Terrorism On rise in the South

Pradeep Kumar K

The series of bomb explosions in Tamil Nadu and Kerala clearly indicate the spread of terrorism in south India When north India came under the grip of militants decades ago, south India was relatively calm and peaceful. But now with the series of 27 explosions in Coimbatore, the situations has completely changed and people realize that south India, particularly Tamil Nadu and Kerala have virtually become a haven for Muslim terrorists, thanks to the political patronage they enjoy from the ruling parties in these States.

Intelligence sources has pointed out that all these explosions were the handiwork of Muslim terrorists who were getting foreign assistance. The main centers of activity of these organisations are Chennai and Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu, Malappuram district in Kerala and Bangalore in Karnataka. Recently, Kerala Chief Minister E K Nayanar admitted in the State Assembly "Religious fundamentalism in the State is growing and many such organisations are receiving enormous foreign aid."

An investigation by this correspondent in Trichur, Malappuram and Kozhikode has confirmed the presence of many Islamic terrorist organisations actively operating in Kerala with the tacit help of both the ruling CPM-led LDF and the Congress-led UDF. Jihad Committee, Al-Umma, Iyyathul Ishania and Islamic Defence Force are very active in the State preaching separatism and fundamentalism. It is also known that these organisations get a huge amount of foreign money from their associates in Pakistan and the Gulf countries. A senior police officer of Malappuram says, “We are really helpless in this situation. We are not empowered to search or raid any mosque.” The helplessness of the police is exploited to the maximum by these fundamentalists. They use mosque and its premises for planning their operations and as a hideout and storehouse to hide their arms and ammunition.

The intelligence agencies disclosed that the Al-Umma and the Jihad Committee, now banned in Tamil Nadu, had operated some of their major operations from Palakkad with the help of some Muslim businessmen and had smuggled out huge amount of RDX to Malappuram.

It is also now clear that behind the recent killings in Malappuram, Thrissur and Palakkad, terrorist Muslim outfit lyyathul Ishania is responsible. The main accused of these incidents, one Anwiri, was allowed to escape to a foreign country with the help of certain influential politicians of the State. Al Umma has established several branches in the Muslim pockets of north Kerala, namely Malappuram, Palakkad, Kozhikode and Kasargod. It is also understood that now different terrorist outfits are jointly accomplishing their plans, whose example is the blasts in three trains at Thrissur, Trichy and Erode. According to a senior police official: "ISI through many terrorist outfits is very active in many districts of Kerala".

Since police officers' hands are tied by so-called secular parties they find themselves unable to swoop on terrorist outfits. For the petty politics of securing Muslim votes these "seculars' vie with each other to be the 'saviours' of Muslims. Even if any police officer dares to take a tough stand, he is either replaced or transferred.

The investigation has also revealed that explosives for the recent bomb blasts in Coimbatore were sent from Malappuram and the entire operation was planned at a terrorist hideout in Malappuram. It is also suspected that some of the bombs used were made in Malappuram and Palakkad. These bomb-manufacturing units are freely functioning in some of the mosques of Malappuram, Kozhikode and Palakkad. The Muslim organisations banned in Tamil Nadu are now operating in and from Malappuram, Kozhikode and Palakkad and they are very active. The terrorists belonging to some of these organisations are suspected in the recent killing of five RSS workers.

It is also now evident that Iman Ali, who had been trained by ISI in Kashmir, gave training to many Muslim youths of Kerala, who in turn are imparting their knowledge to other youth in different districts of the State.

Even though Tamil Nadu was the hot-bed of the LTTE, Muslim fundamentalism grew in the State mainly because of DMK's tacit support. In spite of repeated warnings Karunanidhi did not take any action against Muslims fearing backlash during elections. He has to pay a heavy price for his callousness in curbing fundamentalism in the State during this election. Says O. Rajagopal, leader of BJP, "The Muslim terrorists wanted to annihilate top BJP and RSS leaders and the entire operation was planned in Coimbatore with the knowledge of local DMK leaders.”

After the Mumbai-blasts, ISI targeted the growing city of Coimbatore as a potential place. The reason for selecting Coimbatore as its base was that ISI wanted to destroy this city, which last year alone earned foreign exchange worth Rs. 3500 crore for India. The ISI wanted to sabotage the monopoly of Coimbatore in cotton textiles and other industries.

Many mafia gangs, headed by notorious underworld dons involved in smuggling of narcotics, have connections with terrorists of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. These underworld gangs are active in the coastal areas of both the States. Whenever upright police officers try to book the culprits, politicians interfere to get them released. Fortunately, their plans to explode Guruvayur Temple, a devi temple in Palakkad, and IOC storage tank did not succeed because of timely steps taken by the police.

The growth of terrorism in these States is clearly attributable to the pseudo-secularism practised by politicians. Unless stem and stringent action is taken in time, another Coimbatore may repeat in many southern cities.

DISCLAIMER:  

The views expressed in the Article above are Author’s personal views and kashmiribhatta.in is not in any way responsible for the opinions expressed in the above article.                                                      

Courtesy:-  Pradeep Kumar K  and 29th March,1998: Organiser