Bangladeshi police have detained a man suspected of organizing a bomb attack on a mosque in Hyderabad in May and providing support for bombings in August. The detained man was described as a member of the Harkat-ul Jihad Islami (HUJI), a Bangladeshi Jihadi group . If the detention in Bangladesh got Indian news outlets all excited the jubilation was shortlived with doubts being raised on his extradition. Mohd Sharifuddin or Abu Hamza is believed to have been recruited by Bilal – the HUJI commander who police believe is the mastermind of the Hyderabad attacks.
Meanwhile the investigations in Hyderabad have taken a curious turn with a focus on missing RDX. Hyderabad police commissioner Balwinder Singh says it is not just Hyderabad that needs to be worried about unaccounted for RDX. According to him, the 10 kg RDX that is believed to have been smuggled in there from Bangladesh in February could now be anywhere. The city police have registered a case of criminal conspiracy against 15 people but the RDX and the blasts accused remain elusive. The Bangalore Police meanwhile have contributed their bit as well to the larger than life image of Bilal by accusing him of masterminding the December 28, 2005, IISc attack too. A Home Ministry official today also said the state governments have been asked to tell their police force to keep a surveillance at religious places or places where there is a large crowd like at markets and shopping malls in view of tomorrow`s Janmashthami and Ganesh Chaturthi festival later this month.
Its been over a week since the Hyderabad Blasts and the whodunit guessing game continues with Bangladeshi outfit HUJI emerging at the epicenter of all speculation. Offstumped takes a hard look at the motives behind the wave of terror in India over the last 3 years.
Nitin in his latest piece takes on The Economist for its alarmist analysis of the Hyderabad blasts. Offstumped however is not fully convinced about the “Outbreak of Communal Riots” hypothesis to explain the rather orphaned nature of this wave of terror with no attributable motive and no claims of responsibility. The “Outbreak of Communal Riots” hypothesis has far too much conventional wisdom invested in it and neither history nor current facts fully bear this hypothesis out.
It must be noted that there is no history of a terrorist attack having triggered a communal riot India to date. Neither the fedayeen attacks on high value religious targets like Akshardham and Ayodhya nor the anonymous blasts in Varnasi or Mecca Masjid have triggered any major riot. Not even the deliberate targeting of Muslims in Malegaon, Hyderabad and Attari Express triggered riots. In fact one can safely conclude there exists no correlation between spectacular attacks of mass terror and widespread outbreak of communal riots to date. If there is any correlation it is the opposite as is evident in the alleged logic offered by the Leftwing activists to rationalize the 1993 Mumbai blasts as a reaction to the 1992-1993 Mumbai riots.
Secondly it must also be noted that the threshold to trigger mob violence in India is rather low and does not require a co-ordinated strike that relies heavily on precision and timing to cause maximum causalities. The recent events in Agra are a good example of what little it takes to provoke a riot. There are far cheaper ways to trigger a riot if that was all one wanted to. The mere defiling of an idol or statue was enough to provoke riots in some parts of the country from Ambedkar to Anna Durai. The mere news of hanging of Saddam Hussein was enough to mobilize and provoke violence.
Thirdly anyone well versed in the history of cycles of communal violence in Hyderabad in 1980s would know that almost all of them were triggered around the 10 day Ganesh festival. To pick a secular day, a weekend at that and secular targets hardly explains the communal riot motive. The perpetrators could have easily waited 3 more weeks and achieved both objectives.
It maybe argued that the perpetrators are innovating in the hope of eventually triggering such widespread outbreak of riots. But let us examine the chronology here. Starting from the twin car bombs in Mumbai of December 2003 to the latest events in Hyderabad of 2007 it has been 4 years and more than 10 terrorists attacks, fedayeen and anonymous.
That must be one very patient terrorist who is in it for the long haul for none of the more than 10 attacks came anywhere close to fulfilling their alleged objective of spreading communal discord.
For a while the derailing of India-Pakistan peace moves was offered as a hypothesis. One doesn’t hear much of it these days as the peace moves have hit the pause button pending the political uncertainty in Islamabad.
So what is the undercurrent here that is triggering periodic attacks of mass terror with no rush to own not even the slightest desire to be associated with on the record.
For the sake of argument Offstumped is discarding the hypothesis that there is no common link to this wave of terror and that these were all un-coordinated acts of terror by autonomous groups.
So if we were to work with the hypothesis that there is a common link it is reasonable to assume that for this common link to have persisted with its strategy over the last 4 years there must be some measure of long term success the immediate body count notwithstanding.
If one were to further extend this line of thinking the one common after effect of the terrorist attacks has been the media allegation of unfair profiling of Muslim Youth bolstered by Left Wing Activism. Somewhere between police high handedness and media activism the profiling is feeding on disenchantment and the disenchantment is in turn feeding on even greater profiling. This vicious cycle of localized incidents of profiling feeding on media magnified disenchantment and vice-versa is perhaps making for a fertile recruiting ground one radicalized mind at a time.
Is this the long term project that justifies a more than 4 year long wait while demanding complete anonymity ?
It is not the immediate outbreak of communal riots that is worrying but it is the radicalization of the disenchanted mind that is of greater concern. The riots we can detect and control but the radicalization we have no measure of.
Offstumped Bottomline: Indian Muslims must stand up to lead this war on terror by taking steps to arrest the radicalization before it assumes cancerous proportions.
