makes
specific reference to "arresting, imprisoning and torturing" of SIMI activists.
Scores of SIMI activists have been taken into custody in Karnataka, Kerala,
Madhya Pradesh and other places in crackdowns on the outfit in recent years.
This year, several SIMI leaders, including its general secretary and ideologue,
Safdar Nagori, his brother and chief of operations in Andhra Pradesh, Kamruddin
Nagori, the leader of its Karnataka unit, Hafiz Hussain, and Kerala-born
software engineer-turned-terrorist Shibly Peedical Abdul were arrested. The
arrests were seen as having dealt a blow to the organization.
That the Indian Mujahideen is really a front for SIMI and other organizations
or at least an outfit that has strong links with SIMI is evident from the fact
that the e-mail demands the release of SIMI activists held on terror charges.
Police in Bangalore say their investigation into Friday's blasts will focus on
SIMI. Karnataka has been an important hub of recruitment and training for SIMI.
It ran over a dozen training camps in towns like Davengere, Hubli and Dharwar
over the past couple of years and most of the trainees were residents of
Bangalore.
While Bangalore's IT companies have been on the terrorists' radar for some
years, the arrest this year of SIMI activists who were employees of software
multinational companies in Bangalore drew attention to the extent to which the
organization had spread its tentacles. Friday's blasts in Bangalore have
further underscored the threat that the IT capital faces.
While the blasts in Bangalore did not take a heavy toll on human lives - one
woman was killed and about six people injured - police fear they could have
been a dry run. This means that more attacks could follow.
The blasts in Bangalore and Ahmedabad indicate that the arrest of SIMI's top
leaders and scores of its activists has not dented its capacity to strike. That
it was able to carry out a blast in Ahmedabad on a day when the country was on
very high alert following the Bangalore blasts signals its capacity to strike.
If the Indian Mujahideen/SIMI is indeed targeting BJP-ruled states and hitting
back against those responsible for targeting Muslims and weakening its
organization, then it is likely that Madhya Pradesh could be targeted next,
police officials feel. This state, which lies in the heart of India, is not
only ruled by the BJP but also it was in Indore and Ujjain that many of SIMI's
leaders were arrested this year.
It has been obvious for some years that terrorist organizations are targeting
India's secular democracy and that they are seeking to stir communal riots with
an aim to rending apart the country's secular fabric. They have targeted
several temples, including the Akshardham temple in Gandhinagar and the
Raghunath temple in Jammu in 2002 and the Sankat Mochan temple in Varanasi in
2006.
When this failed to trigger riots, mosques were attacked, as was the Mecca
Masjid in Hyderabad in 2007. Attacks on days of religious significance to both
communities have been carried out. And now come the attacks in BJP-ruled
states.
The blasts in Bangalore and Ahmedabad might have been fueled by rage and
revenge. But they are aimed at stirring communal trouble too. Several blasts
were in communally sensitive neighborhoods. After all, riots provide outfits
like SIMI with a flood of angry young new warriors.
Those behind the blasts hope that events in Gujarat in 2002 will be repeated.
On February 27, 2002, a train carrying VHP activists returning from the temple
town of Ayodhya was attacked at Godhra in Gujarat, allegedly by a terrorist
outfit. Fifty-eight people, including 25 women and 15 children, were burnt
alive in the attack at Godhra. Hindu mobs led by the VHP went on a rampage in
retaliation, targeting Muslims across Gujarat.
Will Modi's government now allow a replay of the horrific riots that gripped
Gujarat in February-March 2002? The immediate response of the Gujarat
government has been far more responsible than that in 2002. On Saturday, police
and paramilitary personnel were deployed immediately across Ahmedabad and
Indian army troops are patrolling the city.
In 2002, Modi found backing from a BJP-led coalition government in Delhi.
Today, it is the rival Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government that
is in power in Delhi. Although the Congress' record on communal riots is just
as bloody as that of the BJP's - its leaders and activists incited and
unleashed mobs during the anti-Sikh riots in Delhi and other cities in
October-November 1984 - it is unlikely to give Modi a long rope in the event of
the BJP unleashing retaliatory violence in Gujarat. Modi could find his
government dismissed if he goes back to his old tricks.
Sudha Ramachandran is an independent journalist/researcher based in
Bangalore.
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