TERRORISTS TARGET INDIAN PARLIAMENT
by B.Raman
In an analysis, dated November 5,2001, which is
available at http://www.saag.org/papers3/paper353.html
, this writer had stated as follows:
"Though the horrendous terrorist strikes of
September 11, 2001, in New York and Washington DC were carried out on a
Tuesday, the previous major strikes of the terrorist organisations, which
are members of Osama bin Laden's International Islamic Front for Jehad
Against the US and Israel, were generally, but not always, carried out on
a Friday.
"The Fridays of the holy fasting period of Ramzan
are particularly important for them for reminding the world of their
presence, their faith and their objective. Friday is often the
preferred day for terrorist acts meant by them to be acts of punishment
inflicted on those whom they view as their enemy.
"There is, therefore, an urgent need for heightened
vigilance in the days preceding and during the forthcoming Ramzan fasting
period, starting from November 17,2001, all over the world and
particularly in the US, the UK and India. This becomes even more
necessary after a careful examination of the video-recording of bin
Laden's latest message telecast by the Al Jazeera TV channel of Qatar on
November 3,2001."
Many of the spectacular terrorist incidents
attributed to either bin Laden's International Islamic Front for Jehad
against the US and Israel (formed in 1998) or to Islamic organisations
which joined this Front after its formation took place during
Ramzan, generally on a Friday, but sometimes on other days too.
Among such attacks which took place during the fasting
period, one could cite the New York World Trade Centre explosion of
February,1993, and the Mumbai blasts of March,1993. Of course, the
Mumbai blasts, which struck important economic targets, were organised by
the ISI directly through Dawood Ibrahim, the notorious narcotics smuggler,
and not through any of the organisations, which now form part of bin
Laden's Front. But, the ISI chose the Friday of the fasting period
for the strike in order to convey a message that these explosions were
meant to be a punishment for the sufferings of the Muslims of Mumbai
during the preceding communal riots.
There are three categories of terrorist acts---
objective terrorism, which is meant to make known to the world the
objective of the terrorists; demand terrorism, which is meant to achieve a
specific demand ; and punishment terrorism, which is meant to punish an
identified enemy.
When terrorists undertake objective and demand
terrorism, they identify themselves and make known their objective or
demand since they want their followers and the rest of the world to know
that they were behind the act of terrorism.
When they undertake punishment terrorism, they do not do
so and leave the victim guessing as to who could have been behind the
act. The pre-1994 terrorist united front led by Carlos carried out
some acts of punishment terrorism directed against its identified enemies
of international capitalism or Zionism for which it did not claim
responsibility.
Osama bin Laden, who had spent some months in Khartoum,
Sudan, at the same time as Carlos, who is now in jail in France, ordered a
number of acts of punishment terrorism against the US after the formation
of his International Front in 1998, for which no claim for responsibility
was made.
Amongst such acts of punishment terrorism for which no
responsibility was claimed, one could mention the explosions in Nairobi
and Dasr-es-Salaam in 1998, the attack on a US naval ship in Aden in 2000
and the terrorist strikes of September 11,2001.
bin Laden wears two hats. He is the head of the Al
Qaeda, which is a Saudi-centric, exclusively Arab organisation, consisting
largely of Saudis, Yemenis, Egyptians and some Algerians. At the
same time, he is the head of the International Islamic Front, which is a
conglomerate of about a dozen Islamic terrorist organisations of Egypt,
Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, the Xinjiang province of
China and the southern Philippines.
From Pakistan, the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HUM), the
Lashkar-e-Toiba (LET) and the Sipah-e-Sahaba are known to be members of
the Front. The HUM had signed his first Fatwa against the US and
Israel issued in 1998. The Jaish-e-Mohammad (JEM) is suspected to be
a member.
Of these, the HUM, the LET and the JEM have been behind
most of the acts of terrorism by Islamic groups in Jammu & Kashmir
(J&K) and in New Delhi. Even according to the annual report of
the US State Department on the Patterns of Global Terrorism released on
April 30,2001, these are almost totally Pakistani organisations operating
in India from rear bases in Pakistan. The Sipah-e-Sahaba is an
extremist Sunni organisation which has been behind the massacres of Shias
in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
While the Al Qaeda, the exclusively Arab organisation,
has not come to notice for any presence in Indian territory after the
Kargil conflict of 1999 when it was used by Gen.Pervez Musharraf,
Pakistan's military dictator and the wolf of international Islamic
terrorism, who after September 11 has been strutting around Western
capitals in sheep's clothing, the Pakistani components of bin Laden's
Front, namely, the HUM, the LET and the JEM, have been very active.
They look upon J&K as the gateway to India and
describe their objective not only as the merger of J&K with
Pakistan, but also as the "liberation" of the Muslims living in
other parts of India and the creation of two more "homelands"
for them. They also want to fight for the restoration of the Moghul
rule in India and the LET talks of the days when it would hoist the flag
of Islam on the Red Fort.
These organisations have been demanding that bin Laden's
Front should be re-named as the International Islamic Front For Jehad
Against the US, Israel and India since they identify India too as the
enemy of Islam. bin Laden has been in favour of their demand, but
the other components of the Front have not been agreeable to this.
During the current US-led allied operations against
international terrorism in Afghanistan, between 8,000 and 14,000
Pakistanis are reported to have been killed by the US air strikes or to be
missing in action. While some of them were serving and retired
members of Pakistan's military-intelligence establishment, the majority
belonged to the HUM, the LET and the JEM.
These organisations have, therefore, cause for anger
against not only the US, but also India which is seen by the jehadi
organisations of Pakistan as responsible for the disastrous set-back to
Pakistan's presence in Afghanistan and for the humiliation inflicted on
the Pakistanis by the people of Kabul and other towns after their
liberation from the control of the Taliban.
Whoever might claim responsibility for the
terrorist strikes on the Indian Parliament on the forenoon of December
13,2001, the involvement of one of the Pakistani components of bin Laden's
Front is a strong possibility. Apart from strengthening security
measures around all vital installations, including the offices of the
R&AW, India's external intelligence agency, security and air cover for
the US naval ships visiting Indian ports should also be stepped up.
The American white convert to the Taliban, who was
recently arrested in Mazar-e-Sharif, is reported to have told the US
authorities that the Al Qaeda was planning an attack of bio terrorism in
the US during the Ramzan period. More attacks in India too,
conventional or unconventional, is a possibility.
(The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet
Secretariat, Govt. of India, and, presently, Director, Institute for
Topical Studies, Chennai. E-Mail: corde@vsnl.com
)
