Over the past year, India has become a testing area for terrorists. They plan and execute and if it works then similar attacks can be planned in some other parts of the world. In such circumstances a question arises: who is the winner? And the answer is of course the terrorists. They killed the man they wanted, ATS Chief. They got their attention world wide. Actually the strategy of the terrorist has changed in recent years. These attempts are focused on destabilizing the economy of India which is gaining strength worldwide. The hand and involvement of foreign agencies behind such attempts aimed at deteriorating the economy of India can not be ruled out. Even big economic powers at present are passing through bad times thus these powers can see the constancy of Indian economy. They would definitely try to weaken it.
By the terrorists, teams are selected from the region rather than taking the risk of getting somebody from outside the region of the attack. Because of this, the success rate is high, if team is motivated from the same region of the attack. Indian Economic, Socio and Political conditions are so favourable for easily motivating the young Muslims into becoming extremists against their own country. Funding, weapons and the technology are easily available in India so that planning is made easy.
WHAT SHOULD THE WORLD LEARN: Observe the Indian terrorists activities very closely.
India is no more a safe haven but the testing grounds for the terror attacks.
Put Pressure on Indian Governments in charge to be more responsible on the national security. Do not take Pakistan and Bangladesh very easily, they have a hand in every terrorist activity in India.
Make the tactics of micro management and reach out to the Muslim communities with a friendly hand and separate the extremists and actual Muslim followers. Divide and rule is the old policy. Divide the extremists from the Muslims.
WHOM TO BLAME: It is very difficult to blame one person, party or reason. Everybody had their hand. The ruling party in India did not do enough and the opposition party is in its own controversy. Police will never take responsibility. But if we observe very important incidents happened from past two years, it seems that different terrorist networks operating in the country wanted to destabilize India.
MUMBAI’S TROUBLED PAST:
Mumbai is to India what New York is to the US–a trade, financial, cultural and tourist hub.
Mumbai has been regularly targeted by terrorists since March 1993. Muslim underworld figures tied to Pakistani militants allegedly carried out a series of bomb attacks, leading to riots and a conflict between Hindus and Muslims. Among the targets in the 1993 attacks were the city’s stock exchange, trains, hotels and petrol stations. A total of 257 people were killed and more than 1100 wounded. A crime syndicate going by the name of D-Company was held responsible. Almost two and a half years ago, on July 11, 2006, terrorists targeted Mumbai’s suburban Railway system. On that occasion, too, the attacks were rigorously coordinated, with seven bombs being detonated on seven different trains within 11 minutes. The death toll eventually reached 209, with more than 700 injured. In Wednesday (November 2008) night at least 101 people were killed in attacks apparently aimed at tourists in India’s financial capital Mumbai.
Remember 2006 blasts at Malegaon, in Maharashtra, on 8th September 2006. Attack type Bombings in which 37 deaths caused and 125 were injured by the suspected outfits Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and Student Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).
HOW IT STARTED:
Following below are the series of incidents which happened at Malegon Blast in 2006.
The 2006 Malegaon bombings were a series of bomb blasts that took place on 8 September 2006 in Malegaon, a town in the Nashik district of the Indian state of Maharashtra, located at some 290 km to the northeast of state capital Mumbai.
The explosions, which caused the deaths of at least 37 people and injured over 125 more, took place in a Muslim cemetery, adjacent to a mosque, at around 13:15 local time after Friday prayers on the Shab-e-Bara’at holy day. Most of the blast victims were Muslim pilgrims.
Security forces spoke of ‘two bombs attached to bicycles,’ but other reports indicated that three devices had exploded. A stampede ensued after the devices exploded. A curfew was imposed in the town and state paramilitaries were deployed in sensitive areas to prevent unrest. According to Maharashtra Police, blasts are the handiwork of Student Islamic Movement of India. The suspicion is now directed towards the extremist Hindu movement Sangh Parivar, which would have enacted the blast with the help of SIMI related extremists. The Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) is still investigating (11/08).
OTHER BOMBINGS IN 2008:
BANGALORE BOMBINGS: In 2008 serial blasts occurred on July 25, 2008 in Bangalore. A series of nine bombs exploded in which two people were killed and 20 injured. According to the Bangalore City Police, the blasts were caused by low-intensity crude bombs triggered by timers.
