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| The falling numbers of beat policemen | | Maharashtra becomes preferred target for terrorists | | B L KAK
NEW DELHI: Eyes of Islamist terrorists are focused on Maharashtra. After 13 years of the deadliest terror attack took place in Mumbai, Maharashtra today has become a preferred target for Pakistan-based terrorist outfits.
The tryst with terror began with the deadliest terrorist attack the nation had ever seen. Thirteen explosions rocked Mumbai, the commercial capital, in a span of two hours on March 12, 1993 leaving 257 dead and close to 1400 injured. Since 1993, Mumbai alone has witnessed 31 blasts, which include the blast in a BEST bus in Ghatkopar in December 2002, the explosion in a local tgrain in Mulund in March 2003, the twin blasts at the Gateway of India and Zaveeri Bazar in August 2003 and the seven serial blasts in local trains on July 11, 2006.
And the Malegaon blasts have shown that the pattern is replicated across Maharashtra, which has seen a total of 110 blasts in the same period. Security experts are of the view that Maharashtra in general, and Mumbai in particular, is always in the public view and terrorists basically want to draw attention with spectacular acts. Mumbai is a microcosm of modern India and a symbol of its new economy. And, therefore, it is a perfect target.
In 1993 Pakistan's ISI, tapped into the anger in the immediate aftermath of the Babri masijid demolition, used Dawood Ibrahim's men in the underworld to launch the operations. Many towns like Malegaon had a booming economy, which ironically went bust with the coming of technology as power looms replaced the weaver and unemployment rose.
All these small towns, according to Inspector-General of Police, Konkan Range, Satyapal Singh, have been seeing extremism on the rise and jehadi forces have infiltrated the whole State like a virus. But one of the reasons why the rise of terror cells have been difficult to track is the declining efficiency of the police, especially the falling numbers of beat policemen.
This leads to a decline in the gathering of grass root intelligence, a fact that the police are now attempting to re-build. The Maharashtra police force is learning the new lessons in taking on a highly motivated and often invisible enemy.
But the fear is that, by the time these new strategies become policy, they could have become obsolete in face of fast evolving terror tactics.
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