The hunt for RDX is best limited to explosives and must not be allowed to become the hunt for the unknown(X) RaDicalized mind.
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Well said.
Yossarin,
Isn’t the Godhra carnage termed a terrorist attack by Sanghis?
The VHP gave a call for Gujarat bandh for the next day on that fateful day itself and all was quite in Gujarat till the next day morning. It was only once the bandh started with VHP goons enforcing it, the riots too started.
I agree with both u and Nitin. The larger game plan is to radicalise the Muslim youth and then unleash riots that will affect our economy. Once the cost of business spirals up, Cos will move to areas that offer cheaper alternatives.
There rises another rect-angle in the story
And its little smoke, but somewhat gory!
Seeking to break common ground,
The familiar faces are not around.
Instead ther?s speculation,
Which may leave one in the stun
The free-con-dom-fighters only doom
Sites , in the city, of prominent notable boom
‘Coz they lack….
This particular knack
To know that Taj Mahal..
Is always less popular than the eatery behind the well.
Only the lo-cals are involved
‘Coz the free-con-dom-fighters are not yet this much evolved…
Even with local supports,
They plan and execute from across the Ports
Blasting Bombay’s famed trains and buses
And all of the religious places…
They attack the Sankatmochan Mandir and Jama Masjid
And try to break the PArliament’s security squid
No place is attacked twice by the fighter-fools,
Ofcourse Bombay is the exception to the rule.
Seeking political stand,
And blasting one’s own land
Is it The Party which gulps nitrates of ammonium
And vomits on the nation’s quest for isotopes of uranium
Pushing back the Con-grrsh and the Am-I-M
Here rises the giant arm of the See-Pee-Eye-Hmm
Thereby hangs a question
From Which nobody can run
Was this done by masters of c-left
Indeed is it the quassi-heft
Watch out the following mystery
Is this the changing of South’s political history
>>It must be noted that there is no history of a terrorist attack having triggered a communal riot India to date.
There was an attempt to start a riot following the May’07 Mecca Masjid blasts in Hyderabad, but yes, you are technically accurate that no terrorist attack ever led to a conventinal communal riot.
Starting a riot may or may not be the terrorists’ primary objective, but to grow dislike for the Muslim in the Hindu mind (and vice versa) definitely fits in with their plan. They also must know that the communal divide only grows with each terrorist attack.
The solution is what your bottomline correctly pointed out: the onus is on Indian Muslims to take on, repudiate and isolate the terrorists.
A very good analysis. But i think still the conclusion is elusive.MIM and the Taslima episode have some pointers.Why Hyd commissioner AK Mohanty was transferred on instructions from MIM?I think the whole episode is linked to terror voting by ignorant Muslim masses. It can be even linked to some property deals in the making.
Afurther detailed anaysis is called for the MOTIVE
The problem of terrorism is a very serious matter – not just in India but the entire globe ! Islamic terrorism is the worst form of terrorism which afflicts all of us today.
Many people believe that Islam sanctions “terrorist activities” in Dar-ul-harb (non-Islamic States). This makes many Muslims across the world support such “terrorist activities” carried out in the name of “Jihad” by self-serving Muslim organisations.
The educated/ enlightened Indian Muslims are compelled to remain mute spectators to “Islamic terrorism†carried out in the name of “jihad†– largely because of the implicit support of some powerful Islamic Clerics in and outside India. It is unthinkable that the Islamic masses in India will rise to condemn this so called “jihad†! They will not do so – till the prominent Islamic Clerics come out in the open and criticize such activities. In traditional Islam, Muslims living outside “Dar-ul-Islam†are guided primarily by their local Clerics – whose words take precedence over the law of the country. This is the unfortunate reality of Muslims.
There has to be a mechanism to bear upon the India-based Muslim Clerics to condemn such terrorist activities carried out in the name of “jihadâ€. If this is achieved, we may be able to get the Islamic masses in India to shun the perpetrators of such barbaric activities!
Unfortunately, each political party in India including Congress, BJP, Left, etc view the Indian Muslims as a “vote bank” and try to exploit their sentiments. Which is why no one is able to handle this situation firmly enough. Not even BJP could do it while it was in power, so why blame the Congress or the Left ? Unless, all major political parties get together to find a solution and implement it firmly – this cannot be achieved ! In the current vitiated political environment – where each party is busy taking a dig at the other – this possibility looks remote !
excellent analysis. i am giving a link to this article in my blog. hope you dont mind.
[...] light of the recent terrorist attacks and the radicalization of Muslim youth. Offstumped had only recently pointed out that the radicalization of the disenchanted mind is of greater concern. The riots we can detect [...]
[...] light of the recent terrorist attacks and the radicalization of Muslim youth. Offstumped had only recently pointed out that the radicalization of the disenchanted mind is of greater concern. The riots we can detect [...]
[...] “Indian” mujahideen. In the aftermath of the Hyderabad Blasts, Offstumped had warned of the Rd-X. It appears that our worst fears of the hunt for the unknown radical mind are coming [...]
[...] It is this deliberate omission that makes the extensive rationalization offered in the e-mail rather disingenuous. Offstumped writing earlier in 2007 why muslim victims of mass terror had posed this question to speculate what agenda lies behind these attacks. Offstumped had then raised the spectre of this becoming the Hunt for the Unknown Radical Rd-X. [...]