Just on the eve of the blasts, which claimed over 200 lives, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri, linked end to terrorism to the resolution of Kashmir. Overstepping the brief by making such disparaging remarks from Washington, Kasuri described the Confidence-Building Measures (CBMs) as ‘half-hearted’. Even after the Mumbai bomb blasts, Kasuri continued to maintain, “The resolution of Kashmir would resolve the issue of extremism”. He repeatedly referred to the ‘perpetual tension’ over Kashmir. His overtures were immediately countered by New Delhi as ‘appalling’.

Result is that the ongoing peace process is getting derailed. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, as expected, has sternly warned Pakistan that peace process may come to a halt if Islamabad does not prevent its soil from being used by terrorists. Adopting a tough posture, he reminded Pervez Musharraf of his assurances that he will not let its soil be used by terrorists. Prime Minister has assured people that he would smash terrorists’ network.” Terror modules exist in Mumbai and elsewhere in India”, he told the nation. There is ‘credible information’ that these modules are getting support from across the border. He was supported in his contention by no less a person than Pakistan Awami National Party President Asfandyar Wali Khan (grandson of the Frontier Gandhi) that Pakistan Government is providing weapons and safe haven to terrorists. It is something terrible that has happened in India’s commercial capital, Mumbai. It will continue to happen and more ferociously, unless the government acts swiftly and resolutely.

Terrorism is not limited to Kashmir. It has spread all over the country. Its scars are visible everywhere. Pakistani establishment has fully integrated itself with the ‘jehadi’ culture and has been championing the cause of terrorists, representing brute force. A stage has come when India needs to tell Pakistan frankly that enough is enough, and call a spade a spade. New Delhi should be ready to bite the bullet, to save the nation from further onslaughts of barbaric acts of terrorism from across the border. Our independence is in jeopardy.

Rather it is unfortunate that Human Resources Development (HRD) Minister Arjun Singh and Minority Affairs Minister Abdul Rehman Antulay are out of synch with the nation’s mood and ground realities. At an impromptu cabinet meeting, both had reportedly remarked that ‘Hindu groups’ had ‘faked’ terrorist attacks and blamed them ‘routinely on the Muslims’. Such ‘illogical’ statements only encourage the terrorists, who feel emboldened in the wake of bomb blasts. While Antulay is understood to have drew attention to a report that the ‘mystery blasts’ in Nanded in April was the handiwork of’ Hindus, posing as Muslims’, the HRD Minister reportedly quoted a former judge as having alleged that the ‘botched terror strike’ on the RSS headquarters in Nagpur was a Sangh plot. To cap it all, the Samajwadi Party leader, U P Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav has given a clean chit to the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), which has been banned because of its terrorist activities. It followed just on the heels of the U P Police Chief’s brief about the involvement of SIMI in spreading terror in U P and elsewhere in India, in association with Lashkar-e-Toiba.

With a section of our mainstream leadership in such disposition, we cannot expect US and Britain to come to our help in combating terrorism? We should first keep our house in order before seeking help from civilized countries to be with us in smashing terrorism. Consider the Nagpur encounter, in which three LeT militants were killed.

It was described as ‘fake’ in a report prepared by a group of NGOs, which included the People’s Union of Civil Liberties (PUCL), Nagpur, Committee for Protection of Democratic Rights, Mumbai , Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee, Hyderabad and the Indian Association of People’ Lawyers. They have asked for a probe into the incident. However, Nagpur Police Commissioner S P S Yadav was taken aback by such ‘irrational’ report.

If we scan newspapers published in the aftermath of the Mumbai blast, one gets an impression as if another Pakistan is in the making. Hitherto, it was thought that only Kashmiri youth were being lured by ISI for arms training in PoK. It is mind-boggling that over 200 youth have been trapped for such arms training. They have been mostly drawn from Marathwada, Vidarbha, Solapur, Malegaon, Nasik, and even Pune. These are hot spots for such kind of ‘recruitment’. In fact, this new trend is discernible all over the country with ‘sleeping cells’ and ‘feeders’ for Lashkar-e-Toiba and other terrorist outfits helping the ISI recruitment drive. This is no good both in short term and long term. It is time something is done by the community leaders and social activists in the larger interests of the country.

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