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Magazine
Surviving terror
MITA KAPUR
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The citizens of Jaipur have shown resilience in plenty after the explosions. Now, it’s time the State took effective initiatives to prevent such attacks from happening.
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“We understand that this same group of terrorists will not have qualms about bombing a masjid on a Friday, a temple on a Tuesday. The man on the street has seen through them and knows we are not with them and they are not with us, that it’s an attack on our way of life, on our country.”
Photo: PTI
Are we better prepared now? Security at the Hawa Mahal after the blasts.
I would give anything to plunge into the familiar chaos, the madness of “no-traffic-sense” scurry, the battle of the blaring horns rather than see Jaipur silent, desolate, mangled and blank, with used plastic bags, torn newspapers moving
listlessly ahead on empty roads. That was the day after the serial blasts shattered the mantle of peace in Jaipur. A week later, the uncertainty and confusion persists. Sketches of the suspects are being re-drawn and the National Security Guard’s Forensic Lab says no RDX was used. Are we heading the way the Varanasi, Malegaon and Hyderabad blasts went, remaining unresolved? It merely adds to the series of questions that throng our minds. Why Jaipur?
A visitor from Jammu shrugged casually, “Blasts in Jaipur mean that the city has arrived — it’s a metro now.” That’s a twisted perspective but ironically it rings a bell. Jaipur is a city which can now easily claim the “been there, done that, seen all” title. It’s acquired all the trappings of a fast-paced city, so were the bomb blasts a natural corollary? It’s not rocket science but soft targets like our Pink City help demonstrate the power and reach of terrorists; it proves they can function in any part of the country. The security and intelligence agencies lose their credibility in the eyes of the populace and cause lack of faith — which is exactly one of the aims of such activities.
Strategic target
Terror is aimed at destabilisation. A peaceful place like Jaipur becomes a prime target. Though the blasts in Lucknow, Faizabad, Varanasi in November 2007 were strikes of reprisal, the attack on Jaipur has a strategic purpose. Jaipur is flourishing as a city and a tourist destination. With 25.92 million domestic tourists and 1.4 million foreign visitors descending on the city, all related businesses, ancillaries, trade outlets are also doing well. The six main locations where the blasts took place are of great commercial importance. There are over 200 shops in each lane that are interspersed across the five sq km area that caters approximately to five to six lakhs people with business interests every day. If Tripolia Bazaar is famous for bangle shops, Manak Chowk is known for its garments, jootis, and artefacts. Johri Bazaar is a hub for gems and jewellery and Chandpol caters to the food grain market. Hanuman temple and Sanganeri gate are thronged by devotees. Anyone visiting Jaipur will go to all these areas.
We have faced a loss of business to the tune of Rs, 5,000 crore in the first two days itself just within the walled city which houses 24 specialised markets. Jaipur contributes about 65 per cent of the annual export turnover of Rs. 15,186,41 crores. In retrospect, Jaipur does seem a plausible target now. Strikes in certain places of economic importance such as stock exchanges, crowded market places, offices of business companies and tourist resorts have the objective of disrupting the economy and discouraging the flow of foreign investments by creating a feeling of nervousness about security conditions in the minds of potential investors. The statistics are just one part of the loss. What happened to Jaipur is a calamity of distorted humanity.
The blasts in Varanasi in March, 2006, Malegaon in September, 2006, Hyderabad in May, 2007, and Ajmer Sharif on October, 2007, were designed to create communal discord. If that was the purpose in Jaipur then, somehow, we have proved them wrong. “Jaipur has conducted itself with maturity through such crisis because we understand that this same group of terrorists will not have qualms about bombing a masjid on a Friday, a temple on a Tuesday. The man on the street has seen through them and knows we are not with them and they are not with us, that it’s an attack on our way of life, on our country,” says Ikram Rajasthani, an Urdu poet. The 10th bomb was diffused because of a warning by a responsible citizen. What is critical is the birth of citizen vigilance. Which is confirmed by Puja Arya, designer: “Jaipur is recognised for promoting culture, communal harmony and peace. It’s never been about communities here, it’s about the people, we ‘Jaipurwalas’ always! Jaipur was targeted because it has acquired a good name for all things good about the city. We will bounce back to absolute normalcy.”
The pride and faith we have is reconfirmed by Salil Bhatt, a musician. “Jaipur is a happening, rising, shining city, it is the next IT hub, our business capacity is scaling new heights. If the terrorists think they can unleash a wave of terror and dampen our spirits, ruin our morale, they are being foolish.” “Every city comes together, Jaipur did so because the act of terror is outside our culture. We can’t be divided — people of all communities came together and donated blood, no one questioned whether it was being given to a Hindu or a Muslim,” says Kavita Srivastava, General Secretary, PUCL. “The Muslims can’t afford another riot after Gujarat and since this is the election year, the RSS wants to emerge as the protector of the city. The next few months are crucial. In a way, polarisation has happened, one community has gone into fear completely,” she adds.
Sectarian tendencies
Rajiv Gupta, a sociologist, says, “The divide has come in, the BJP has always had a sectarian mindset. All organisations have moved into election spaces, the terrorists simply moved into the hollows left by such gaps. There is an indirect allusion that the blasts were a religious attack. If the leaders insist on converting the situation into political capital by raising issues like “hang Afzal”, POTA and the recent brickbats exchanged between the Centre and the State, there is a danger of going the Godhra way. However, the common man has reacted positively, this is the right time to initiate a movement to maintain communal harmony.”
The distinction between terrorism and organised crime has blurred. The blasts have shown up chinks in the armour of the State’s administration, security and intelligence agencies. There is lack of physical patrolling and policing is under question now, but, “can you patrol every road, can every car remain within visual sight of a policeman? Even if we were warned, what can you actually do with the warning?” asked a cynical citizen. The truth is that a lot could have been done, especially if there have been warnings since a year ago. It’s true you can’t police each movement but how does that explain the bombs that were smuggled into the city? How does that explain over 10 terrorists operating so smoothly, buying cycles, placing them in a merry-go-round way, making sure that the next bomb will explode only when the scared crowds run towards it? Aren’t crowded areas supposed to be given a more alert and careful check than normal? India’s cities cannot be “secured” if its hinterlands remain entirely “unsecured”, and the fact is that India is a thoroughly under-policed country.
Living with vulnerability
We have lived with terrorists striking us with impunity. What remains to be seen is, till when will we keep patting ourselves on the back for the common man’s resilience after the tragedy? When will it be converted into a strength that will nab and foil all such terrorist activities? We can sing to our own glory of how quickly we went “back to normal” and slip into the self-deception of “living through” till it strikes again. Are we in a limbo, of creating a home-grown legendary passivity? Life is not normal anymore. It’s abnormal and we have acquired a new-born fear of being vulnerable to the hand of terror. We have to make sure we keep making a noise about it like the Jews after the holocaust.
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