<b>Ahmedabad blasts vehicles from Navi Mumbai: Police</b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Mumbai, July 28: Two of the vehicles stuffed with Police explosives, which were found in Surat have been traced to Navi Mumbai and both were stolen about a fortnight earlier, a Navi senior police official said on Monday.
"A Wagon R car found in Surat was stolen on July 8 Navi from Vashi while a Maruti 800 car was stolen from Sanpada area on July 15," the senior police official said on condition of anonymity
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<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Time to question</b>
<b>Why are there such gaps in the Centreâs political and procedural response to terror? </b>
Terror is pathology. But so it seems, in India, is the governmentâs response to terror. <b>The one score and some serial bombs in Bangalore and Ahmedabad were met with cringe-inducing official harrumphs from Delhi that warnings had been given. It is time to ask what the Union government means when it says warnings were available. Is it the case that the Centreâs, or specifically the home ministryâs, radars are always buzzing efficiently with actionable information that is not acted upon by inefficient state governments? If so, why doesnât the Centre say it straight? They have a duty to the nation to say it</b>. And if that is not the case, as one strongly suspects is not the case, why take this, to put it bluntly, awful way to pass the parcel? It has to be said, in the context of this trait, that the UPAâs whole approach to terror has been scarily confusing.
The present home minister will demit office as having made a spectacular non-impression as far as his leadership of national security efforts go. <b>It took the prime minister, that too after more than half of the UPAâs term in office was over, to say Naxalites were a high-priority threat to the idea of India. Can you recall the home minister taking political leadership of this national security issue? Can you recall him owning up to his remit as home minister vis-a-vis terror</b>? And letâs remember that while strong and clear political positions are no guarantees against stopping terror, their absence severely weakens the governmentâs fight against it.
More than four years after the UPA took over, not a single terror attack has been brought to closure in terms of catching the perpetrators and putting them through the mills of justice. Thereâs investigative failure of a scale that would have in normal circumstances consumed the career of several ministers â but in the UPA the home ministry seems to have acquired immunity from even the most obvious of questions. Itâs long been known that security agencies are in part handicapped by a certain absurd notion of political correctness â a notion that implicates the very people it professes to protect. <span style='color:red'>The convenient political assumption in India is that voters donât punish governments who appear to be ineffective against terror. This government really has pushed that assumption to its limit.</span>
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Give it some more time, and it will all be forgotten... Italian matha's images beaming from Beijing should take care of that.
Our media will ensure that life is back to normal, and then we move on to discussing better things in life - do we need cheerleaders in IPL or not and how low the camera can go in sweeping up shots of the cheer leaders.
I am talking about police action and the methodology of police. The police's zero tolerance policy against terrorism should not be viewed from the premise of human rights. The police's zero tolerance against terrorism itself is a human right. Ultimately, the police is acting to protect innocent people's human rights. The nation will have to think about the human rights issue differently. Otherwise, to gain popularity -- in the absence of understanding and sometimes deliberately -- NGOs are helping the motives of terrorists.
This has to be distinguished by the media, intellectuals and experts of law. This fight has to be fought. As far as Gujarat is concerned, we are going to inspect our setup once again -- we will review it professionally and revamp it. The serial blasts will not remain undetected. We will reach the roots of it and give our findings to central agencies so that such blasts do not take place anywhere in the country again.
There is a perception that such blasts were expected in Gujarat after the 2002 riots. Also, add to that the dimension of most riots victims still not having got legal justice. Do you agree?
I don't believe that intense passion could be kept burning from 2002 to 2008. Emotions would be most intense in 2003, little less in 2004 and then it would recede further and further. From 2003 to 2008, there has been not a single event of terrorism in Gujarat.
It does not make sense to believe that an event in 2008 took place because of an event in 2002. Across the country, more than 30 similar acts of terror have taken place. There is no logic behind this argument. This is a political argument launched by some people and taken up by the media.
You are handling the home ministry. You have more facts on hand than anyone else. Do you find that jihadi elements are growing in India?
I strongly believe that if you want to stop terrorism then it is necessary to have the fear of security agencies and security forces in the minds of terrorists. To nab terrorists and to punish them, we need to take a fresh look at the legal framework and instruments of government.
We need to tighten up and strengthen the government machinery to nab terrorists. I have no objections against ongoing debates and criticisms and I do not mind when intellectuals keep talking about terrorism. But we have seen the horrifying terror on the ground and there should not be any dispute among us in fighting against it. That is my request to all Indians.
We should agree and be united on this one issue. We need stronger laws to punish terrorists. We should not have any debates that would demoralise the approach of security agencies to fight terrorists.
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Modi's popularity is due to his promise of security to all. Today, his promise is dishonoured. Gujaratis are feeling insecure. How can the common man face 16 blasts?
Narendra Modi is not only known as the leader of Gujarat. He is a leader of the entire nation. He is capable to work on the national stage. It is necessary for any state chief minister to guarantee security to his people. But, you should know that a conspiracy formed by terrorists at the national level and at the international level has been working at different places in India and has reached Gujarat.
If we could not solve this conspiracy, then there is the question of this debate, but if we are able to solve this terror act then, once again, it will be proved that only the Gujarat model can solve the issue of terrorism.
Were you surprised?
<b>I wasn't surprised but I had regrets that we were a little late. I don't want to give any further information.</b>
Did any central agency give you prior information?
<i>Our chief minister has said in the presence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh , Home Minister Shivraj Patil and National Security Advisor M K Narayanan that information from central agencies like the Intelligence Bureau is like a weather report. In my entire tenure, I have never received any information from the IB on the basis of which we can take action.</i>
In this event there was no information even to match a weather report. The day after the Bangalore blasts, we got an email 'alert', which was sent to 'all states'. There was no specific information about the blasts.
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Have you been able to understand the modus operandi of terrorists?
They exploded a bomb at one place; the timer was set such that the second blast took place in the same place five minutes later. They waited for the crowd to gather. Obviously, the injured will be taken to the city's prominent hospital. So they timed the bomb for an hour later at the hospital.
The blasts at hospitals show that our fight is with such despicable people.<i> Even during war, enemies do not attack hospitals and its employees</i>. Even medical vehicles or the Red Cross is never attacked during war. It has been proved that our fight is with people with such dreadful ideas. That is why there can be no sympathy for these people. There should not be any activity in the country that would demoralise people who are fighting these terrorists.
Don't you think POTA and TADA are not preventive measures?
<b>Nobody is above fear. Even terrorists have fears.</b> If there is fear of harsh punishment they will not get local support. <b>Under POTA, 14 cases were tried in Gujarat and punishment was awarded that have helped keep Gujarat free of terrorism in the last six years.</b>
<i>Look at the world, too. Ours is the only country which has repealed the law against terrorism after 9/11. This is vote-bank politics and at last now if our eyes are opening then we should rise above politics.</i>
In the last five years, national security has become weak, intelligence agencies' morale has touched rock-bottom. Political will to fight terrorism is completely absent. I blame the United Progressive Alliance, which is running like a circus. There is no co-ordination between departments; there is no command structure in government. In the last seven bomb blasts, I have been reading the same statement from the Union home minister.
Do you think these blasts were carried out by jihadi terrorists?
Obviously! It is a fact accepted by the world. Jihadi Islamic fundamentalists groups are behind bomb blasts in India.
What steps are you recommending to combat terror when you attend high-level meetings in New Delhi ?
Forgive me but I must say that I have attended four high-level meetings of chief ministers and home ministers, and I have seen that there is only a cosmetic approach. No serious action is taken during the discussion. All the minutes of the meetings are turning into trash.
What kinds of suggestions has Gujarat sent?
We have recommended special training curriculum and budget for Intelligence staff on the lines of IPS and IAS. We have recommended strengthening of the Research and Analysis Wing and suggested that they be given special military training. No action is taken on suggestions. Things are static at the Centre.
Are you worried that the image of Modi as a strong leader who could provide security is weakened now?
Bomb blasts in Ahmedabad are part of a series of blasts that occurred in India. The image of Modi has nothing to do with the bomb blasts.
Time to re-post a little gem from the English-language press in 19th century China, on How to Deal with Jihad-Minded Muslims, which was unearthed and then shared, on this comments floor, by one of the posters, some time ago:
âIf politeness and ceremony be observed toward Mohammedans, they imagine they are feared and become arrogant; but in showing severity and rudeness, they are impressed with fear and respect, and they are supple and manageable.â
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Needle of suspicion on Rasool Pardi, Pathan </b>
pioneer.com
Rakesh K Singh | New Delhi
ISI link to Ahmedabad blasts exposed
Preliminary investigation into the Ahmedabad serial blasts indicates that two sharp-shooters of the erstwhile Abdul Latif gang may have masterminded the mayhem at the behest of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).Â
<b>Rasool Pardi and Sharif Khan Pathan, both from Ahmedabad, were Lashkar-e-Tayyeba's pointpersons for recruiting disgruntled members of the minority community after the 2002 riots in the State</b>. Both of them were wanted by the Gujarat police in several cases of extortion, murder and other heinous crimes. While Pathan had escaped from police custody while being produced before a court in Ahmedabad, Pardi is reported to be shuttling between India and Pakistan.
<b>Senior officials probing the Ahmedabad serial blasts case said the call details of local cadre of Students' Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) suggest that the duo was actively involved in planning and executing the explosions in coordination with their masters in Pakistan. Intelligence sources said the duo felt humiliated by the high-handedness of the Lashkar trainers engaged in the recruitment of cadre in the State and mooted the idea of forming an outfit of their own. It was termed Indian Mujahideen. </b>
Incidentally, Indian Mujahideen claimed responsibility for the blasts through e-mail messages sent to some private television news channels.
The intelligence agencies have been tracking the movements of the duo who had in the past managed to send indoctrinated youth for training in Pakistan.
<b>The call details of Abdul Halim, who was arrested on Sunday and jointly interrogated by the intelligence sleuths and police, also suggest his links with the duo. </b>
Union Home Ministry officials said it would take a while to unravel the complete network of the perpetrators behind the blasts who "work in a modular fashion and every piece of work is outsourced to evade detection". Besides, the terror outfits are recruiting highly qualified and indoctrinated youth to execute terror strikes in the country, making it difficult for security agencies to crack such incidents.