Bangalore is the information technology hub of India with more than 40% of the country’s IT and software industry based there. India already suffered from a similar series of blasts in Jaipur, in May 2008.
The Times of India reported that either the banned organization Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) or the militant organization Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) could be behind these blasts. The Intelligence Bureau (IB) is not ruling out the involvement of these organisations, however the police maintain that it is too early to attribute blame to anyone.
This was followed by the 2008 Ahmedabad serial blasts occurring on July 26, 2008.
It was initially reported that three blasts took place at around 1:30 PM IST. Later reports indicated that four low-intensity blasts occurred: One at Nayandahalli (1:30 PM IST), two in Madiwala (at 1:50 PM IST), and the last in Adugodi (2:10 PM). Other blasts were reported from areas including the Mallya hospital, Langford Road and Richmond Circle. The Madiwala blast took place at a check post, behind The Forum, a popular shopping mall in Bangalore.
It has been reported that gelatin sticks were used in the bombs. Police indicated that all bombs had timer devices attached to them and that mobile phones were used to trigger the bombs. The blasts were low-intensity but occurred in crowded areas. 1st blast, 1:20 PM, Madiwala Bus Depot. 2nd blast, 1:25 PM, Mysore road. 3rd blast, 1:40 PM, Adugudi. 4th blast, 2:10 PM, Koramangala. 5th blast, 2:25 PM, Vittal Mallya road. 6th blast, 2:35 PM, Langford Town. 7th blast, Richmond Town.
There was another Bomb found on the 26th July 2008 in Bangalore near Koramangala Forum Mall which was defused successfully by the Bomb Detection Squad.
A statement from the All India Muslim Forum said the group ‘strongly condemns the dastardly terrorist blasts at Banglore and Ahmedabad, claiming scores of innocent lives and injuring hundreds, and appeals to the people to maintain communal harmony in the face of these sinister moves which aim at tearing apart the country’s social fabric."
The Central Government had warned the Karnataka State Government one day earlier that state was high on the terror hit list along with six other Indian states – Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab (India), and Assam and Union Territory Delhi.
There is a possible connection with the Andhra and Varanasi attacks. An official was quoted as saying "The aim of these groups, whether HuJI or LeT or SIMI, is clear. Bangalore and Hyderabad are being chosen as targets to create panic in the US as the cities house, the biggest IT companies from the US." The Andhra – Karnataka link involves Raziuddin Nasir, a Hyderabad resident, and his aide Hafiz Khan Adnan from Bangalore, were arrested near Hubli in Karnataka this year. Furthermore, another clear link between the terror elements in both blasts is the explosive material used. In the Bangalore blasts an explosive with an ammonium nitrate base was used, while in the Gokul Chat and Lumbini Park explosions in Hyderabad a similar ammonium nitrate base was used. These were also of low intensity with the aim of creating panic. Like the Malegaon and Mecca Masjid blasts, it took place on a Friday during or just after the prayers. In response to these blasts security was also beefed up in Andhra Pradesh.
It was also reported that sleeper cells have gained a firm foothold in Karnataka with the discovery of terror camps in the Karnataka forest early in the year. In this vein, near-simultaneous blasts – all having the footprint of the jehadi network that had carried out blasts in Varanasi, Jaipur, Mumbai and elsewhere – point to the strong foothold terrorists have made in the city.
On 29th July, the Bangalore Police Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) arrested a SIMI activist named Sameer Sadiq in connection with the blasts. According to the police, Sadiq had played a key role in the Surat riots. He was staying at Gurapanapalya in Bangalore, the area which incidentally housed the SIMI office before it had been banned.
On July 30, 2008, the Intelligence Bureau (IB) indicated that two men – Rasool Khan Parti and Mohammad Sufiya Ahmed Patangiya – currently living at Farahan Arcade Gulistan in Karachi were the masterminds behind the Ahmedabad and the Bangalore serial blasts. They used to reside in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh. Both are possibly members of Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami. The Gujarat Police has been looking for them in connection to the murder of former Gujarat state minister Haren Pandya.
AHMEDABAD BOMBINGS:
The 2008 Ahmedabad bombings were a series of 21 bomb blasts that hit Ahmedabad on July 26, 2008, within a span of 70 minutes. 56 people were killed and over 200 people were injured. Ahmedabad is the cultural and commercial heart of Gujarat state and a large part of western India. The blasts were considered to be of low intensity and were similar to the Bangalore blasts which occurred the day before.
