The Hindu : New Delhi News : Twin blasts a blessing in disguise?

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jun 11, 2005

New Delhi

New Delhi

Twin blasts a blessing in disguise?

Though the blasts did not cause much damage, it woke up the security agencies from deep slumber at the right time. It gave the agencies an opportunity to rework their plan of action. Devesh K. Pandey tells more...

Intelligence agencies should consider themselves lucky that just when Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) was beginning to rear its ugly head with much more meticulous planning to revive militancy in the country, Jagtar Singh Hawara, the fugitive BKI chief of operations in India, fell into the police net. But now a bigger task lies ahead of the intelligence agencies as they have to unearth the entire network of the terrorist outfit both within and outside the country before it is able to spread its tentacles any further.

Experts on terrorism are of the view that the May 22 blasts at Liberty and Satyam cinema halls in the Capital were meant to send a message across that BKI had re-launched itself in the country. This was evident from the use of relatively low intensity bombs in both the blasts.

The explosions were also an indication of the fact that BKI had marshalled enough resources, including logistics, to carry out such operations. Already the police have recovered about 15 kg of deadly RDX and a large cache of ammunition from the alleged militants. According to a senior police officer, the seizure might go up with more arrests.

The very thought of revival of "Khalistan" movement should be giving sleepless nights to the investigating agencies. But in some ways the twin blasts have come as a blessing in disguise for them.

"The blasts, which thankfully did not cause much damage, woke us up from deep slumber at the right time. They made us realise that BKI was reorganising itself again. The sense of urgency, almost intuitively, led us to zero in on the BKI chief Jagtar Singh," said a police officer, adding that the twin blasts had given an opportunity to the investigating agencies to rework their plan of action. The exercise would involve assessment of changes in BKI's modus operandi and its penetration among potential sympathisers.

With the arrest of Jagtar Singh, who was in direct touch with senior BKI functionaries operating from Germany, Pakistan, the United Kingdom and the United States, the police believe that they would get vital information about those who have been arranging funds for the outfit. From his interrogation they would also be able to identify the new recruits in BKI, who are mostly used to execute the operations.

A probe into the twin blasts has indicated that those extending support to outfits like BKI to create disturbances in the country have links with people behind the ongoing terrorism in Kashmir Valley. In fact, all the RDX consignments had originated from Jammu and Kashmir. Also, Jagtar Singh's disclosure that after he escaped from Burail Jail in January last he had received money to the tune of over Rs. 1 crore from his superiors based in Germany, reveals that there is no dearth of funds for the outfit.

To thwart any attempt to revive terrorism in the name of "Khalistan", the agencies concerned would first and foremost have to choke all the funding channels of the organisation.

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Twin blasts a blessing in disguise?