National Security and Terrorism: Reading the Pattern

The national security adviser M.K.Narayanan says that Pakistan's ISI is responsible for Ajmer and Ludhiana bomb blasts.There is a common pattern in all the bombings.His agency along with the intelligence agencies has been making use of the spectrum analysis and socil network investigation and has come to the conclusion that Hizbul jihade Islami (Huji) is behind all the terrorist attacks.Now we either find out the locals who are employed to do the work of ISI or chase the foreigners doing the same. As we do not seem to be making any headway should we call it a day?
But there seems to be another and broader spectrum before us. After 9/11 we have toed the line taken by the US and put all blame on the so called jihadis for all the trouble. Once again the Germans, the French and the British trace the terrorists to Pakistan and therefore India must also trace the same source. Narayanan says "there is no connection between the blasts in Ludhiana, Ajmer and Mecca Masjid (Hyderabad) other than the fact that the ISI 's involvement is suspected, that is the common link...There has been a manifest attempt in Pakistan to build up a radical Sikh environment. Sporadic blasts were creating sensation, but the desired effect of sustained tension was not working. We had intelligence about four to six months back that a lot of effort was going into attempts to foment militancy. We have traced intelligence information, we have studied the way such attacks take place and we can read a pattern. We have also seen signs of resuscitation of militant groups in Canada and US and Germany. We had been bracing for such a move by such elements..They have a feeling that the Kashmir issue is not able to attract the kind of attention they would want it to. We believe that some thinking has gone in, they are looking to change their style. So far it has been sporadic, soft attacks. But the human grief is not exactly adding upto the big impact they would want to see. Our information is that they may try high profile targets in and around Kashmir and also outisde the state."
There is hardly anything that is very perceptive in this observation.Narayanan's views are as set and fixed as that of the national security advisor of US of yesterday. Dr Condoleeza Rice has been advocating preemptive strike and the disasterous effect of it is there for anyone to see. She chased the phantom of bin Laden and the nuclear weapons to Iraq. The world is paying heavily in what our adviser on national security calls "the human grief". Even so another pattern that is emerging without the knowledge of the adviser is that there is a bold and concerted attempt to destroy the trail of terror. Within minutes of the Ajmer blast five to six men destroyed the close camera recording of the scene there. Around that same time news from Ahmedabad indicates that the AT&T and Cellforce have destroyed the mobile phone records of post Godhra days! If Ajmer, Ludhiana and Mecca mosque are events of state terrorism of ISI of Pakistan government then the pogroms in Gujarat 2002 were also acts of terrorism sponsored by the state.The failed state is to blame in both the countries and hence the national security agency as well as intelligence agencies must be overhauled to produce better and more realistic result.
What if the elelctronic records are available? In the case of the Anzar Plaza shoot out in Delhi a homeopathy doctor of international reputation had seen the police bringing the so called 'terrorists' who were dazed as if they had not slept for weeks. They could hardly walk, either they were sleepy or drugged.The doctor's cell phone record showed that he was there. He spoke to the media soon after the terrorists were killed and told them what he had seen. Even so the police denied that he was there. Not only this, they also dug out a family case lodged against him by his wife some years ago in order to harass him and coerce him into silence.
In January 1986 the space shuttle Challenger fell into the Atlantic ocean 70 second after lauch. Deep sea diving and dredging recovered the black box of recording after days of hard work. But then it was difficult to restore the voice. The US government declared a prize for anyone who could restore it. An Indian scientist from Bombay accepted the challenge and restored the record and won the huge prize. Why not restore the records of the cell phone in Gujarat and the visual and audal records of Ajmer and establish truth? It might be more difficullt than the deep diving and dredging of the Atlantic because those who carried out the black deeds were confident of protection and impunity. Whose confidence did they enjoy?
It is odd that the National Security Adviser whould travel to the headquarters of the RSS to warn the sangh chief of a terrorist attack on its way there. And, lo! the attack happened. But then what really transpired was nothing else but a fake encounter. Another familiar pattern of our time! Justice Kolse Patil and members of the People's Civil Liberty group found that there was no sign of shooting from the car in which the assasilants were travelling. They were made out to have been heavily armed. They were alleged to have broken the security check cordon and yet no fight had ensued. The shot wounds on the alleged 'terrorists' revealed that they were killed from close range and not in a fight and the car was not damaged. A neighbour did not hear any challenge or shooting! Did the security advisor foresee all these as well?
Punjab has again surfaced in the intelligence world as well as the world of the terrorists. Rabinder Singh, a deputy chief of Research and Analysis Wing, and Surenderjeet Singh have sought asylum in US pleading that they were asked to kill Sikh leaders in Punjab duirng insurgency there. Both worked for RAW as field workers. Although RAW deals with foreign intelligence but it is appropriated for internal use as well. Internal and external threats merge when the national security is in question. Security in Gujarat is as important as in another border state, Punjab. Notorious Gujarat laboratory experiment was and still is as a serious matter of the national secuirty as that of Punjab. We cannot fight a state election by pitting oneself against mian Musharraf and also allow him to take the pogroms to the platform of the UN and close the eyes ala the ostrich and see no danger to the country. If the agencies of the government fail to perform will the national security adviser advise the government to allow the grieved group to take the matter to the UN under the provisions of the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights?