#dnaEdit: Lessons from Burdwan blast

The ‘accidental blast’ in a flat in Burdwan in West Bengal nearly a week ago ought to have been treated with utmost seriousness since it concerns the country’s internal security. Instead, it has become a cause of a tussle between the state and the Centre as Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee insists that the CID should be tasked with investigating the matter, when the National Investigating Agency (NIA) might be better equipped to handle such a case. Sensing an opportunity to score brownie points, the opposition parties in Bengal, namely the CPI-M and the BJP, have also begun clamouring for an NIA-conducted probe. The Left has conveniently forgotten that during its long stint in power it had vehemently opposed New Delhi’s intervention in state affairs.

The Burdwan incident is too grave an issue to play politics with. The blast that led to the death of two people, allegedly involved in the bomb-making process, and injuring one, also a resident of that bomb-assembling flat, suggests the involvement of a terrorist network. Some of the pamphlets recovered from the rooms bear the name of Ayman al-Zawahiri, the al-Qaeda leader who last month had announced the setting up of a branch of the terror outfit in the Indian subcontinent. There were also expressions of support for the “brothers fighting in Chechnya” in the confiscated literature. The police seized gelatine sticks, 59 homemade IEDs, 55 hand grenades from the flat, which they detonated last Thursday and Friday in a controlled manner, before NIA officials could turn up. This needless game of one-upmanship has resulted in the loss of crucial evidence.

West Bengal has long been considered a haven for terrorists who find access into the state through the porous Indo-Bangladesh border. It is also easy for them to hide among illegal Bangladeshi immigrants settled in the border towns and districts, and plot their  moves. It has been argued that the state has suffered just one major act of terror — the attack on the US consulate — because the extremists do not want to compromise their shelters.

The resolve of the two young women (both mothers) — one of whom has been widowed by the blast — not to buckle under police interrogation reveals the depth of their indoctrination. The incident has also brought into question the role of madrassas, which are perceived to be happy hunting grounds of terrorist organisations. However, this is one opportunity that the Centre and the state must utilise to bust terror modules in the country. For that they need to work in tandem, and must readily share intelligence inputs. According to central intelligence officers, the metal pieces found from the blast site are similar to the bombs used in Patna and Pune’s German Bakery.

It wouldn’t be far-fetched to link Pakistan’s cross-border shelling with the desperation of terrorists to destabilise India. No doubt, India’s communally charged atmosphere has contributed to the terrorists’ designs, given the spurt in riots in certain parts of the country. Army and police excesses, too, have a role to play in alienating a section of the Muslim youth from the mainstream, who are then picked up and trained by radical outfits. The strong network of global terror eyes India as an easy target also because, unlike the US or UK, India’s anti-terrorism strategies continue to be amateurish. A lot will now depend on how India responds to these threats — both from within and outside — since it calls for a nuanced approach, rather than a hard line stance.