The country again wakes to a morning that is laden with news of the increase in number of dead and injured in another set of bomb blasts. This time it was Ahmedabad and a day before it was Bangalore. Who knows by the time I conclude this write-up another blast could have 'rocked' the nation.
Since October 2005 when a bomb went off in the crowded Sarojini market of Delhi, just a day before Diwali in which more that 60 people died, 11 more such incidents have rattled India, the most deadly being the July 2006 serial blasts in Mumbai's trains in which over 200 people were killed. Not surprisingly, we cannot say that we have been able to solve the cases or even figure out the identity of the perpetrators. In most cases, the obvious answer that one gets from the investigative agencies is the SIMI (Students Islamic Movement of India), the HuJI-B (Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami Bangladesh) or the HuM (Harkat-ul Mujahideen).
The country witnessed its first major strike in 1992 when the financial capital of India was rocked. It was said that the fundamentalist behind the Mumbai attacks were avenging the demolition of the Babri structure and the subsequent riots. Then also the think-tanks of this country talked of formulating counter-terrorism policies that would make such future strikes much harder. |