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| Security & Intelligence grid need to be upgraded for tackling al-Qaeda plan | | | Early Times Report
Jammu, Nov 8: Those who ridicule reports indicating possibilities of a tie-up between activists of Indian Mujahideen (IM) and the al-Qaeda or Taliban need to consider the situation that developed within days in the Kashmir valley in 1988-89 with the rise of Pakistan sponsored insurgency in the state. And, two bomb explosions on July 31,1988, one outside the central Telegraph Office and the other in the premises of Amar Singh club in Srinagar, had sent alarm bells ringing in the corridors of those who mattered in Srinagar and in New Delhi.
The rise of militancy was so sudden that it took the civilians and the security agencies by a major surprise.If anybody talked about threat of militants in Kashmir during 1987-88 one would attract ridicule or derision from people. None had expected Pakistan to play a mischief of serious dimensions. And if those who matter in New Delhi and in Kashmir ridicule reports that al-Qaeda planned to train local boys in India for launching major terrorist strikes and if reports suggest that the al-Qaeda or the Taliban were roping in activists belonging to the Indian Mujahideen and those local boys operating in Jammu and Kashmir one need not feel surprised.
Officials of various intelligence agencies claim to have uncovered plots that included the kidnapping of foreigners and turning India into a "violence zone" on the pattern of Syria and Iraq. Despite the fact that senior functionaries of foreign security agencies believe that allegiances between Islamist militant groups can be murky and fleeting, and providing concrete proof of operational ties is notoriously difficult.
But Indian security agencies have said evidence they had gathered pointed to growing ties between al-Qaeda and IM, a home-grown militant outfit hitherto known for low-level attacks on local targets using relatively crude weapons like pressure cooker bombs. Weeks after al-Qaeda announced the formation of a South Asia wing to strike across the subcontinent, agencies said they had discovered IM members were training with al-Qaeda and other groups in Pakistan and Afghanistan for major attacks.
That increases the risk of a more dangerous form of militancy in the world's biggest democracy, which has been largely spared the kind of violence that regularly rocks its neighbour Pakistan and, beyond it, Afghanistan. Security officials cite last Sunday's deadly suicide bombing on the Pakistani side of a border crossing with India, and a terror alert at two eastern ports that forced the Indian navy to withdraw two ships, as evidence that militant coordination and activity are on the rise.
Senior functionaries of India's NIA are investigating into these reports so that the Government of India and its various official agencies formulated a plan to counter the move of the Al Qaeda and the IM.Reports also indicated that once the tie-up between Al Qaeda and the IM and between Taliban and militants operating in Jammu and Kashmir was finalized terrorist attacks in the shape of bomb explosions, grenade and gun attacks could not remain confined to Jammu and Kashmir only but could take roots in other states,especially those that are situated on India-Pakistan border.
Well despite terrorist threats having multiplied in Pakistan with activists of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan targeting pickets and units of Pak Army and paramilitary forces the military operations against terrorists of various hues continues to be half- hearted.Had Pakistani Army accepted direction from Prime Minister,Nawaz Sharif,given over six months ago,the Army in Pakistan could have,by now,tackled the menace of terrorism in the country.
At one stage the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan leaders took the establishment in Islamabad for a ride by dishing out their desire for resolving issues through the process of dialogue.The Government agreed but the talks broke down when the TTP activists targeted Pak military pickets and units.Yes,operations have been launched in the tribal areas of Pakistan bordering Afghanistan but these operations ar e neither sustained nor multidimensional.
And with each success story written by the activists of Al Qaeda and the Taliban IM activists and those operating in Jammu and Kashmir are said to have started adoring the Pak and Afghanistan based terror groups.This way Al Qaeda and Taliban have become a source of inspiration and adulation for local militants in Jammu and Kashmir and those owing allegiance to the Indian Mujahideen.
At the same time these foreign mercenaries may not get as much support in Jammu and Kashmir as they expect it from IM.It is so because people,including militant groups,have had a bitter taste of the activities of foreign mercenaries who had been helped by the Pak Army to sneak into Jammu and Kashmir between 1989 and 1998.That can be the only saving point.Still security and intelligence grids have to be upgraded in India,especially in the border states of Jammu and Kashmir,Punjab and Rajasthan to counter al Qaeda plan. |
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