Hyderabad goes up on terror list

Hyderabad Dec. 4: Barring Jammu and Kashmir and the Northeastern states, Hyderabad is now placed third in the list of cities most targeted by terrorists. It is preceded only by Mumbai and Delhi. The city has witnessed four major attacks since 2005, while 14 blasts have occurred in Mumbai and seven in Delhi in the last six years. Though the city had faced terror strikes from 1992, when Mr G. Krishna Prasad, the additional superintendent of police, was shot dead by an ISI-sponsored terrorist Mujeeb Ahmed, major attacks have occurred only in recent times. The first was in October 2005, when a suicide attack was carried out at the Special Task Force headquarters in the city.

The twin blasts in 2007 killed 41 people and injured more than 60, while another explosion in Hyderabad’s Macca Masjid killed 11 people. These attacks changed the profile of the amiable multicultural city and made it an unsafe metro located in the crosshairs of terror operatives. Police believes that all the attacks on the city were masterminded by outfits operating from foreign soils. “Ten years back we used to go to any place without any security worries,” said Ms Kalyani, a housewife. “Now we see metal detectors everywhere.”

“Having failed to provoke communal violence in cities such as Mumbai and Delhi, terrorist groups are now trying to foment trouble in Hyderabad,” said an intelligence official.
According to a senior police officer, the city has not only become unsafe but has also become a hub of terrorism. There are more “sleepers” of terror outfits in Hyderabad than any other city in India.

These sleepers recruit youth and traffic them to Pakistan via Bangladesh from Hyderabad. After training they will be slipped into various parts of the country to create disturbances.
Intelligence sleuths think there are about 1,000 sleepers in India, of which 250 are in Hyderabad alone. Security experts say that the city would continue to face terror attacks as long as the police is not given autonomy. But political masters are unwilling to even consider that option. A senior police officer pointed out that in the US, police was given more autonomy after the September 11 attacks and this enabled them to prevent further attacks on the country. A similar change has to happen in Hyderabad for it to become a safe city again.

We need a dedicated force
Hyderabad was by and large peaceful prior to 1970. There were no major communal disturbances to speak of. After that some political outfits started exploiting Hindu and Muslim sentiments to grow. During the 1970s, the MIM used organise namaaz on roads and Hindu groups such as the Vande Mataram transformed Ganesh Nimajjan into a show of strength. The situation became worse after BJP leader L.K. Advani’s rath yatra in the 1990s. Even after that, the state governments did not take the issue seriously. Whenever police booked cases against those who indulged in communal violence, the government used to withdraw the cases.

This proved to be an encouraging sign for criminal elements in both the communities.
Sensing Hyderabad as fertile ground for terror, outfits such as the ISI of Pakistan and DGFI of Bangladesh started concentrating more on the city. Their agents found it easy to melt into the city because of the large presence of an Urdu and Hindi speaking populace.
Over the years, Hyderabad became the hub of such operations. Before long, the city also became an operational hub for organisations such as the Lashker-e-Tayyaba and the Jaish-e-Mohammmad.

We now need a professional force to counter terrorism. It should be dedicated to the job of tackling terror. Investigations into terror incidents should be relentless. Wednesday’s incident in which a gang of terrorists opened fire at unarmed cops is a case in point. Even a layman knows that a terrorist is armed. All this stresses the need to have a highly professional force.

Investigations are half-baked
Hyderabad Dec. 4: Since 1992, there have been 22 terror-related cases which have left the city scarred in many ways. However, only a few of them have come to the logical conclusion. The latest case was that of Shoeb Jagirdar who was arrested in 2007 for his alleged role in the Mecca Masjid blast. However, he was acquitted by the court. In the same year, Riduwan Gazi, a Bangladeshi national, was arrested for possessing fake certificates. The case is pending trial.

The Lumbini Park blast and the discovery of a live bomb at Dilsukhnagar in 2007 are still under investigation. Similar is the status of the 2006 Odeon theatre bomb blast case. Police has not so far reached a successful conclusion in investigation into the bomb blast which occurred at the Task Force office in 2005 either.

Pakistani nationals, Mallik Arshad and Mehemood, were arrested on charges of spying but they had to be freed later. “These are unfortunate events, but we are trying to ensure that such incidents don’t recur in future,” said the commissioner of police, Mr B. Prasada Rao.