In a travel advisory on its Hebrew language web site, posted on December 13,2006, Israel's Foreign Ministry had said: "Within the framework of alQaeda's terror threats in India, there is now a concrete threat focusing on theGoa region where multitudes of visitors, including Israelis, gather... in lateDecember. Israel's Counter-Terrorism Authority has recommended that Israelicitizens stay away from sites in Goa popular with Westerners and Israelis overthe next few weeks."
On December 15, 2006, DEBKA,a well-known non-governmental Israeli think-tank, which disseminates informationand analyses relating to terrorism, posted the following comments on its website : "Information has reached Jerusalem that al Qaeda is in an advancedstage of preparing coordinated attacks on the big, end-of-year seasonal partiesheld by Western and Israeli tourists in the Indian province. Israeli travelersare advised to cancel their trips to Goa or at least stay away from the bigparties. Some 4,000 Israelis have booked flights to India for the winter season.They will be joining the thousands living there. A standing terror warning isstill in force for Egyptian Sinai and Turkey."
Before the Christmas and other holiday seasons, the Israeli authoritiesgenerally issue a general terrorism threat advisory for the benefit of Israelitourists traveling abroad. In the past, such advisories used to cover placessuch as Turkey and Egypt. The pre-Christmas advisory issued in December 2006,covered Goa too. The advisory received more than the normal attention because itcharacterised the threat as "concrete" and identified Al Qaeda as apossible source of the threat.
Ever since the terrorist strikes by the pro-Al Qaeda Jemmah Islamiya (JI) in theIndonesian tourist resort of Bali in October ,2002, and again in October, 2005,the Indian security agencies in their plans for strengthening physical securityhave been taking into account the vulnerability of the Indian tourisminfrastructure--and particularly in places such as Goa. A greater physicalsecurity alert is now maintained in places such as Goa, even in the absence ofspecific information of a planned terrorist strike.
There was a greater alert during 2006 following the reported arrest on March 11,2006, of Tarique Jalal alias Tarique Batlo, a Tehreek-ul-Mujahideen cadre, fromthe Margoa railway station. It was reported that one kg of RDX, two Russian-madehand-grenades, two electronic detonators, two cameras and a mobile phone wereseized from him. This was followed by the arrest on March 30, 2006, at Jelenabadin Gulbarga, Karnataka, of Shamim Ahmad, a suspected activist of theLashkar-e-Toiba (LET), who was reportedly a resident of Goa. An AK-47, two handgrenades, a mobile phone, maps of dams and power grid installations in AndhraPradesh, some audio-video cassettes and printed material in Urdu were reportedlyseized from him. These arrests indicated the possibility of the presence ofsleeper cells of Pakistani and Kashmiri jihadi terrorist organisations in Goa--notnecessarily for organising terrorist strikes in Goa itself, but for providingback-up support to jihadi terrorist strikes in other parts of India.
In the beginning of November, 2006, the Goa police reportedly soughtreinforcements of para-military forces to enable them to provide effectivesecurity during the International Film Festival at Goa and during the holidayseason. Their reported threat perceptions particularly related to the LET andthe Jaish-e-Mohammad (JEM), both Pakistani jihadi terrorist organisationsaligned with Al Qaeda in the International Islamic Front (IIF) formed by Osamabin Laden in 1998.
Media reports dated November 2, 2006, had quoted Shri D K Sawant,Superintendent of Police, North Goa, as saying: "There is no specificthreat to IFFI (the international film festival). The police department istaking major precautions as the (intelligence) agencies have indicated apossible threat of suicide bombing which can target pubs, Army camps and nuclearplants." He was referring to threat possibilities all over India and notspecifically in Goa.
While addressing the annual conference of the Directors-General of Policeorganised by the Intelligence Bureau at New Delhi on November 21, 2006, ShriShivraj Patil, the Indian Home Minister, who is, inter alia, responsible forcounter-terrorism, was reported to have stated that "India's criticalinfrastructure is under serious threat and it's the coastline that's facing theincreased threat perception. The coastal areas are coming under increased threatfrom groups like the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT). "While he did not refer topossible threats in Goa, subsequent media speculation talked of the possibilityof a threat of maritime terrorism directed at the Goa shipyard.
The possibility of a terrorist strike in Goa by pro-Al Qaeda elements fromPakistan and India has been receiving greater attention since 2006 in the wakeof the two arrests mentioned above and the Mumbai blasts of July, 2006, in whichabout 180 suburban train commuters were killed. The vulnerabilities of Goa tojihadi strikes arise from its attraction to Israeli and Western tourists andfrom the location of a shipyard there.
No major terrorist attacks have so far taken place in Goa. Nor were any attemptsmade. This does not, however, reduce its vulnerability. Goa has been constantlyin the minds of pro-Al Qaeda organisations. In their calculation, it is anattractive place for an act of reprisal terrorism against Israel just as Mombasawas in October,2002.
The fact that the jihadis continue to evince interest in Goa in their thinking,if not planning, for their future terrorist strikes has been highlighted by thereported interrogation of two terrorist suspects presently under the custody ofthe Karnataka Police. These are Riyazuddin Nasir alias Mohammad Ghouse ofHyderabad and Asadullah Abubaker of Hospet in Karnataka, both in their early20s. Nasir is reported to be a drop-out from an engineering college andAsadullah was a student of the Karnataka Institute of Medical Sciences in Hubli.Another student of the same Institute by name Mohammad Asif has also been pickedup by the Police for interrogation on the basis of the interrogation of Nasirand Asadullah.
Nasir comes from a family with jihadi connection. His father Maulana Naseruddinis presently in a jail in Gujarat facing trial in connection with his suspectedinvolvement in the murder of Haren Pandya, the Home Minister of Gujarat, inreprisal for the anti-Muslim incidents in Gujarat in 2002. The charge againsthis father relates to his role in motivating those who assassinated Pandya.
Interestingly, Nasir and Asadullah were initially picked up by a Head Constableof the Devangere District Police in Karnataka last month on suspicion of beingmembers of a gang of motor cycle thieves, who, they suspected, stole motorcycles in Karnataka and Goa and sold them. When they were produced before acourt by the Police for seeking police custody for further investigation, Nasirargued his own case for bail. It is stated that the Police were struck by hisintelligence, ability to articulate and knowledge of law and procedure. Theysuspected that he may not be just a motor-cycle thief. Further interrogation bythe Police brought out his links with the world of jihad and his training in atraining camp of the LET of Pakistan from May, 2006, to January, 2007. There isno indication so far of any Pakistani links in the case of Asadullah and Asif.
Nasir, who reportedly has the gift of the gab, has been bragging a lot of duringthe interrogation reminding one of Mohammad Afroz arrested by the Mumbai Policeafter 9/11, who claimed to have undergone flying training in Australia in orderto carry out in Australia a 9/11 type terrorist strike against Melbourne'sRialto Towers on behalf of Al Qaeda. Verification of his inflated claims did notcorroborate what he had stated. The Mumbai Police went to town with sensationalstories of having arrested an Indian Al Qaeda operative, who was planning aterrorist strike in Australia. Though the Indian intelligence agencies took hisclaims with a lot of salt and considered him to be a braggart and coneyed theirskepticism to the Mumbai Police, the latter kept feeding one sensational storyafter another to the media about his alleged Al Qaeda links. Their credibilitywas damaged when his claims were not corroborated by the Australian Police.
It could ultimately turn out that Nasir and Asadullah have been making similartall claims about their various plans to carry out terrorist strikes againstIsraeli and Western tourists in Goa and against American and other foreign ITcompanies in Bangalore. However, Nasir's claims have to be taken more seriouslythan those of Afroz because he is the son of a a known jihadi. If his claim ofhaving undergone training in Pakistan is proved correct, then it should be acause for concern. Nasir is reported to have admitted during the interrogationthat he was a regular reader of the articles on the activities of Pakistanijihadis appearing in the South Asia Terrorism Portal of New Delhi, a well-knownterrorism analysis web site. One has to look into the possibility that many ofthe names and other details which he has been rattling off might have beenpicked up by him from the web site and may not be from his personal knowledge.
While there is thus a need for caution while evaluating the statements andclaims of Nasir and his two associates, they should not be treated lightlyunless and until they are proved to be exaggerated. Presuming that whatever theyhave stated are factually correct, the following should be of concern:
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All the three members of the cell arrested so far are educated Indians. Thisbrings to mind the case of the two Indians from Karnataka--one an engineer andthe other a doctor-- who were involved in the attempted terrorist strikes inLondon and Glasgow in June last year.
The two Indians involved in the incidents in London and Glasgow and the threenow under interrogation in Karnataka seem to have been motivated not by anyanger against the government of India over issues such as Kashmir or thedemolition of the Babri Masjid or the anti-Muslim incidents in Gujarat, but byanger against Israel because of its policy towards the Palestinians and the USbecause of its invasion and occupation of Iraq.
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Even in the past, there were reports of the LET wanting to carry out aterrorist strike against IT companies in Bangalore, but its motive had nothingto do with Iraq. it was mainly interested in disrupting the Indian economy atthe instance of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). This is the firsttime one is coming across Indian jihadis motivated by their anger against the USpolicies in Iraq.
All the three of them seem to have had links with the Students' IslamicMovement of India (SIMI), which is in the process of undergoing transformationfrom a purely indigenous terrorist organisation into a pan-Islamic organisationidentifying itself with global jihadi causes. The police are searching for Adnan,a former regional convenor of the SIMI.
This may please be read in continuation of my earlier article, TheIndian Angle
(The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. ofIndia, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies,Chennai.)
