Without
exception every media outlet in the country is calling Yasin Bhatkal (real name Zarar
Ahmed Siddibaba) an “escape artist”
or a “master of disguise” for having
escaped arrest on a couple of occasions. That sounds like the Indian Mujahideen
(IM) operative is a highly
intelligent character. It’s reasonable to assume that terrorists are indeed a smart
bunch to be operating the way they do. But this guy is so smart that he could
hoodwink the Indian police twice? I have serious doubts about that. One, it
appears that our police don’t share a
national database of “wanted” criminals and two, they must be quite dumb to
have believed and accepted his fake names and IDs as quickly as they did. Do
police officials detain and allow top “wanted” suspects to go just like that?
Not really! But in India there is political pressure to be soft on “certain
suspects” as also by many sympathisers in the media. Nothing explains it better
than the following piece of moronery:
“When in doubt about a terror investigation, blame the most
readily available Muslims. Within days of the Dilsukh Nagar blasts in Hyderabad
on February 21, the police announced the suspects were the Indian Mujahideen
(IM), that its founder Riyaz Bhatkal was the possible "mastermind",
and that 'Imran' and 'Maqbool' had recced the area… In the same week as the
names 'Bhatkal', 'Maqbool' and 'Imran' swirled around in the media, two youths,
journalist Muthi-ur Rahman Siddiqui, also once dubbed "mastermind" in
a terror conspiracy by the media and DRDO scientist Aijaz Mirza were released
after six months in jail”.
You probably
guessed right. That little blast is from India’s greatest economist cum
terror-expert cum social-genius cum moron par excellence Sagarika Ghose. She shoots her mouth off crying “meat shops” in Dilsukhnagar and then
sermonises the police after the Hyderabad blasts of February 2013. She’s not
alone. Most of the media and politicians
force the police to go soft on Muslim suspects for very obvious reasons.
Consequently, the police too play dumb and let off serious suspects (Sagarika
obviously didn’t see Rahul Kanwal’s tweet in February). It is inevitable that
in a terror-stricken country and in a terror-atmosphere some suspects will be
held for longer periods till they’re cleared. Our police just allowed Bhatkal
to walk away each time. Even Bollywood and South Indian actors have been
detained in the US. It is unfortunate, but the threat of terror requires being
absolutely careful. If you thought all this is phoney, then I recommend you
read this story of a Hindu titled “Don’t travel during Ramadan” in the US (the story may be a bit dramatized but
may not be entirely fake).
Bhatkal’s
arrest probably came by absolute secrecy. The Intel agencies have now probably
learned there are many leaks in the system. Yet, what did the Bihar cops do? A
bit more of comedy! The moment they brought Bhatkal to the court at Motihari
they made an “exhibit” of him and
allowed the media to get close enough to get sound-bites from him. Which professional police force allows such
an idiotic thing to happen? The police could have released their own pics
or videos instead of allowing the media close to this terrorist. So they bring
Bhatkal to the court in a black mask and then uncover it for the media to take
a glimpse and then put it back on. Does that make any sense? Why the mask at
all? Who were they hiding him from? Prospective brides? In the few seconds he
got, Bhatkal grandly tells the media “Blasts happen, nothing new about them”. That, I agree
with. Because even during the 26/11 attacks the Maharashtra HM R.R. Patil said "Bade bade shehron mein aisi choti choti baatein hoti rehti
hain” (small attacks keep happening in big cities). Amazing,
isn’t it? How the thoughts and lines of
politicians and terrorists converge in strange coincidence. Patil thinks
26/11 was a small attack so there is practically nothing wrong in what Bhatkal
says either.
Union
Minister K. Rahman Khan even said there’s a “perception among Muslims that IM does not exist”.
Bravo! The GOI and media must assume Muslims are totally ignorant and isolated
from events. And then, the “self-styled” Indo-Pak peace maker NDTV comes up
with another debate on the theory of “home
grown terror” (August 29). So you have Barkha
Dutt asking the question if Bhatkal’s arrest confirms home grown terror.