<b>Incidentally, the March crackdown on SIMI hideouts in Madhya Pradesh suggested that a large number of the banned outfit's cadre were expanding their bases in Karnataka and Kerala, besides Puducherry</b>. Union Minister of State for Home Sriprakash Jaiswal had headed a high-level meeting in Puducherry to take stock of the growing SIMI network in Karaikal district of the Union Territory.
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<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Unprepared Govt makes light of SIMI ban extension </b>
pioneer.com
Parvaiz Sultan | New Delhi
<b>If one needed proof that the Centre was soft-pedalling the issue of terrorism, it was amply available on Monday before the Unlawful Activities Prevention Tribunal (UAPT). The Government came unprepared to seek continuation of the ban on the Students' Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). When UAPT, headed by Justice Geeta Mittal, wanted to know whether SIMI had caused any riots after February 2006, the Centre had no reply. </b>
"<b>It is the fundamental right of a person...he must know that by which action of his, such strong action has been taken against him. You are saying that SIMI was involved in communal riots, bomb blasts and destructive activities. Tell me, which riots after February 2006 were engineered by SIMI and place the material before me," Justice Mittal said. "You can't presume. </b>You have registered 106 fresh cases. Some set in Bhopal, some in Jaipur, others in Malegaon and Ghatkopar, but there's no mention of the FIR numbers. What is the requirement of law? What is to be tested? It has serious impact", the tribunal grilled Additional Solicitor General (ASG) of India AK Pathak while expressing displeasure about the Ministry of Home Affairs' "casual approach".
Justice Mittal also said that if the Centre was claiming SIMI's involvement in these activities, the onus was on the Government to place the proof on record. Meanwhile, the banned outfit's counsel Jawahar Raja submitted, "The notification of February 2008 reads: <b>'The Central Government is of opinion that SIMI continues to indulge in activities for which it was banned earlier and the activists of SIMI are still indulging in communal and anti-social activities. The activities of SIMI are detrimental to the peace, integrity and maintenance of the secular fabric of Indian society and that it is an unlawful association'. But no ground for the notification and no reason for the immediate ban has been spelt out."</b>
Pointing to the "casual approach" of the Centre, Raja said the notification was signed a month after its publication though it should have been done earlier. The organisation was banned in 2001 for its alleged involvement in unlawful activities.<b> "The ban on SIMI has been extended by the Centre on the same ground. There's no fresh material," Raja contended. Addressing the ASG, Justice Mittal said, "To rely on your previous notification and claim that SIMI is still involved in such activities, you will have to connect the original crime." </b>
<b>The UAPT was hearing the Government's appeal to extend the ban on SIMI. The ASG, contending on behalf of the Union Government, justified the ban and sought another two-year extension on it.</b><!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
But nothing seems to shame Shivraj Patil. Not even such numbing statistics as the killings, at last count, of 5,900 people and terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir, Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Varanasi, Ayodhya, Hyderabad Bangalore and Ahmedabad. He appears to believe that his job ends with making an on-the-spot visit to the site of the terror attack and mouthing few meaningless words.
Already, many in the Congress have begun admitting that sticking with a minister who routinely advertises his cluelessness is plain bad news. In any case when it comes to the government's credibility on national security, the public is not buying it. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Politi...how/3299913.cms
Shockingly, in almost all the acts of terrorism that have occurred since the blasts in New Delhi [Images] just before Diwali 2005, not one terrorist has been arrested for the crimes.
The only arrests have been made in Mumbai, but there is some doubt if the arrested are indeed the terrorists responsible for killing 188 people and maiming hundreds of others, many of them for life. One view in the Mumbai police is that under sustained political pressure, the city's Anti Terrorist Squad could have picked up individuals with dubious antecedents, but who may or may not be involved with the actual conspiracy.
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As one senior crimefighter in the Maharashtra police force told us two years ago, if those arrested are not the terrorists who attacked seven Western Railway trains on July 11, 2006, India is in serious trouble. The actual terrorists, he feared, would be free to run amuck, spreading mayhem whenever and wherever they wanted. </span>
Today upto 7 live bombs have been found in Surat. 4 have been neutralized.
As I said earlier, all of them are shown as not camouflaged in any way.
Meanwhile in Ahmedabad, a tiffin box has been found on a bike. Authorities are investigating.
Mudy its hard to judge people's feelings. Things are too fluid and will depend on who you ask.
Also bombs have been found in front of police thana, so I dont think they are scared. There was one bomb put up on a tree stuck on some branches. In one way the bombs i think were meant to be found and in other way people/authorities are more alert now.
Guest houses have been raided all over mumbai. 3 arrests have been made in Mumbai from a guest house called Iqbal Hostel. They are supposed to be Kashmiris. 2 arrests each have also been made in Udaipur/Jaipur. Guj govt says this is a distraction to divert investigations or a strike elsewhere. Trains/Buses have been alerted. Higher security on trains.
