Tryst with terror

Investigations indicate that the 7/11 terror attacks are part of Lashkar-e-Toiba's pan-India jihad 

Syed Nazakat & Shivnath Jha

It began like any other day in the heart of Mumbai. Tens of thousands jammed the stations. Commuters were waiting for trains. But, few of them had any idea of the scale of devastation waiting to happen inside the compartments. Moments before, terrorists had planted explosives inside the train. Within minutes the railway stations turned into scenes of carnage. A series of highly powerful explosives ripped open carriages, killing nearly 200 men, women and children and injuring over 700. It was the deadliest terror strike in the country's financial capital since the serial blasts of 1993 and involved a high degree of synchronisation, coordination, as the seven bombs went off within 11 minutes.

Yet, rather ominous signals of terror activities were already protruding from distant Srinagar where five grenades rocked the whole valley earlier in the day. The highly coordinated way in which grenade attacks were carried and the target of the attacks- innocent people and tourists – had left everybody shaken. Yet, no one visualised of the almost simultaneous terror strikes in Mumbai.

The way in which the Mumbai blasts were carried out and the arrest of a Lashkar-e-Toiba man in Srinagar and another LeT recruit in Delhi has led the security agencies to prima facie suspect LeT behind the blasts.  Lashkar does have people in both the cities and has logistics to carry out such planned attacks. The group has also the blessing of al-Qaeda and has developed contacts with the local groups in various parts of India, including Mumbai where banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) men are working as foot soldiers for LeT.  According to home ministry sources SIMI may have executed the blasts with the help of Lashkar. In fact, immediately after the Mumbai bombing, the Anti-Terrorists Squad (ATS) and Mumbai police had launched a massive manhunt to nab SIMI activists.

Yet, the prized catch of the day was made in Kashmir that day when a suspected LeT militant Muhammad Afzal Rather of Sumbal in Varmul district was chased and arrested by people and later handed over to police soon after he lobbed a grenade on a vehicle in Lal Chowk area of the city. It was perhaps for the first time that a militant was nabbed by people and that too on the spot, red handed. A day after Afzal's arrest, Kashmir police released photograph of one Mudasir alias Raju, a suspected LeT recruit who they claim is the mastermind of last week's serial grenade blasts in Srinagar and might provide clue about the Mumbai bombing too.

That LeT seems crucial for all investigations on the Mumbai and Srinagar blasts because Lashkar's professed ideology goes beyond merely challenging India's sovereignty over the state of Jammu and Kashmir. The Lashkar's 'agenda', as outlined in its pamphlet titled Why are we waging jihad includes the restoration of Islamic rule over all parts of India. LeT has long ago established its network and sleeping cells in various states of India to accomplish its pan-India jihad. In Mumbai it has forged ties with proscribed Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). Many arrested activists of SIMI in Mumbai are reported to have confessed during interrogation their links with Lashkar.  SIMI has its own network and has deep roots in many districts of Maharashtra. Besides, their nexus with LeT had more or less been established when, as informed sources point out, just a month back the Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) had busted a couple of sleeper cells and arrested 13 men from Malegaon and Aurangabad in Maharashtra with RDX and guns.
The LeT has also forged links with Bangladesh based groups - Harkat-ul-Jihadi Islami (HuJI) and Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) - to expand its terror network in eastern and central India. It was this network that carried out the terrorist attack on the Sankat Mochan temple in Varanasi on March 7 this year.

Yet, while all evidence lead to the suspicion of  Lashkar's involvement, what confounds experts is the denial of its role in the Kashmir and Mumbai blasts by the LeT. Immediately after the Kashmir grenade attacks and Mumbai serial bombing, a man who identified himself as Dr Abdullah Ghaznavi, a LeT spokesperson, called up local newspapers in Srinagar and denied LeT involvement in Kashmir and Mumbai bombings. "These are inhuman and barbaric acts. Islam does not permit killing of innocent people. We have launched jihad against the Indian security forces in Jammu and Kashmir. We do not believe in killing innocent civilians belonging to any part of the world," Abdullah Ghaznavi told a local news agency.

Such a denial, if correct, means a big worry for the security agencies and counter terrorism officials. This implies that if those responsible for the outrage in Mumbai were not LeT foot soldiers then other smaller terror organisations too have learnt to mount such large scale terror attacks at will. Equally troublesome, however, is the possibility that 11/7 was a LeT-related attack; that would just confirm LeT establishing its network in many cities of the country. "This is an ominous signal," say home ministry sources.

Informed sources say the Mumbai serial blasts must have involved more than 25 people who might have participated knowingly or even unknowingly. "It is very likely that the masterminds are not in India. The actual perpetrators may not be more than four or five but these guys must have got help from many people. The logistic support for these blasts must have been quite big. Motor vehicles, local agents, people who provided cover to terrorists and people who planted the devices must have been involved," an intelligence source said.

This meant meticulous planning for months together. In fact, to plant seven bombs in a targeted operation required involvement of several persons. "It would have been quite a big plot and months of planning," said senior home ministry officer. A crucial question thus is about the intelligence failure. Why couldn't intelligence agencies  gather information on such big a plot beforehand?

Security experts have noted an inventive variation in the Mumbai bombings. Rather than employing a large truck bomb, against which some defensive techniques work, the attackers used time bombs. It was an effective way to commit mass murder from a distance. The terrorists achieved the effect of a large-scale attack with a hand-carried weapon that easily avoids detection.

But why couldn't the intelligence agencies unfold such devastating plots? "They (The security agencies) must not wait to pick the terrorist out of the crowd at railway station or bus stop or in crowded market minutes before he sets the timer," security analyst Brahma Chellaney said. He added:"We have to act. India must give a counter message. We must prove that we have the capacity to hound them wherever they are. Terrorists must get the message that the threshold level of patience of Indians is not infinite. If we don't do something now then the enemies of India will keep surprising us."

The Mumbai bombing was clearly meant to have the widest possible impact. Mumbai is the commercial capital of the country and attack on it meant a direct assault on the country's economy.  As the perpetrators chose railway rail network knowing it was the lifeline of the city - it was designed to bring the city to a halt. It may also have wanted to provoke communal riots. or even attempted to undermine the peace process between India and Pakistan. Already the serial bombing has fuelled friction between New Delhi and Islamabad with India strongly criticising a statement by the Pakistan foreign minister Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri where he had linked Mumbai blast with the Indo-Pak peace talks, only to retract his statement later.

Yet, the most crucial question meriting an answer is : why only first class compartments of the local trains targeted? Was it a cold message to the corporate India of the things to come?

For security officials there will be many sleepless nights ahead. In Mumbai, with overa million rail commuters daily, security has become a big challenge. Although city officials have stepped up police patrols and introduced closed-circuit televisions in stations soon after the serial blasts, they believe they cannot frisk rail commuters in the way air travelers are screened. Security analysts call the calculations inherent in the Mumbai attacks an "offense preference equation." Defense against such attacks is so disproportionately difficult that even setting up costly protection devices does not assure success. The attacker has the advantage. In such circumstances, security officials have no option but to act decisively.  

(Sahara Time, 2006)