The manner of the current investigation by the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) ofthe Mumbai Police into an explosion at Malegaon in Maharashtra on September 30,2008, which mainly targeted and killed some local Muslims should be a matter ofconcern to all right-thinking Indians.
Large sections of the Muslims, the anti-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) politicalclass and the so-called secular elements in the Hindu community, which lose noopportunity to demonise the Hindu nationalists and the BJP in order to win theapplause of the minorities and project themselves as liberals, have used theinvestigation to divert attention away from the hundreds of innocent civilianskilled by the jihadi terrorists, many of them trained and assisted by theintelligence agencies of Pakistan and Bangladesh and inspired by the pan-Islamicideology of Al Qaeda and its International Islamic Front (IIF).
They look upon the leaks from the ATS-- many of them based on narco-analysis ofdubious investigation and evidentiary value-- as a pre-election Godsend in theircampaign to project the Muslims as more sinned against than sinning and thenationalist-minded Hindus, who call for strong action against the jihaditerrorists, as chauvinists and Fascists.
This, despite the fact that resort to narco-analysis --which was frequentlyresorted to by Hitler's Nazis and Stalin's KGB to obtain confessions frompolitical dissidents-- has stood condemned in the rest of the civilised world.Many of the thousands of political dissidents, who were sent to the Gulag andthe firing squads by Stalin, were tried and convicted on the basis of narco-analysis.
The Wikipedia says as follows of narco-analysis:
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"Narco Analysis Test or Narco Test: This refers to the practice of administering barbiturates or certain other chemical substances, most often Pentothal Sodium, to lower a subject's inhibitions, in the hope that the subject will more freely share information and feelings. The term Narco Analysis was coined by Horseley. Narco analysis first reached the mainstream in 1922, when Robert House, a Texas obstetrician used the drug scopolamine on two prisoners. Since then narco testing has become largely discredited in most democratic states, including the United States and Britain. There is a vast body of literature calling into question its ability to yield legal truth. Additionally, narcoanalysis has serious legal and ethical implications."
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Dr. Chandrasekhar, the legendary Indian forensic science expert, who played ahighly-acclaimed role in the successful investigation and prosecution of theLTTE conspirators involved in the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, has been one ofthe strongest critics of the police in some Indian states resorting to narco-analysis,which is not a scientific method of investigation. In many countries of theworld narco-analysis is viewed as a political tool and not a scientific tool.
On the basis of statements and remarks made by the suspects under the influenceof drugs, which induce a state of semi-consciousness, large sections of theHindu community have been sought to be demonised, the army has been unwittinglystigmatised and attention has been sought to be diverted from the investigationinto acts of jihadi terrorism and from enquiries to establish the full extent ofthe so-called Indian Mujahideen iceberg.
I am proud to have been the first analyst to have drawn attention on October2, 2008, to the fact that the explosions of September 30 at Malegaon andModasa in Gujarat did not gel with the explosions carried out in other parts ofIndia by the jihadi terrorists. I was the first to have suggested that we shouldthoroughly investigate the suspected involvement of some Hindus in these blastsin order to gain the trust of the Muslim community and remove the misgivings intheir mind about the fairness of the Police. I was the first to have suggestedin a TV interview that if the Malegaon investigation warranted a re-visit tosome of the past investigations into terrorist strikes in which Muslims were themain targets, the Police should not hesitate to do so.
I applauded the Mumbai ATS, when they started the investigation into thesuspected involvement of some Hindus in the Malegaon blasts, but I have beengreatly concerned over the manner in which their investigation--instead ofremaining professional and scientific-- has taken what large sections of theHindu majority of this country will view as a politically motivated direction.Some of the media leaks attributed to the Mumbai ATS make one think that the ATShas--wittingly or unwittingly-- started playing to the so-called secularists'gallery.
So many obvious questions, which should have been asked by objectiveopinion-makers, have not been asked. One of the suspects is alleged to have lenther motor-cycle to the perpetrators. Can one think of any instance in the recenthistory of terrorism in which a terrorist-suspect created evidence againsthimself or herself by using his or her own vehicle for planting an improvisedexplosive device (IED)?
A private military school, which coaches aspirants to a career in the ArmedForces, has been sought to be condemned on the ground that some of the suspectsheld a meeting in its premises. What is important is, what was the purpose ofthe meeting? Was it to plan specific acts of terrorism or was it merely todiscuss how to counter anti-national jihadi terrorism? Innumerable meetings andseminars are held every year in prestigious training institutions of theGovernment to discuss, inter alia, appropriate strategies against jihaditerrorism, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Very often, the speakers call for strongretaliatory attacks against the terrorist organisations, Pakistan andBangladesh? Are they to be viewed as instigators of terrorism and are ourtraining institutions to be criticised for holding such discussions?
We are now told that the explosions in the Samjhauta Express in the beginning oflast year were also carried out by some Hindus with the help of RDX explosivesallegedly supplied by a serving Army officer, who is presently underinvestigation.
I had written as follows on the Samjhauta Express blasts on February20, 2007:
"The blasts on the Delhi-Attari Samjhauta Express (Peace Express) on the night of February 18, 2007, are remarkable for the success as well as the failures of the terrorists. Their diabolic success is evident from the fact that two of the IEDs, reportedly attached to bottles containing incendiary material, functioned without a mishap, causing a carnage in which 67 passengers--mostly Indian and Pakistani Muslims--perished. Their surprising failure is evident from the fact that at least a half of their IEDs failed to explode and has been recovered by the railway authorities. According to some reports, they had planted a total of five IEDs of which three failed to function. According to others, they had planted four IEDs, of which two failed. So many failed IEDs should normally be a surprise in the case of well-trained, clued-up and experienced terrorists. The failures of the perpetrators of Deewana could indicate a possibility--remote at present-- that they were new to this business of terrorism--either new recruits of old and well-established organisations or new recruits of new organisations. A systematic follow-up of the forensic trail left by them should help in determining their identity in course of time."
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The Delhi police, who investigated the blasts, did not say anything about theuse of RDX explosives. From their briefings, it appeared that incendiary devicesand not explosive devices were used in the Samjhauta Express. That was also theconclusion of many Western experts, including of STRATFOR, the well-known USanalysis organisation. If the Delhi police knew at that time that RDX was used,did they try to find out the source of the explosive? If not, why not?
If what the public is told now--on the basis of the leaks from the Mumbai ATS--is correct, then what the Delhi Police told the public in February, 2007, waswrong. and vice versa.
The Mumbai ATS should investigate the blasts thoroughly and need not hesitate tohave a second look at the Samjhauta Express explosions, but they should do it ina professional manner, and not in a manner that adds to suspicions that theinvestigation has taken a pre-election political turn-- with the objective beingto fix the Hindu nationalists and not to fix the terrorists.
I have written and spoken repeatedly about the spreading Muslim anger againstwhat many Muslims look upon as the unfairness of the Indian criminal justicesystem against the Muslims. I have equally written and spoken frequently aboutthe spreading Hindu anger against the government and the so-called secularistsover the failure to act strongly against the jihadi terrorists.
One should be careful to see that the manner of investigation by the ATS doesnot add to the Hindu anger and lead to a situation similar to what had happenedin Northern Ireland where elements from the Protestant community took to armsand terrorism against the Catholics due to perceptions that the government wasnot doing enough to protect them from the perpetrators of violence from theCatholic community.
This may please be read in continuation of my earlier article titled HindutvaTerror?
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B. Raman is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. ofIndia, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topicval Studies,Chennai.
