A Part Of Operation Pin Code

Serial bomb blasts at Guwahati, Barpeta Road, Kokrajhar and Bongaigaon last Thursday, the day following the Deepawali celebration, have sent shock waves across the country, apart from drawing wide condemnation by national leaders and even US President George Bush, who is well-known for his ‘‘war on terrorism’’. Nine high-intensity blasts in the four lower Asom districts, during peak working hours, at crowded market and office centres, within a span of about 20 to 25 minutes, have totally exposed the hollowness of the Asom government’s frequent claims of drastic improvement of the law-and-order situation as well as the security scenario of the State. Once again, the terrorists have outsmarted the State machineries, as done in Mumbai, Bangaluru, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Ahmedabad and elsewhere in the country, which clearly testify to the well-planned, well-coordinated, well-motivated, well-timed, well-funded and logistically well-supported execution of the targeted blasts, with precision. It is suspected that the high-intensity blasts were caused using RDX and TNT, with timer device barring the near-aborted grenade blast that took place at Bongaigaon, which was planted in an abandoned motor cycle, but exploded in the process of removing it for defusing. The Guwahati blasts were caused by bombs planted in two Maruti cars — one parked at the parking lot of CJM’s Court, just next to the high-security offices of DC, Kamrup (M) and Kamrup, and the other near Panbazar Police Station, by the roadside opposite a shop ‘‘Silkpoint’’. The Asom government not only failed to prevent the horrible blasts just 300 metres away from the State Secretariat, let apart the other places, but also miserably failed to man the post-blast law-and-order situation at Dispur, as the whole world could witness from the television footage of the local as well as the national electronic media. According to eyewitnesses, for more than two hours following the Ganeshguri blast, except a small contingent of CRPF personnel, the Asom Police personnel were nowhere to be seen, as a result of which the outraged mob resorted to hooliganism by burning fire brigade vehicles, one ambulance of a private hospital, a bus used by the CRPF personnel, grounded a traffic-control point, and damaged government hoardings. There was total anarchy prevailing at Ganeshguri, with the public attacking State properties in a spontaneous expression of anger at the State’s failure to provide security to the common man, which culminated in a section of the irate crowd carrying two dead bodies of blast victims to the gate of the State Secretariat. Not a single policeman, not to speak of anymagistrate, was to be seen anywhere aroundGaneshguri to control the mob fury and restore some semblance of law and order before curfew was clamped for about three hours or so, which was also lifted promptly at 5.30 pm. The absence of Asom Police personnel was because of detailment of about 700 of them to guard the VVIP route from Khanapara to LGNB Airport by which the Asom CM and a posse of his ministers travelled to the airport for giving a warm send-off to the Haj pilgrims destined for Jeddah in a direct flight from Guwahati. The authorities made a mockery of themselves by not making any effort whatsoever to maintain peace, and failing in that, to impose curfew. While it was difficult to know the mob psychology in overturning and then setting on fire the ambulance vehicle, it was informed by a section of the media that the fire brigade vehicles arrived at Ganeshguri after about 45 minutes of the blast and that too without carrying any water for dousing the engulfing fire. There was total chaos in removing the dead and the injured, as no support teams or vehicles were deployed by the authorities. But for the voluntary services rendered by the members of the public in rescuing the injured and putting them into public vehicles for taking to the nearest hospital, the number of casualties could have been far higher.There was no presence of any disaster management team anywhere at the blast sites, for which the government owes an answer to the people, as a lot of public money had been spent over the years on ‘‘disaster management training, planning and operation’’. Now coming to the crux of the terror strikes in the most synchronized and successful manner, the instant questions universally raised are: Who are the barbarous, psychopathic killers? Who are their supporters, sympathizers, linkmen, trainers, transporters, harbourers and financiers? What are their aims and objectives? What would be their next targets? How did they manage to escape the security dragnet in the four lower Asom districts in spite of the State having a strong unified command structure headed by the