A prize catch

The arrest of one of the most wanted terrorists Abdul Karim Tunda on border with Nepal will reassure Indian masses that their Government and its agencies are alert to the movements of dreaded terrorists. But it should not lull authorities into a sense of complacency considering that Tunda, (so-called because he is handicapped having lost an arm while making bombs in Rajasthan in 1980s), is only a cog in the giant wheel of Pakistani terrorism. Of course, he played a role in the bomb blasts that have occurred over the years from Mumbai to Hyderabad, killing many people, but this man of many parts (bomb-maker, fund-raiser, motivator, and recruiter) associated chiefly with Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), carried out the orders of 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed.

However, if he spills the beans, the 70-year-old terrorist may well be able to focus international attention on how Pakistan is still harbouring and encouraging terrorists while seemingly joining world effort to eliminate the breed and while terrorists are killing its own people as mercilessly as those belonging to countries which are claimed to be their main targets.
Surely, the terrorists trying to cross over to India from the Line of Control in Kashmir would not be able even to attempt the infiltration without the active support of Pakistan authorities and army.

If Tunda is additionally a conduit for Dawood Ibrahim’s funds employed in destabilizing India, he should be able to tell our intelligence agencies who recipients of those funds in India are. India has had enough of such terrorists of its own origin and it is time they are dealt with sternly.

Another sinister dimension of Tunda’s operations is said to be assisting the Babbar Khalsa operatives holed up in Pakistan. This outfit has not been heard of much since the end of terrorism in Punjab towards the end of 1980. If Pakistan is playing host to its operatives, it only shows how sincere our western neighbor is in its protestations of peace and goodwill for India. It is hardly surprising that Tunda is close to all wanted terrorists based in Pakistan. But what Indian authorities need to explain meanwhile is how he “escaped” after the last time he had been arrested, and sneaked into Bangladesh.

Also, what prevents the National Investigating Agency (NIA) from revealing all the confessions of Headley to it? After all, that worthy had carried out a recce of Mumbai before the 26/11 mayhem. Did that supposed “double agent” give to our intelligence agencies the names of all terrorists operating against India whether from India or from Pakistan? If he did, why have the intelligence agencies not yet nabbed at least such of them as are in India? Surely, the taxpayer’s money is not meant to sustain agencies such as the IB and the CBI to fight each other. All this is, however, not to say that civil peace can be left entirely to intelligence agencies.

If the US has not suffered a major terrorist attack after 9/11, the credit should go mainly to the people of the US who have realized their vulnerability to terrorist attacks, and that eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. India (the Government and the people alike) is perhaps yet to wake up to that truth; otherwise, terrorists would not continue to cross into India from the Line of Control though in vain, thanks to our brave security forces.