To fight terror, enlist Muslims
By: Omer Farooq
The Pioneer
    
Wednesday, Aug 29, 2007

Saturday's outrage in Hyderabad shows Government has failed to fight back terrorists and bust terror modules. A far better option would be to enlist the support of moderate Muslims to weed out those playing a dangerous game against the nation
Just when rain-washed Hyderabad was getting ready for a festive season - especially the thousands of marriages that were scheduled for last Sunday, an auspicious day - it turned out to be a Black Saturday. The twin bomb blasts at two crowded public places during the evening rush hour have shattered the city's calm with 43 people dead and as many injured. The only saving grace was the timely detection of a third bomb; had it not been found and defused, it would have led to more bloodshed.
This was the second major bomb blast in the city in the last 100 days. On May 18, a massive Friday congregation at the historic Mecca Masjid near Charminar was targeted by bombers. Five persons were killed.
The Andhra Pradesh Government is yet to grasp the gravity of the terrifying situation. While a sense of insecurity has gripped the people, the Government seems to be groping in the dark for clues to the perpetrators' identity and their whereabouts.
Though the intelligence agencies had warned about more terrorist attacks following the Mecca Masjid bombings, why was the security at public places not strengthened? During recent weeks, the city police issued warnings to the people to watch out for suspicious elements and abandoned objects. It shows that they had an inkling of the threat.
Well-organised and synchronised terrorist attacks are not possible without the support of local elements. But nothing was done to identify, trace and bust the local cells that have been helping terrorist groups. Was action avoided in the fear of it being seen as victimisation of the minority community? Ironically, Muslims have not been spared in the latest terror outrage.
Terrorism was unheard of in Hyderabad till 1992. The first case under TADA was booked by the then Congress Government against a group of Muslims in Hyderabad when it tried to protest against the Babri Masjid demolition. That marked the onset of an era of extremism and stray incidents of violence. There was a series of incidents as bands of Muslim youth targeted and killed activists of the RSS and BJP.
Then there was a series of minor bomb blasts during 1993 to which the group led by one Jalees Ansari of Gulbarga was linked. But 14 years later, the court acquitted most of the accused recently. Four years ago, the Sai Baba temple in Hyderabad became the target of a bomb blast. The same night and the following day, the police killed two youth - Azam and Aziz - in encounters, saying they were involved in the blast.
The sizeable Muslim population of Hyderabad came under the scanner once again after the post-Godhra violence in Gujarat. In connection with cases like Haren Pandya's murder and the larger conspiracy case to avenge the Gujarat killings, 18 people from Hyderabad, Nalgonda and other places in Andhra Pradesh were arrested. They are still in Gujarat jails. Some have been convicted under POTA for murdering Pandya.
Almost every year just before Ganesh Chaturthi, the police claim they have discovered a terrorist cell and unearthed a terrorist conspiracy. In 2004, there were violent protests when the police arrested a cleric, Maulana Naseeruddin, and five others, alleging that they had hatched a conspiracy to carry out attacks during the Ganesh festival. Faced with the protests, the State Government released them. But before long, the Gujarat Police took away the maulana. He is in jail awaiting trial.
Apparently, terrorist outfits - including Lashkar-e-Tayyeba and Harkat-ul-Jihad-e-Islami (HUJI), both enjoying the patronage and backing of Pakistan's ISI - have been fuelling Muslim grievances ranging from perceived discrimination to violence in Chechnya, Afghanistan and Iraq. Young people from Hyderabad who go to the Gulf states in search of jobs have also become the target of recruiters who send them to Pakistan and Bangladesh for terror training.
Names like Abdul Bari and Hamza, both based abroad, have been cropping up as the ISI's recruiting agents. They have also been blamed for some of the terrorist attacks in Hyderabad. But the Government has simply failed to bring them to book by exerting pressure on Saudi Arabia for their extradition. Of late, some other names like Ghulam Yazdani and Abdul Shaheed alias Bilal have come to the fore. Yazdani was killed near Delhi a day after the blasts in Varanasi. Shaheed remains elusive.
Terrorism is somehow associated with Muslims living in the old city of Hyderabad. The moderate Muslim leadership too admits the presence of some black sheep and underlines the need of weeding them out. But there has never been an attempt on the part of the Government to take the moderates into confidence and chalk out a counter-strategy.
Picking up and bumping off suspects randomly is hardly a smart response to terrorism; this approach has always ended up further alienating the community. From the killing of three members of the Faseehuddin group in 1993 to the deaths of Azam, Aziz and Ghulam Yazdani under suspicious circumstances are cases in point.
Soon after any terrorist incident, Muslims from the old city start feel apprehensive of large-scale arrests. In such an atmosphere of distrust and fear, even a justified arrest of a suspect is looked upon as 'victimisation' of 'innocent' people.
The big challenge before the Andhra Pradesh Government, therefore, is to break this vicious circle and involve the community in the fight against the fringe elements, expose and weed out those playing a dangerous game against the nation as well as the Muslim community. There should be special fast track courts to prosecute them and prove their crimes.
Unlike with Maoism, time and again in the case of terrorism the local intelligence network has proved insufficient. It can succeed only when Muslims become a part of this machinery.
There have been some crude attempts by lower-rung police officials: They have at times arm-twisted Muslim youth to spy on their friends. Will it not be wiser and better if Muslims are formally and legally recruited to the agencies and work in a more respectable manner?
Changing the Hyderabad Police commissioner four times in three years is hardly inspiring for the top echelons of the police force. Earlier Congress tenures - (1978-83) and (1989-94) - are still remembered for frequent large-scale communal riots. It is for the YSR Government to ensure that his tenure does not go down in history as the one during which Hyderabad became a city of terror.
 
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