Chief Minister himself? While the Asom government would never admit its failure to secure the life and property of citizens against such terror strikes, the whole world is now convinced that it has totally failed in discharging its prime constitutional responsibility. Everyone believes that the unified command structure has been totally marginalized by the superior ‘‘merchants of terror’’ and the State intelligence machinery has been made totally irrelevant by their terrorist counterparts. The Asom Chief Minister revealed at a press conference on Thursday evening that the State government had information that some terror attacks could take place in the festive season, but did not know where this could happen and also could not imagine that the damages could be of such a high magnitude. He also said that the blasts could be the handiwork of the ULFA or any other militant outfit and that he had issued strict instructions to nab the culprits, whosoever they are. This position itself suggests how prepared the Asom government was to meet any terrorist challenge and pre-empt terror strikes! One Asom minister pinpointed his fingers at the outlawed ULFA while appearing before a local television channel, though later he said that ULFA would mean HuJI, ISI and others also. On the other hand, the Asom intelligence chief Khagen Sarmah told the media that jehadi forces were responsible for the serial blasts. Interestingly, a couple of weeks back, I listened to Khagen Sarmah speaking before a local television channel that his wing was devoting more time on jehadi activists as compared to the ULFA, as the danger posed by the former to the unity and integrity of the country was gaining momentum in recent days. How right Sarmah was, has now been proved, as the ULFA, unlike in the past, has immediately denied its involvement in the blasts in any manner whatsoever. This unequivocal denial by ULFA also comes in conflict with the statement by a local security analyst that the ULFA, which recently set up its base in Yunun province of China, could have perpetrated the serial blasts. Well, several security analysts and a major section of the people of Asom have ruled out this theory, though Union Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta reportedly talked about the involvement of Bangladesh-based HuJI and its network in Asom, with some possible support from the ULFA.Security analysts across the country, asheard from panel discussion held on national television channels on Thursday, have pointed their fingers at Islamic terrorist groups like HuJI, Jammat-e-Islami, MULTA etc, with support from ISI and DGFI of Bangladesh, who could be behind the serial blasts, with the objective to destabilize the unity and integrity of India, concentrating on the northeastern region in view of its highly volatile geo-political environment.In one of my columns in The Sentinel immediately after the serial blasts in Bangaluru and Ahmedabad, I had opined that the next major targets of jehadi terror strikes could be Kolkata and Guwahati. They failed in Kolkata due to very strict and effective security management and real-time intelligence by the Kolkata Police, insulated from the usual politicking which is done in Asom where the terrorists achieved tremendous success. Will the Asom Chief Minister and his political team learn the right lesson even at this late stage and allow the police and intelligence agencies to perform their assigned tasks professionally, without the least political interference? Finally, about the notorious ‘‘Operation Pin Code’’. India News Online (April, 2006) gives details of the Bangladesh-ISI-backed “Operation Pin Code” against India. Some extracts of the report are reproduced below. “With the Bush administration leaning heavily on Gen Musharraf to curb cross-border terrorism, the ISI has been shifting the base of terrorist operations against India to Bangladesh. This operation is called ‘Operation Pin Code’ and is focused on creating a coalition of different terrorist groups operating in Northeastern India and Bangladesh. This coalition is a mirror copy of Syed Salahuddin’s United Jihad Council. The Bangladesh chapter of the Jihad Council is led by HuJI and comprises Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), Al Hikma, Jamaat-e-Tulba, Jamaat-ul-Muderrasin, Islamic Chhatra Shibir, Islamic Oikya Jote, Immam Arishad, Islamic Shahsantantra Andolon, Bangladesh Khilafat Majlis and Hizbul Tehrir and ULFA. There are intelligence reports that the ISI has tied up with the Bangladesh Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI) to implement ‘Operation Pin Code’. The plan involves raising a cadre of 20,000 jihadis to achieve the objective of creating a Greater Islamic Homeland in India.”

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