With a deadly hit in the capital, the spectre of terror is back to haunt the nation. A radical group of doctors and many of their associates are believed to have carried out the car bomb blast that killed around 10 persons and injured many more. Investigators also say the terrorists belonged to the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed. The Jaish apparently indoctrinated the doctors, including Umar who loaded his car with the explosives and blasted it near the Red Fort Metro Station. A manhunt is on to arrest those who participated in this heinous act. Home minister Amit Shah has said the security agencies would use their full force to nail the culprits. Having failed to avert the disaster, this now is the only way forward; and this needs no over-emphasizing. Admittedly, the security forces have done a good job in detecting and extricating stocks of over 3000kg of explosives from terrorist dens in Faridabad, Haryana, not far from the national capital. Here too, a big question is, how the militants could organise such huge quantities of explosives and execute their operations without the intelligence agencies getting any hint of the gang’s operations so far.
Notably, Jaish-e-Mohammed leader Masood Azhar, who has been organising several deadly terrorist attacks on Indian soil in recent decades, has not learnt a lesson from Operation Sindoor. His sister and her family members were decimated in the Indian military’s operations in May last, while he himself was safely escorted out of his den elsewhere by the Pakistani military brass. The advance information that India provided, perhaps foolishly, to the Pakistani government and military – that “we are coming, and would target only the terrorists” – at that crucial outset of the operations proved to be a disaster. It is safe to assume that this helped in the escape of Azhar and other top terror masterminds to safe locations. Now that the Jaish threat to India’s peace has resurfaced, the Modi government will have a lot to explain as to what purpose Operation Sindoor served, and why it had to be halted midway through its deadly and successful phase.
The Modi-led central establishment had been successful in warding off regular terrorist threats in recent times. Except for some deadly hits outside Kashmir Valley, the Islamic terrorists were generally kept at bay. There has been perceptible improvement in the law order situation in Jammu and Kashmir itself. The security agencies as also the political establishment in Delhi deserve a pat on their back for this positive turn, despite strong actions like the abrogation of special status for Kashmir. All said, the fight against terrorism is a long-drawn endeavour. Mature, yet hard-edged actions, at multiple levels are necessary to ensure maintenance of peace. There cannot be any compromise with those who support terror or encourage it through their actions. At the same time, the gains that the security forces achieved for the nation so far should not be squandered through whimsical political decisions.