Several TV channels said they had received an e-mail from a terror outfit called Indian Mujahideen (IM) claiming responsibility for the terror attacks; Islamic militant group Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami, however, claimed responsibility for the attacks. The Gujarat Police arrested the suspected mastermind, Mufti Abu Bashir, along with nine others, in connection to the bombings.
These bombings occurred a day after the Bangalore blasts and a day before a bomb blast in the Indian state of Jharkhand. The bombs were planted in Tiffin carriers on bicycles, a pattern similar to the 13 May 2008 Jaipur bombings. Many of the blasts targeted the city bus service, ripping apart portions of the vehicles. Two blasts took place inside the premises of two hospitals, about 40 minutes after the initial series of blasts. One of the blasts in the hospitals occurred when injured victims of the initial series of blasts were being admitted there. Another bomb was found and defused on the following day in the Hatkeshwar area. Two live bombs were also retrieved from Maninagar, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s constituency.
Gujarat Police recovered and defused two more bombs in Surat, another major city in Gujarat, a day after the Ahmedabad blasts. Two cars filled with materials required to make explosives, including detonators, were also found, one of them parked on a roadside near a hospital, and the other in the outskirts of Surat.
WARNING OF ATTACKS THROUGH E-MAIL:
Several news agencies reported receiving a 14-page e-mail five minutes before the explosions with the subject line: "Await 5 minutes for the revenge of Gujarat", apparently referring to the riots of 2002 which took place in Gujarat after the Godhra incident. The e-mail was sent by the group known as ‘Indian Mujahideen’ on July 26 at around 6:41PM IST from an email address alarbi_gujarat@yahoo.com.
The contents of the e-mail warned of attacks in 5 minutes: "In the name of Allah the Indian Mujahideen strike again! Do whatever you can, within 5 minutes from now, feel the terror of Death!"
The e-mail also contained threats against the current Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Vilasrao Deshmukh, and his Deputy, R.R Patil, with the claim, "We wonder at your memory. Have you forgotten the evening of July 11, 2006 so quickly and so easily?
Furthermore, the threats went on to warn Indian businessman Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries to "think-twice" before "usurping and building a citadel on a land in Mumbai that belongs to the Waqf Board…lest it turns into horrifying memories for you which you will never ever forget."
The e-mail also reportedly threatened several Bollywood actors, asking them to stop acting.
Police reported that they questioned U.S national Ken Haywood from whose IP address the threatening email was sent. Haywood’s residence in the Sanpada area of Navi Mumbai was raided by ATS officials on July 27 after the IP address from which a threatening email was sent minutes before the Ahmedabad serial blasts was found to be his. 56 people were killed by the bombing and over 200 people were injured.
On July 30, 2008, it was reported that the police had found CCTV footage of the driver of one of the cars used for the bombings. The photo was obtained from a toll booth near Pune. It had been earlier established that the bombers had stolen the cars from Navi Mumbai before driving it to Gujarat. The car used in the blast at the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital was driven 6 times between Ahmedabad and Surat between July 7 and July 24.
On August 4, 2008, the Gujarat police claimed to have their first breakthrough in the case with the identification of the shop from where the LPG cylinders used for the blasts were bought. The police also claimed that the crates in which the bombs were planted were made from locally purchased wood.
The Hindustan Times reported on July 28, 2008 that police and intelligence officials had zeroed in on three masterminds behind the blasts. The suspects, Rasool Khan Yakoob Khan Pathan alias Rasool ‘Party’, Sohail Khan and Mufti Sufiyan, are suspected to be key operatives of either the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) or the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI). They are also believed to have got to Pakistan after the 2002 Guajrat riots.
On July 29, 2008, the police detained three suspects, Abdul Qadir, Hasil Mohammad and Hussain Ibrahim, near Limbi on Rajkot-Ahmedabad highway in Surendranagar district, while they were leaving Ahmedabad soon after the blasts.
On July 30, 2008, it was reported on Rediff that the Intelligence Bureau (IB) believed two men, Rasool Khan Parti and Mohammad Sufiya Ahmed Patangiya, who are currently living at Farahan Arcade Gulistan in Karachi were the masterminds behind both the Ahmedabad and the 2008 Bangalore serial blasts. They were previously residents of Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh, and are members of Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami. The Gujarat Police has been looking for them in connection to the murder of former Gujarat state minister Haren Pandya.
