The Terror Hub

Uttar Pradesh is now home to the largest number of Pakistan established espionage-cum-terror modules. Add to it the fact that there are a couple of neighbors that have become the nursery and conduit of terrorists, the situation becomes alarming. This has happened because of the competitive politics played by successive governments in that State to indiscriminately appease the fundamentalist Muslim organizations.

by reporter@dayafterindia.com

For over a decade, India’s most populous state of Uttar Pradesh has suffered from bad governance, resulting in a steady decline in law and

order, living standards and basic social services. This has manifested in the decline in the standards of living of the below poverty segment of the population, more unemployment, deeper caste and communal polarization and growth of Islamic fundamentalism. In order to woo the minority community, which was once considered the Congress Party’s vote bank, parties in power have tended to ignore the activities of the fundamentalists for fear of antagonizing the community, with the result that the terror network struck deep root and now poses a very critical law and order problem, threatening to impede the State’s development. The Bharatiya Janata Party was no exception because it was going overboard to jettison the label of its being anti-Muslim and a few of its rootless Muslim leaders cultivated the fundamentalists, instead of wooing them towards a broad secular platform.

Therefore, the recent bombing of the courts in Faizabad, Varanasi and Lucknow and, earlier, other places as well came as no surprise to UP-watchers, who have been witnessing the unchecked growth of the fundamentalist network, with undeniable foreign links. Next only to Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh has been subjected to the largest number of terrorist  attacks and motivated militants are regularly spreading to other parts of the country from hideouts in the State. The existence of terror network and modules established by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence is known to both the Central and state governments yet, lack of proper policing and intelligence gathering by the governments ruling in Lucknow has enabled the anti-social and anti-national elements to carry on their nefarious activities practically unchecked.

The situation rapidly declined during the tenure of Mulayam Singh Yadav, who projects himself as a leader of the Muslims as well and refused to take action against such organizations as the Student’s Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and helped the banned outfit spread its tentacles wider in the State, exploiting the poverty and unemployment among the young Muslims. The governments before and after him too indulged in competitive wooing of the minority vote; leading to treating of the fundamentalist fringe with kid gloves while, at the same time, blaming the Centre for failure to combat terrorism. The so-called Third Front leaders, at the recent conclave also came out with a resolution blaming the Centre for the UP blasts, forgetting the role they themselves had played during their tenure as chief ministers of their respective states.

The lawyers of UP have characterized the bombings as a crude attempt to pressurize the judiciary into submission and take revenge on the lawyers who have refused to defend the terror accused Adif Iqbal, Irfan Khan, Mohammad Nasir Shakil and Aziz who are alleged to have hatched the conspiracy to bomb Ram Janmabhoomi complex on July 5, 2005 and are currently undergoing trial in Faizabad District Court along with Mohammad Walihullah and others at Varanasi. Recently, the three Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists who planned to abduct Rahul Gandhi and other leaders were roughed up by irate lawyers when they were produced in the district court in Lucknow. The lawyers have been demanding setting up of a separate high security court at Lucknow to deal exclusively with terrorism related cases in order to ensure quick trial.

Pakistan’s hand in spreading terror in India has been fully exposed. Instead of dispatching groups of trained and armed terrorists across the international border or by sea, Parvez Musharraf, who is going to be at the country’s helm for another five years at least, changed the strategy of setting of training camps within India to continue the proxy war against this country. Uttar Pradesh is now home to the largest number of Pakistan established espionage-cum-terror modules. Ten of the 39 of these destroyed had their roots in the State, particularly, Varanasi, Lucknow, Rampur, Meerut, Agra and Saharanpur. UP accounts for more than one-fourth of the 39 modules busted in the country so far. Several Pakistanis were also arrested, apart from Indians, for being involved in terrorist activities. Most of the Indians had links with such fundamentalist outfits as SIMI and Lashkar-e-Toiba. Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, which have also witnessed ghastly terror attacks are the other two states where such modules have been active.

Islamabad’s intelligence agencies have also been pushing terrorists into India from neighbouring countries, including Nepal and Bangladesh. The infamous hijack of in Indian Airlines plane some years ago was undertaken by terrorists who had boarded the plane at Kathmandu. Some Pakistani High Commission officials were apprehended for promoting terrorist activities against India and smuggling counterfeit currency. Since political changes took place in Nepal and the King and his coterie, who were playing politics with India’s neighbors, were overthrown, anti-Indian activities from that country have somewhat abated. But, Bangladesh remains the major terror hub operated by Pakistani agencies against India, though the authorities in Dhaka have been consistently denying the fact.

In collaboration with the Lashkar and HUJI, Pakistan’s ISI has been promoting cross-border terror activities against India for several years. The Lashkar and Jaish-e-Mohammad have established their presence in Bangladesh in a big way and have been training recruits to undertake jihad in India and other countries in the region. These organizations raised funds in other Islamic countries and undertook relief operations in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake which hit Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and NWFP in October 2005, Lashkar’s political front Jammat-ud-Dawa has sent some of Its top operatives to Bangladesh and opened local offices to collect funds and fills up its ranks in the name of relief work in the cyclone - hit coastal districts of the country in which thousands have perished. By winning over the people in this manner, they have been able to recruit a large number of young Muslims for terror-cum-suicide missions. Even though these organizations have been banned, they continue to function under different names. Bangladesh has also emerged as an important route for militants, as well as, explosives including RDX being smuggled into India.

The influx of terrorists and explosives from other countries into various parts of India has, no doubt, increased the burden of the security and intelligence agencies responsible for maintaining law and order. But as the increase in terror activities has shown, these forces are not trained to handle such anti-national elements, nor are the intelligence agencies equipped to unearth the modules established in several states. The Central, as well as, state governments have not evolved a coordinated strategy to deal with this menace with entirely new dimensions. Home Minister Shivraj Patil announced in Parliament that the Prime Minister would convene a meeting of the chief ministers to tighten internal security and fight terrorism. Terrorism was the main subject at the last meeting of the chief ministers and convening another meeting may, therefore, serve little purpose.

What needs to be ensured is that the decisions taken at such meetings are fully implemented and the states equipped to modernize their police forces and intelligence agencies to deal with this new threat to internal security. Chief Minister Mayawati has decided to set up an anti-terror squad on the lines of the one in Maharashtra and also to strengthen the intelligence set-up. A separate cadre for intelligence personnel is being created for high-tech surveillance as against the current practice of treating intelligence as a wing of the police- ill equipped and poorly staffed. The Anti-terror Squad would function as a specialized unit to meet the growing threat from militants. The decisions are welcome and their implementation will be watched with interest by people in the State and outside.

It is also well-known that the growth of the police force in the country has not kept pace with the increase in population and lack of resources is often quoted as the reason for this deficiency. The Centre needs to do a lot more to help the state to modernize their police forces, better train and equip them to deal with normal crime, as well as, the new phenomenon of terrorism with external dimensions. The varying political complexion of the state governments should not come in the way of bringing about a meeting of minds and forging cooperation in neutralizing this threat to national security. Terrorists have international backup and unlimited funding, which can be neutralized with greater efficiency and cooperation between the Central and state forces and sharing of resources and intelligence.