From the 1985 Air India bombings to 2007 Samjhauta Blasts, Acts of Terror need to be Tackled whichever the Ideology that Legitimises Them
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Image: Rajnish Katyal/HT
As we gear up in remembrance of those who died in the Air India bombings on June 23, 1985, a few days from now, the question that should be bothering everyone is that what has really been learnt from the worst attack in the history of aviation terror before 9/11?
The Air India bombings had left 331 people dead. While 329 people died in the blast aboard Air India Flight 182 above the Irish Sea, two baggage handlers died at the Narita Airport.
The two suitcase bombs used in the crime originated from Vancouver and were intended to be used against Air India flights heading to India from different routes.
The bombings were blamed on Sikh separatists seeking revenge from the Indian government for the ugly political events of 1984. The Indian army had invaded the Golden Temple Complex, the holiest Sikh shrine in Amritsar to flush out militants who had fortified the place of worship in June 1984. The military operation had left many people dead and the buildings inside the temple complex devastated.
That year, the Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated in a fit of rage by her Sikh bodyguards as a result of which anti Sikh pogrom was orchestrated by the leaders of Indira Gandhi's Congress party.
The Air India investigation has led to only one conviction of Inderjit Singh Reyat who was instrumental in making the explosive devices. The prime suspect and the ring leader of the conspiracy Talwinder Singh Parmar had died at the hands of the Indian police in 1992 under suspicious circumstances.
Parmar was a Canadian citizen and had traveled back to India to pursue armed struggle for a Sikh homeland when he was eliminated in a staged shootout, a practice that was commonly used by the Punjab police to finish off the Sikh extremists to pocket rewards and achieve quick results. This policy had partly contributed to the end of armed insurgency that was started by Sikh militants in mid 1980s and had lasted until mid 1990s.
As against the excessive force used by the Indian state to crush Sikh militancy, the police and the intelligence have generally been soft towards terrorism spread by the supporters of Hindu theocracy.
This is despite the fact that India claims to be a secular democracy. It is since the early 2000s, that the trend of bombing Muslim targets by the ultra Hindu nationalists who want to turn India into a Hindu state has picked up and gained momentum, although they had earlier, always been active and mostly been involved in rioting and mob violence against religious minorities (Gujarat 2002 pogrom being the ultimate example).
Whereas, any bomb blast during this period would quickly be blamed on the Muslim and Sikh extremists by the police and the intelligence, it is thanks to some honest investigators, open to investigate sans the blinkers of prejudice, who actually looked into other possibilities and succeeded in smashing a terror network operated by the Hindu extremists.
India blames Pakistan for sponsoring Sikh and Muslim extremists, whereas Pakistan blames India for aiding and abetting Baluch separatists. Indeed, the Pakistani agents have been supporting the Sikh and Muslim extremists in carrying out bombings in India.
These investigations revealed that they wanted to settle scores by indulging in retaliatory bombing attacks against Muslims. Ironically, in some of these cases they disguised themselves as Muslims to carry out the attacks so that the Hindus do not become suspects and the police and the intelligence consumed by a pervasive Islamophobia, too, never really tried to see how and why Muslim extremists would be targeting their own people.
The year 2007 witnessed series of such bombings, where Muslim mosques and localities were targeted. As part of this pattern, a terror attack with major ramifications occurred in February that year when the Samjhauta Rail Express was bombed leaving 68 people dead. The rail service was started to connect India and Pakistan.
A majority of those killed in the attack were Pakistani Muslims who were returning to their country after seeing their relatives in India. In fact, India and Pakistan used to be one before 1947. The two countries were divided on religious lines. While Pakistan became an Islamic republic India chose to remain a secular state in spite of the fact that it is a Hindu dominated nation. The Hindu supremacists have, since then, been on a publicly declared project to India into a Hindu state.
They (Hindutva supremacists) have been involved in the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi in 1948. Gandhi was opposed to the religious partition of India and spoke vehemently against violence against Muslims by the Hindu extremists. Those involved in Samjhauta Rail episode follow the principles of the killers of Gandhi.
Since the time of division of India and Pakistan, an atmosphere of mistrust has prevailed between the two countries which have even turned to two major wars in 1965 and 1971. The two sides continue to accuse each other of creating disturbances in their respective countries.
India blames Pakistan for sponsoring Sikh and Muslim extremists, whereas Pakistan blames India for aiding and abetting Baluch separatists. Indeed, the Pakistani agents have been supporting the Sikh and Muslim extremists in carrying out bombings in India.
Notably, the BJP government is known for its tough anti terror stance, but this is weakened or stands exposed when it comes to dealing with the terrorists from within their lot. It is pertinent to mention that the current Prime Minister Narendra Modi was seen in the company of one of the Samjhauta blast accused Swami Aseemanand in Gujarat where he was previously the Chief Minister.
So when the Samjhauta blast happened it was instantly blamed on Pakistan-based Islamic extremists. The Hindu extremists were never even seen as potential suspects even though they opposed the train service connecting India with a "traditional enemy".
In some other blasts that happened the same year, Muslim men were arrested as suspects and incarcerated in jails. Only later when it emerged that these blasts were the handiwork of the Hindu extremists, the Indian authorities had to face embarrassment.
The Hindu ‘nationalist’ (read supremacist) Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) which is currently in power was in the opposition at that time. The so called secular Congress government too tried to play down the involvement of Hindu extremists initially as it wanted to isolate Pakistan internationally for sponsoring terrorism. The truth however cannot and could not be buried. As the complicity of the Hindu extremists became apparent, the BJP reacted sharply and accused the Congress government of defaming the Hindu community.
It is therefore not surprising to see that under the present BJP government in India, those arrested for Samjhauta blast and similar attacks directed at Muslim community are getting a reprieve and back door amnesty. The charge sheet previously filed against them (Malegaon 2008 blasts) is being diluted and the investigators are not opposing bails being granted to those facing charges.
Notably, the BJP government is known for its tough anti terror stance, but this is weakened or stands exposed when it comes to dealing with the terrorists from within their lot. It is pertinent to mention that the current Prime Minister Narendra Modi was seen in the company of one of the Samjhauta blast accused Swami Aseemanand in Gujarat where he was previously the Chief Minister.
Aseemanand is an ascetic who ran a camp in Gujarat that worked aggressively to covert Christians into Hinduism. It was during Modi's tenure as chief minister that an anti Muslim massacre took place in 2002. Modi had also publicly opposed the arrests of Hindu extremists in connection with terrorism.
Nevertheless, it is also a question of constitutional duties of the investigators and prosecution who are expected to act impartially and follow the rule book. If the list of banned terror groups on the National Investigation Agency that is looking into these cases is any indication, no Hindu extremist group has been or is designated as terrorist organisation.
Only the Sikh and Muslim separatist groups and Maoists, besides groups representing armed movements by other sub nationalities within India appear on this list. Unlike Parmar and members of other minority terror groups who have been killed in staged police shootouts, the Hindu extremists enjoy state patronage.
The self styled critics of terrorism and violence who have always been much in the news have maintained a studied silence over the existence of terrorism in the name of Hindu nation.
In lasting and meaningful memory of those who died for no fault of theirs; whether they were Air India victims or those aboard Samjhauta Rail we need to question terrorism in all its forms.
Political forces that not only patronise terrorism and violence, but also breed them through their politics of bigotry need to be exposed, however inconvenient this may prove to the powers that be.
The Air India tragedy was a culmination of this dangerous game of dividing people on the basis of religion and terrorising a minority community. Under the BJP government this threat has grown has manifold as not only attacks on religious minorities have grown, rather those indulging in them are being openly shielded by a democratically elected government.
The Indian state that continues to point fingers at Pakistan or Canada and tells the world to stand up against terrorism, should first set its own house in order. Rather than seeing terrorism as a problem exported from outside, it needs to look also, inwards for enemies within. Pakistani agents and ISI only took advantage of the grievances of the minorities in India but they can never be blamed for creating circumstances that forced the extremists from these communities to take to the arms.
The Air India tragedy was a culmination of this dangerous game of dividing people on the basis of religion and terrorising a minority community. Under the BJP government this threat has grown has manifold as not only attacks on religious minorities have grown, rather those indulging in them are being openly shielded by a democratically elected government.