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TERROR STALKS INDIA
By SIDDHARTH SRIVASTAVA
Terrorists are targeting areas at the forefront of India's
economic progress. A major tragedy was averted when police in Hyderabad (an
information technology hub) claim to have foiled a plot by the
Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) to trigger bomb blasts, including
suicide bombings, in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, the two states that lead
the software and outsourcing boom in the country.
The police seized 14 kilograms of explosives and said that the two arrested
terrorists were planning to attack the office of the city's police chief,
police headquarters and buildings housing top IT companies. The arrests
follow the recent shootout at the prestigious Indian Institute of Science
(IISc) in Bangalore (considered India's Silicon Valley) that killed a
well-known Delhi professor and injured several more.
The assailants had barged into the well-guarded campus in a car and opened
fire at delegates comprising India's top scientists who had assembled for a
seminar. The terrorists fired from an AK-56 rifle and lobbed grenades, which
is a clear indication that they were well trained. The police have said that
they suspect the attack to be the handiwork of the banned Lashkar-e-Toiba
(LeT), considered a front of the al-Qaeda, with origins in Pakistan.
Analysts and intelligence reports have been emphasizing that terrorists are
likely to attack symbols of India's technological might and economic
success. Winter is the most likely months for such attacks to be
orchestrated as the usual terrain of operation of terrorists in Indian
Kashmir becomes inhospitable due to snow.
Attacking software hubs hits at one of the most international symbols of
Indian success that can set off a wave of panic reactions from potential
foreign investors as well as multinationals that can hobble the rapid pace
of India's economic progress. Such economic and cultural destabilization can
only be the handiwork of international terror outfits that seek out targets
that inflict maximum damage to people as well as pass on a symbolic message.
Post 9/11, economic terrorism has been the hallmark of al-Qaeda attacks
whether in Kenya, Bali, Morocco, Turkey or Egypt.
Last October witnessed the worst terrorist attack on the Indian capital New
Delhi when serial bomb blasts, including one in a busy market, left 62 dead
and over four times the number injured, with more than 30 in a critical
condition. The attacks, co-incidentally, took place at the height of the
festival season when business is brisk.
In a bid to allay fears following the Bangalore shooting, the National
Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM), the leading
software industry body said in a statement: ``the Indian IT industry already
has in place many security measures. This incident emphasizes the need to
review and upgrade these. NASSCOM and the IT industry will work, in
collaboration with the police and government, towards tightening security
measures to create a safer working environment for the industry.''
A national newspaper said: ``The country (India) is waking up to a new
reality - its success in IT and concomitant economic boom has excited malice
in certain quarters, who would like to attack symbols of that success.
Within the frame of this inchoate rage against modernity, an international
conference of scientists (at the IISc) is also a target.''
Bangalore, apart from Hyderabad and Chennai, has been described as a prime
target – the garden city of 6.5 million people is home to more than 1,500
technology and back-office outsourcing firms, including global giants such
as Intel, Motorola and IBM. The city accounts for a third of India's $25
billion software and offshoring business that employs over a million people.
Several Indian defense, space and scientific research institutions are also
based in the city. As a matter of fact, the federal ministry of home affairs
had warned four years back that the city could be a prime target of
terrorists with installations such as the Defense Research and Development
Organization (DRDO), open to attack. In December 2004, the police unearthed
a plot to attack software offices in Bangalore.
Some observers have also drawn a link between Pakistan's efforts with the
help of China to ramp up its IT industry and the attacks in India. China and
Pakistan have enjoyed strong relations that include close military
exchanges. With the US having identified India as the only country to match
the might of China in the Asian region, analysts say that Beijing by default
will reach out to Islamabad to keep the curbs on India if needed. And in the
changed global scenario, economic might counts as much as military strength,
to win friends and strategic partners.
However, the pre-dominant thought among security agencies in India is that
the top Pakistani establishment, including President Pervez Musharraf, is
for peace at least for now. It is the middle and lower levels that have for
long fed off the spoils of a proxy war with India who are the main threat.
These will have to be tackled by India independent of Islamabad's ability or
predilection to take them on
Officials also say that Pakistan is not the only front through which
terrorists manage their operations in the country, especially south India
that leads the IT boom. Bangladesh is being seen as an important base with
both the JeM and LeT active in the country, with direct links to Saudi
Arabia instead of Pakistan. Last year, the annual report of India's
ministry of defense said that Pakistan and China (against whom India has
waged wars in the past) have been replaced by Bangladesh as the country that
India needs to guard against the most.
The report said that the US war on terrorism has concentrated its efforts in
Pakistan and Afghanistan. Although, India has been repeatedly warning
against Bangladesh turning into a terrorist hideout, the US considers the
battlefront to be somewhere else, thus providing a free run for extremists
in this country. Proximity with the military regime in Myanmar with a poor
record against terror outfits as well as a weak law enforcing apparatus has
made the situation worse.
The LeT has a history of orchestrating attacks in India and their cadres are
well networked as well as very savvy with computers, gadgets and gizmos
making them very difficult to track. Some of the bold attacks include an
attempt to storm the Indian Parliament on December 13, 2001 that triggered a
military standoff with Pakistan and brought the neighbors close to a fourth
war; India also holds the LeT responsible for killing of 37 and injuring
more than 80 Hindu devotees assembled for prayer at the Akshardham temple in
September 2002 in the state of Gujarat. The attacks were seen as revenge
killings in retaliation to the communal riots in the state earlier in the
same year in which more than 2000 Muslims were feared killed.
The LeT terrorists are also known to seek out cultural ambassadors.
According to reports, international stars such as Russel Crowe are targets.
Indian cricketers such as Sachin Tendulkar and Saurav Ganguly have been
provided elaborate security due to the threats they face.
In such a scenario, the security agencies have their task cut out.
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