On August 16, 2008, the Gujarat Police announced that they had solved the case, making it the fastest terrorism case to be solved in recent years. According to the Gujarat Director General of Police P.C.Pande, Mufti Abu Bashir was the mastermind behind the blasts, and upto 10 of his accomplices had been arrested.
On November 20, 2008, the Gujarat Police claimed that Amir Raza Khan, a HuJI operative from Kolkatta now in Pakistan, was also the mastermind of the blasts.
In a chargesheet filed by the Crime Branch, SIMI members Safdar Nagori, Hafez Hussain, Sibli Abdul Karim, Kamruddin Nagori, Amil Parvez and Mufti Abu Basher planned the attack and asked Abdus Subhan alias Tauqeer and Qayamuddin Kapadia for executing the blasts. SIMI members organised terror training camps in Waghamon in Kerala and Halol near Vadodara. Qayamuddin and Tauqeer then held a meeting with their local contacts in the city for arrangements of logistics and support to carry out the conspiracy. The local contacts were those who were associated with SIMI before it was banned in 2001 by the Central Government.
Maulana Abdul Halim, a suspected Students Islamic Movement of India activist, was arrested from Dani Limda in the heart of Ahmedabad on July 27, 2008. He was alleged to be involved in instigating the Muslim youth after the 2002 Gujarat violence and sending them to Uttar Pradesh for terror training. Charges have also been laid on him for sending 33 youths for terror training to Pakistan in 2003. After his arrest, he was remanded to 14-day police custody by the Metropolitan Magistrate in Ahmedabad.
On August 15, the Gujarat police arrested Mufti Abu Bashir, and nine others, in connection to the bombings. Bashir belongs to Binapara village in Azamgarh district of eastern Uttar Pradesh, and was believed to be a SIMI activist.
On October 24, a SIMI activist, Abdul Razik Mansuri, a resident of Gomtipur area Nagda district, Madhya Pradesh, had been arrested and send to Gujarat for questioning.
The Joint Commissioner of Police for the crime branch, Ashish Bhatia, said: "He was arrested from the Nagda district in Madhya Pradesh by our team. He was there staying with some of his relative. We have brought him to Ahmedabad for interrogation." He added that Mansuri was likely to be produced before a court in Ahmedabad to be remanded to judicial custody. On November 11, the Madhya Pradesh Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) arrested Qayamuddin Kapadia, a top-ranking member of SIMI and a key conspirator and executor of the attack, In Ujjain. Police claimed that Kapadia admitted his involvement in the Ahmedabad blasts, and that he, along with Abdul Subhan Qureshi alias Tauqeer of Mumbai and Riaz Bhatkal of Karnataka, collaborated with the SIMI cell led by Atif to carry out the Delhi blasts. Atif was later killed in an encounter with Delhi Police.
On November 13, Rafiuddin Kapadia, the brother of the key accused, Qayamuddin Kapadia, was arrested by the city police of Ahmedabad. His arrest took the toll of the total held by the police to 43. The Joint Commissioner of Police, Ashish Bhatia, who is heading the probe in the serial blasts case, said: "We have arrested Rafiuddin Kapadia, brother of Qayamuddin. He was present at the SIMI training camp in Halol near Vadodara. He originally hails from Vadodara and was arrested today from Ahmedabad by the crime branch officials."
FURTHER THREATS:
The threat of terror continued even after Ahmedabad blasts. The Gujarat Police discovered an active bomb which was set to detonate at 12:00AM IST in Hatkeshwar, Maninagar. A bomb squad was quick to respond and successfully managed to defuse the bomb in front of a large crowd, which rose to jubilation and applause upon bomb’s defusion.
On Tuesday, July 29, eighteen bombs were found in Surat, and were subsequently defused. They were found mainly in the diamond-processing and residential areas of Surat, within a span of just four hours. According to the Times of India, a top government official believed that the planting of so many "unexploded" bombs was probably a means to divert attention of the police from the ongoing blast probe. After Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi visited the city another bomb was found and diffused by a bomb disposal squad. All in all, 23 bombs were found in three days in Surat.
