Consider the broad facts. Seven to eight terrorist serial blasts occurred in Kashmir. Eight serial blasts occurred in Mumbai. Both on the same day. More than half a dozen victims died in Kashmir. Over a hundred died in Mumbai. The victims in Kashmir were mostly, if not exclusively, tourists. At the critical time the mobile phone system in Mumbai was jammed. And yet the Home Secretary was quoted saying that there was no connection between the terror in Kashmir and in Mumbai. How does he know? Was such synchronized terror in Kashmir and Mumbai pure coincidence? Can such planned and complex operations effected with military precision be conducted without the resources and planning of a very powerful organization?
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The Home Minister said that Mrs Sonia Gandhi had been informed. It’s good that even in this critical time the central government did not forget its priorities. The Kashmir government spokesmen said that the terrorist blasts occurred to divert attention from the PoK elections. Was any great attention being paid to those elections?
The Home Ministry might, just might, consider another possibility. In early November 2005 Mr Ghulam Nabhi Azad replaced Mufti Mohammed Sayeed as Chief Minister of Kashmir. The change could have been construed as a signal. The door could have been seen as irrevocably shut against any reconsideration of the Kashmir issue. A Congress Chief Minister opened up possibilities of the eventual discard of even Article 370. For the flagging fortunes of terrorists, this was like manna from heaven. It gave them an opportunity to drive a deep wedge between the people of Kashmir and the Indianstate.
On November 2, 2005, I wrote: "Just four days before Ghulam Nabhi Azad takes over as Chief Minister serial bomb blasts in a major terrorist attack have killed scores of shoppers in Delhi markets. Was this the work of anti-peace talks terrorists? If so, why now, and why in Delhi? Is this attack a message to Kashmiris: "See? India could not tolerate a Kashmir-based government. Delhi must directly rule Kashmir. So forget autonomy. Fight for separation. Now onward our attacks will be focused on India, not Kashmir!"
Could this be the start of something much bigger? In other words, not terrorism in Kashmir but a full-fledged terrorist war against India? If so, the elements that back the so-called jihadis are making their final desperate throw. If this conjecture is correct they might get much more than they bargained for.
