Blinking in terror radar
Haidar Naqvi,Hindustan Times
January 2, 2008

Introduction: Spate of attacks makes Uttar Pradesh worst-hit state in recent times after Jammu and Kashmir

The Fidayeen (suicide) attack at the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) camp in Rampur on marks a paradigm shift in strategy and tactics of the jehadi groups, hell bent on making Uttar Pradesh their major theatre of operation.

This is the second fidayeen attack after failed attempt at Ramjanmabhoomi complex in Ayodhya on July 5, 2005. Five terrorists were killed in the Ayodhya attack. The latest attack goes to shows that the state is blinking in the terror radar. A spate of recent attacks have left UP as the state worst affected by terrorism outside Jammu and Kashmir.

Security experts are baffled at the sheer intensity of attack by terror groups and their growing presence in the state.

"It is surprising that UP is having a major fidayeen attack when J&K has had none in the last five months. It is a clear pointer that terror groups are making up in UP for what they have been denied in the Valley and other places by the security forces," say police sources. The statistics support this theory with security forces neutralising more than 80 terror modules in state in the last three years.

The maximum modules taken care of were in cities of western UP where the terror groups had inherited the infrastructure developed by Harkat-ul-Ansar (HuA) way back in '93. All the current major terrorist groups in UP, Jaish-e-Mohammad, Harkat-ul-Jehad Islami (HuJI), Hizbul Mujahideen are all splinter groups of HuA while Lashkar creat- ed its own base using the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI's) infrastructure.

"It is a paradox of sorts. The terror groups are ready to use infra structure at their disposal and the state has always been reactionary in approach," said the sources, adding: "It acts only when they strike instead of bringing a specialised mechanism in place to combat the most frightening scourge." not Also, the state has been able to come down on the support network that has grown by leaps and bounds over the last five years. The state also failed in prosecuting terrorists who obtained bails and disappeared without a trace.

"There are number of instances when the police could have pulled off a breakthrough if it had followed up," said the sources.

Time and again it came to light that Hapur-Moradabad-BareillyRampur belt was most vulnerable to terror modules. It was corroborated after the security agencies busted the biggest Harkat module run by Ulfat Hussain in Moradabad and made biggest recovery of lethal explosives and arms in 2003. The state police never followed the vital leads and ended up packing the case.

Worse is that the UP police are totally dependent on the central agencies. If they worked on any case on their own, they arrested people randomly to escape political compulsions. In case of the first fidayeen attack at Ayodhya, the UP police claimed to arrest Lashkar operatives. They were actually arrested by the Delhi Police.

- haidernaqvi@hindustantimes.com