Forensic investigations revealed that the bombs had not exploded because the circuits had been wrongly assembled. The police were not sure whether that was on purpose or a way to estimate the reaction time of the bomb squad, for planning future attacks.
Three bombs were detected on the road in Pali district, near Marwar in Rajasthan. The bombs, put in half-litre oil containers, were planted on the Marwar-Ranawas Road at gap of one km and were spotted by onlookers. The box carried a bundle of fuse wire, 30-40 marbles, 8 iron plates, and detonator. There was no timer nor any electronic devise attached to the explosives. The bombs were defused by the bomb squad.
Tamil Nadu.
In Tamil Nadu, Sheikh Abdul Ghaffoor, 39, was arrested with an alleged plan of carrying out bombings on Independence Day, August 15, 2008. The plot included bombing the state capital Chennai along with three other cities in Tamil Nadu and at least six trains. Meenakshi Amman Temple in Madurai is believed to be on top of the list for such terror attack.The man was detained with a large cache of explosives and two timer devices. Apparently, it is believed that the plot was revealed by an arrested leader, P Ali Abdullah, of a banned organisation, who has been serving sentences in an Indian jail since 2003. Chennai city police later on 1 August 2008 announced that the arrests were not linked with either the Ahmedabad or Bangalore blasts.
An e-Mail was sent to Kolkata on 29 July, 2008 to bomb 8 different locations in Kolkata. Subsequently, high alert was placed in Kolkata but the E-mail turned out to be a hoax.
New Delhi.
Another e-mail was sent to the Japanese Embassy in New Delhi on 30 July, 2008 to bomb several locations in Delhi. The mail was soon forwarded to the Delhi Police from the Japanese Embassy and the city was placed under a Red Alert. The E-Mail threatened to bomb Sarojini Nagar which was a target in the October 2005 bombings. Further to these threats Japan closed its embassy in New Delhi on 31 July 2008 and also issue warning to its citizens living in India to avoid crowded places like markets and train stations. Nevertheless the initial examination of a youth arrested for sending emails to the Japanese embassy indicated that he might suffer from some mental problems. Delhi police revealed that the youth who sent the email was frustrated of a failed visa application to the embassy and the email threat was an hoax.
CONSPIRACY THEORIES:
Sushma Swaraj, a senior leader of the BJP, at a press conference in Delhi, claimed the ruling UPA Government had a conspiratorial hand in the blasts to divert attention from the allegations of bribery as well as to gain Muslim votes. Times of India called her comments as ‘scandalous’ and ‘outrageous remarks’. The Congress party’s spokesman, Shakeel Ahmed said that Sushma Swaraj should be ‘tried for treason’ and her comments have ‘given a clean chit to terrorists and anti-national, disruptive forces both within and outside India’. Later on 31 July 2008, BJP’s spokesperson, Prakash Javdekar, clarified that the allegation of conspiracy made by Sushma Swaraj was her personal view and to the contrary the party viewed the attacks not as a conspiracy of the Congress party but as an ‘an attack on the nation’. Although Sushma Swaraj’s comments were critically commented by some media and her own party, T.K Arun, a columnist of The Economic Times suggested that investigations should also look into her point that some of the blasts occurred in Muslim locals of Ahmedabad and ‘that a large share of those getting slaughtered by the terrorists are Muslims’. The US national to whom the suspicious e-mail was traced escaped from India even after a lookout notice was issued.
HINDU-MUSLIM UNITY:
It is widely believed that the attacks were carried out to bring about the levels of unrest Gujarat had seen after the Godhra train burning. It is believed that by targeting communally sensitive areas such as Sharkej, Hindus and Muslims, attackers wanted to provoke and reignite communal disharmony and riots. However, the people of Gujarat stood tall in unity against such violence. Peaceful demonstrations held across Gujarat by both Hindus and Muslims called attacks an act of cowardice. Such demonstrations of unity were also held in Delhi and Bhopal where Hindus and Muslims held candle light vigils.
A statement from the All India Muslim Forum said the group ‘strongly condemns the dastardly terrorist blasts at Bangalore and Ahmedabad, claiming scores of innocent lives and injuring hundreds, and appeals to the people to maintain communal harmony in the face of these sinister moves which aim at tearing apart the country’s social fabric.’
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