The breakthrough in the Ahmedabad blasts case has led the police to a terror network that may have been responsible for a majority of the blasts in India in the last three years
The breakthrough in the Ahmedabad blasts case has led the police to a terror network that may have been responsible for a majority of the blasts in India in the last three yearsNEW DELHI: A string of arrests starting in Karnataka in January, then in Madhya Pradesh, and now in Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh is helping investigators piece together the contours of a network of home-grown terrorists who may have carried out many of the blasts that rocked India in the past few years.
The unravelling network comprises members of the banned Students’ Islamic Movement of India, better known by its acronym Simi, with links to Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Saudi Arabia, and with significant presence in at least five Indian states.
Associated with this network are a few underworld characters like Yakub Khan Pathan aka Rasool Party, a former Dawood Ibrahim gang member who was involved in recruiting jihadis such as Shahid Bilal for training in Pakistan.
But the arrests do not offer explanations for all the blasts. Many of the recent explosions, including the ones in mosques, and the Delhi serial blasts of October 29, 2005, may have been the handiwork of other groups.
The investigations so far have thrown up four definite conclusions. One, the state police forces and intelligence agencies failed to understand the gravity of the situation and properly investigate past leads to prevent the recent blasts. Two, at least in some of the blasts, such as the Mumbai train blasts of July 11, 2006, the state police lied about having solved the case, faking entire scenarios despite having credible initial leads.
Analysts hope the Gujarat Police are not doing the same with the Ahmedabad blasts case. Three, not all members of the Simi network have been arrested and they could be plotting more attacks. Importantly, the investigators believe this network continues to be inspired and supported by external forces, in all probability Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). Four, not all the recent blasts are by the Simi network, which leads to the question, are more terror groups operating in the country?
The Simi network is led by Safdar Nagori, a resident of Uttar Pradesh with great networking capabilities who recruited a large number of young men to his faction. His key supporters are in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Kerala.
The investigators believe that the blasts in Ahmedabad (July 26, 2008), Jaipur (May 13, 2008), and courts in Uttar Pradesh (March 7, 2006) were by the Simi network’s members, possibly prompted by the ISI or the underworld. There is a remote possibility that this network could have been behind the blasts in Bangalore (July 25, 2007) and Hyderabad (August 26, 2007) as well.
But the Mumbai train blasts may have involved a Simi member, Ehtesham Siddiqui, who had links with the Lashkar-e-Tayiba and other Pakistani terror groups, and who went about his mission without Nagori’s knowledge.
There is, however, no indication that the Simi network was behind the blasts at the Malegaon mosque, Mecca Masjid (Hyderabad), Ajmer Sharif and Jama Masjid (Delhi), and the 2005 blasts on Diwali eve in Delhi. Who was behind them is a question that may never be answered.
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