New Delhi: A Favorite Terror Target !

By Animesh Roul

Four suspected Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) militants, arrested following a heavy exchange of gunfire with the Delhi Police on Feb 4, have been remanded to police custody. Meanwhile, the suspected JeM men were identified as Shahid Gafoor (from Sialkot, Pakistan) Bashir Ahmed, Fayyaz Lone, and Abdul Majeed Baba (all from Jammu and Kashmir). Initial investigations suggested that three Kashmiri militants, who had arrived in Delhi from Jammu by the Malwa Express earlier that day. The encounter took place near the Ranjit Singh flyover, close to bustling Connaught Place area. Police recovered three kg of RDX, four detonators, a timer, six hand grenades, 30 bore firearm, USD 10,000 and INR 50,000 from them.

As a matter of fact, this is a lot of money, which shows the monetary strengths of terror outfits. (I hope this would initiate a probe on terror financing in this part of the world). The other most disturbing fact was that the explosives were carried safely from Jammu using passenger train to be delivered to Gafoor to carry out the destructive act in Delhi’s vital places. Early this year Gafoor had flown to Dhaka (Bangladesh) from Karachi, taking a safe route to be inside the country. Then sneaked to India through the porous Indo-Bangladesh border and back in Delhi on Feb 03 from Kolkata (West Bengal, India) by Poorva Express. Gafoor reportedly told the police that he was supposed to configure three improvised explosive devices (IED) and plant them at busy and prominent market places in and around Delhi.

Other high profile arrests/ busts in Delhi that helped in averting major terror strikes in the Indian capital recently:

January 25: One suspected Lashkar-e-Toiba militant was arrested with 2.5 kg of RDX near the Seelampur Metro station. The militant was to hand over the explosives to a LeT module that was to carry out blasts in New Delhi on Republic Day. The arrested militant was identified as Iftikhar Alam, a resident of Gaya in Bihar. He was reportedly said to the police that the explosives were given to him in Patna (Bihar) by a LeT agent who had brought it from Nepal. Iftikhar also revealed about his training and visits to terrorist camps in Pakistan and Bangladesh.

January 04: Two suspected Harkatul-Jihad-e- Islami (HuJI) terrorists— Lutful Rahman and Mohd Amin Wani— nabbed with 1.6 kg of RDX and INR 4. 5 lakh. They were planning to carry out blasts in the capital during the Republic Day celebrations. Rahman, a Bangladeshi national, was arrested in Adarsh Nagar locality of North-West Delhi, while Mohd Amin, a Kashmiri, was nabbed in South Delhi’s Nizamuddin area.

December 31: Two Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorists identified as Samiullah and Ali Mohammad were arrested along with two improvised plastic explosive devices at the New Delhi railway station. Police said that the two were planning to plant a bomb in the crowded Paharganj Market near the railway station on the New Year's Eve. In Oct. 29, 2005 serial blasts, around 18 people were killed in this busy market area, close to New Delhi Railway station.

December 19: Delhi Police arrested three suspected LeT terrorists, identified as Salman Khurshid Kori, Abdur Rehman, and Mohammed Akbar Hussein, came from India’s Northeastern State, Manipur with 2 kg explosives, one hand grenade and two detonators. Salman Khurshid was trained in Pakistani training camps.

The above mentioned fact file shows that a host of terror outfits (HuJI, JeM & LeT) trying desperately to carry out blasts in the Indian capital New Delhi.

Nevertheless, observers are waiting with bated breath to see any substantial result from the proposed joint anti-terrorism mechanism between Indian and Pakistan. The first ever meet will be held in Islamabad from March 6--7. This would be imperative for both countries (especially for Pakistan) to accept and take the initiative to identify and implement counter-terrorism initiatives as soon as possible.

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