Hunting Dawood

In their happiness over the conviction of some of the accused involved in theMumbai explosions of March 1993, the Indian Police and other security agenciesshould not forget  that the mastermind of this act of mass casualtyterrorism continues to live under the protection of the Pervez Musharraf regimein Pakistan. He, Tiger Memon and others enjoying the hospitality of thePakistani authorities have to be brought to justice.

It is unfortunate that the government of India headed by Prime MinisterManmohan Singh has not been articulating openly and vigorously the perfidy ofthe Musharraf regime in giving sanctuary and protection to Dawood Ibrahim, TigerMemon and eighteen others wanted for trial in India on charges of theirinvolvement in acts of terrorism such as killing hundreds of innocent civiliansthrough improvised explosive devices (IEDs), hijacking of aircraft etc.

Dawood Ibrahim has also to be interrogated by independent investigatorsoutside Pakistan on his links with A.Q.Khan, Pakistan's nuclear scientist, andhis role in the financing of Pakistan's clandestine procurement of militarynuclear material abroad and their transport to Pakistan and in setting up afactory in Malaysia through a Sri Lankan Muslim of Indian origin (Bukhary SeyedAbu Tahir) for the manufacture of centrifuges required for uranium enrichment.

By giving protection to Dawood Ibrahim in Pakistani territory, Musharraf hasbecome what is known in law as an accomplice after the fact in the trialrelating to the Mumbai explosions of March,1993. This has to be brought to thenotice of the UN Security Council, which is responsible for monitoring theimplementation by the member-countries  of the UN Security CouncilResolution No.1373 of 2001 against terrorism .

Our reluctance to keep the spotlight on the role of the Musharraf regime insponsoring international jihadi terrorism and its contempt for the UN SecurityCouncil Resolution has enabled Musharraf to escape responsibilitry for his sinsof commission and omission. In our over-anxiety for peace with Pakistan, our governments—whetherthe previous one headed by Shri Atal Behari Vajpayee or the present one headedby Dr Manmohan Singh—have failed to discharge their basic responsibility ofprotecting all of us from the continuing acts of jihadi terrorism from Pakistaniterritory. They have also repeatedly betrayed the memories of those killed bythe terrorists by failing to ensure that those responsible for the brutalkillings were brought to justice.

At least the previous government was talking about the role of Pakistan instrong language, though it did precious little by way of action. The present governmentneither talks nor acts. It follows a policy of see no evil, hear no evil, speakno evil vis-a-vis Pakistan and Musharraf. Unless the relatives of those killedin all jihadi terrorist strikes  and their supporters constitute a strongmovement of terrorism victim activism and confront our political leaders withthe danger of their losing the elections if they did not act against jihaditerrorism and Pakistan, they will continue to disregard public opinion andsentiments on this issue.

We saw how the victim activism movement in the US after 9/11 ensured that thegovernment and the Congress acted vigorously against international terrorism,held a thorough enquiry as to how 9/11 happened and took the necessary follow-upaction. Counter-terrorism has become the most important national security issuein the forthcoming Congressional elections in the US  and the candidatesseeking re-election  are being forced to show what they did againstterrorism during their tenure as members of the Congress. We have also seen howa vigorous victim activism movement has ensured that the enquiry into theblowing-up of the Kanishka aircraft of Air India in June,1985, by the BabbarKhalsa was re-opened.

Our political leaders take us for granted  and do not care for the livesof thousands of victims of jihadi terrorism because they think that publicmemory in India is short and that they can win elections with money and populistlollipops. We have to create a fear in their mind that their role in puttingdown terrorism would be the most important deciding factor in the elections.

I have previously written and spoken at interactions of the Observer ResearchFoundation (ORF) at New Delhi and Chennai on the need for a vigorous victimactivism movement, but no such movement has taken off the ground so far. We dohave a strong anti-terrorism movement in India, but our political leaders manageto see to it that its focus remains ensuring that the terrorists do not succeedin their objective of disturbing communal harmony and that the movement does notturn against the government and hold it accountable for its sins of commissionand omission. There is an urgent need for a strong victim activism movementdirected against the government and the political leaders.

B. Raman is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. ofIndia, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute for Topical Studies,Chennai