A community gets punished for other’s acts

The present terrorism history of India may be split into two periods: pre-Hemant Karkare and post-Hemant Karkare, writes Humra Quraishi

This latest book by the former top cop of Maharashtra, SM Mushrif, is laced with facts and figures and factors related to the bomb blasts taking place in the country in these recent years. To quote Mushrif from the introduction to his book — “In this book, I have attempted to chart out the erratic journey of terrorism in India, especially since 2002. That started in the name of ‘Muslim terrorism.’ There had been many swerves and curves on the way with the needle of suspicion shifting off and on. But between-the-line reading of scores of judgements of bomb blast cases and of newspaper reports of the relevant period prompted me to point the finger unhesitatingly at Brahminists.”

He goes on state, “The terrorism history of India in the 21st century is apt to be divided in two periods: pre-Hemant Karkare and post-Hemant Karkare. Before the Maharashtra Terrorism Squad(ATS) chief Hemant Karkare appeared on the scene, it was all about ‘Muslim terrorism’, barring only the self-revealed Nanded (Maharashtra) blast case of 2006 involving the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS ) and Bajrang Dal terrorists which however, was treated as a one –off case and promptly relegated to oblivion.”

With that take off, Mushrif focuses on the very turning point — “Prior to Karkare the pattern of bomb blasts and their investigations was set. Brahminist organizations like the Abhinav Bharat, RSS, Bajrang Dal, Jai Vande Mataram would carry out bomb blasts in important cities across the country and the Intelligence Bureau (IB) with the help of the ever-compliant media would promptly blame them on Muslims. The State anti-terrorism squads, which were at the beck and call of the IB, would implicate innocent Muslim boys in the cases and the Brahminist elements in the media would give wide publicity to the stories trotted out by the IB and State anti-terrorism squads, thus creating an impression that all blasts were being carried out by Muslims. What was more, they were successful in convincing the general public that the blasts were the result of Muslim reaction to the Babri Masjid demolition and the 2002 Gujarat carnage; so much so that even some Muslims and secularists started believing that the blasts could be the handiwork of some highly radicalized Muslim boys.

“This pattern continued till 2008. In September that year a bomb blast took place at Malegaon (Maharashtra). The ATS chief, Hemant Karkare, whilst investigating the case refused to obey the IB’s diktat. He carried out the investigation independently and honestly and exposed the Brahminists’ nationwide anti-national conspiracy.He did not stop at that. He made up his mind to get to the root of it, bust the plot completely and show to the world the face of Brahminist terrorism.”

In his this latest book Mushrif has focused on bomb blast cases like the serial blasts in Mumbai trains, German Bakery, Aurangabad Arms Haul, the explosions in Hyderabad’s Dilsukhnagar, the Muhammadiya Mosque blast in Parbhani and the Makkah Masjid blast…The stand that he takes is that the bomb blasts since 2002 were the handiwork of saffron terrorists but colluding agencies picked up Muslims, fabricated cases against them and threw them into jails… “The RSS, Abhinav Bharat, Bajrang Dal and Jai Vande Matram, executed umpteen terror attacks but government agencies like Intelligence Bureau, NIA and ATS, with the help of people in government and saffron sympathisers in the media, erased proofs and implicated innocent Muslims in these cases….The agencies covered up important proofs, did not investigate vital clues and failed to present important eyewitnesses in courts. Courts acquitted some of the victims after they spent long years in jails but they received no compensation and those who framed and incriminated them were never held to account.”

In fact, Mushrif’s two previous books ‘Who Killed Karkare?’ and also ‘26/11 Probe: Why Judiciary Also Failed?’ had brought into focus several hitting facts related to terrorism and terror attacks in the country, but the establishment, for obvious reasons, did not even bother to react to this former IG Police ‘s startling findings.

 

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