Add to this concoction Mani Shankar Aiyar, your circle of denial comes right
back. MSAiyar says he doesn’t know what the IM is or what their leadership
structure is or what their operational cells are and that MHA should tell him
and the parliament about it. Who are
they making a case for? This is a good follow-up on A.K. Antony’s “dressed
in Pak military uniform” comment. Obviously, it seems this was some effort to
clear Pakistan having anything to do with IM. For the record, the IM was
declared a terrorist organisation by GOI in 2010. The US and UK have also
declared it a terrorist organisation. But MSAiyar and Rahman Khan, wilfully
blind and ignorant as they are, want to know what IM is. The reason why India doesn’t progress in the fight against terrorists
is there are people like these who put a spanner in the works.
The New York Police Dept. has even
put all mosques in their area under a watch for terrorist activities. In India,
some politicians and media folks are still debating whether IM exists at all.
Naturally, they will make cops look like jokers. Yasin Bhatkal comes from a
place called Bhatkal (Karnataka) which has been known in the past to ship bombs
and bomb-making material. But hey, if you ask Digvijaya Singh he will tell you
where all the bomb-making factories are located. Neither Diggy nor the NIA or
CBI are yet to discover these RSS bomb factories. And believe it or not, Kamal Farooqui of SP said Bhatkal has
been arrested because he’s a Muslim. Hmm… “Terror
has no religion” does it? Bhatkal’s lawyer told the Patiala House court in
Delhi he is not Bhatkal but some “Mohammad Ahmed”. Left to these guys, they
would allow a blanket pardon for all Muslim terrorists by an enactment in
parliament. So does anyone take India’s
fight against terrorists seriously? Fortunately, former Home Secretary R.K.
Singh was on NDTV too and here is what he said:
“We have a fair idea about the organisation (IM) and its
roots, contacts etc., we also know who are their leaders. We also know where
they are… so it’s not true that we are in the dark about IM. To say it’s home
grown terror I would not agree. It’s not entirely home grown, the leaders are
based in Pakistan, they are mentored by the ISI, the LeT. When people were
taken to Pakistan for training they were received at the airport by ISI
operatives. All that information we have”.
R.K. Singh
is a man who should know; he has been in the thick of things for a long time.
The previous Home Secretary G.K. Pillai and many other sources had certified
Ishrat Jehan a LeT operative. Yet there are NGOs and vested interests that are
in denial. If they want to challenge the encounter of Ishrat Jehan that is one
thing, but to claim she had no connection to LeT despite all evidences and then
hold “solidary meets” to mourn her
is a shameful act. Pretty soon, there will be “solidary meets for Bhatkal” led by many of the NGOs and
bounty-hunting lawyers. Digvijaya Singh and others even suspected the Batla
House encounter in which a senior cop was killed. Farooqui has already sounded a bugle for them. Karnataka,
Maharashtra, Gujarat and some other states are seeking custody of Bhatkal to
question him. Well, the Bihar govt
that got first custody did not even want to question him and there’s no report
of even an FIR being filed. That’s how
Nitish Kumar wants to fight terrorists who have made strong bases in Bihar.
Trying to
create the impression that IM or any other terror group is merely home-grown is
a tactic used by the Pakistan-friendly gangs to ensure dialogue continues with
that failed state or to protect their own vested interests. The real question
that Barkha Dutt should have asked instead of the stupid “How big is the home
grown terror threat?” is “How big is the
gang of politicians, media crooks, NGOs and assorted vested interests who
defend terrorists?” As long as we have powerful forces backed with endless
funds the fight against terrorists will be a long struggle. It makes our police
force a handicapped unit. For the media that claims that Bhatkal’s arrest is a
“big blow to IM” it’s a premature
act of moronery that is consistent with their practice of talking utter
nonsense. Bhatkal’s saviours may be just around the next bend or the next
corner. Bhatkal’s case has been given to the NIA. Everyone knows where that
might end up.
