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Are
temples at Kashi & Mathura next..?
Romeet
K WATT
Two men understood to be the associates of the
Lashkar-eToiba (LeT) stuck terror inside the Akshardham temple for
about 12 hours – killing 36 and injuring over 70 in an attack that
has taken place, seven months after the Godhra train tragedy - 60
Hindu pilgrims including many women and children on board the
Sabarmati Express were burn alive by an unruly mob of Muslim
fanatics - and the post Godhra carnage. An attack that had all the
hallmarks of the earlier terrorist strike on the Indian parliament
and J&K legislative assembly has once again sent shivers down
the Indian establishment who despite tall claims has been unable to
curb the menace of terrorism.
No
crime can be more culpable than the gratuitous killings of innocents
engaged in worship. The killing took place despite several reports
by the Intelligence agencies including a report made after Delhi
police unearthed in August a LeT plot to assassinate Chief Minister
Narendra Modi, VHP leader Praveen Togadia, and other Sang leaders.
Super-cop K P S Gill had also proclaimed that the a terrorist
strikes in the western Indian state of Gujarat were likely but his
timely observation went disregarded, consequently the state
intelligence agencies and police forces were caught napping.
After
having botched in its design to arrest the electioneering process in
J&K the terrorists decided to train its guns on Gujarat to
retaliate the post Godra killings of Muslims. New Delhi is also of
the firm belief that this latest attack is handiwork of Pakistan who
was perturbed at the higher attendance in the first three phases of
the assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir The shameful attack on Hindu
devotees is unquestionably a Pakistan-inspired and executed
terrorist attack given that the ghastly killings took place just a
few weeks after Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf raised the
Gujarat issue at the United Nations to target Indian government for
what according him is its “Hindu bias”.
Given
the quantity and sort of ammunition on the two terrorists, they
appear well-trained and are believed to the members of LeT. The
Gujarat riots, media reports suggest, came as a fodder for Lashkar
chief Hafeez Sayeed who has been using it in his speeches following the
crack down in Pakistan. He has reportedly urged his dedicated cadres
to move towards the south to seek revenge. Intelligence analysts
firmly accept as true that their weapons and strategy all point
towards Lashkar’s suicide squads. JeM lead by Maulana Masood Azhar
is a Gujarati on the other side of the border and highly placed
sources in New Delhi have confirmed that the modus operandi is of
Lashkar but men could be from Jaish.
Following
the terrorist attacks in Akshardham temple the Uttar Pradesh
government under strict advice from the Home Ministry rushed
additional police force and para-military forces to Ayodhya, Kashi
and Mathura - three major holy towns in the state -
to thwart any attempts by Jehadi forces to carry out fiyadeen
attacks. In a pattern that has been imminent since early eighties
when scores of temples were desecrated in Kashmir, the focus has now
shifted to other parts of the country where Hindu temples are being
targeted and Hindu devotees killed in cold blood. The attack on the
famous Raghunath temple, in Jammu and a serious of attacks on the
annual holy Ambarnath pilgrimage in Kashmir has validated the
obvious – Jehadi forces are under firm instruction from their
controllers, the ISI, to
carry out sensational attacks on sacred Hindu sites.
According
to a credible report available with the National Human Rights
Commission (NHRC), militants damaged 127 temples in the
Valley between 1986 and 1992; 32 temples being destroyed by the
Kashmiri militants within 48 hours of the demolition of the disputed
structure in Ayodhya on December 6, 1992. “The maximum number of
47 temples were vandalized and damaged in February 1986, followed by
44 in 1992. Of these, the maximum, 72 temples were vandalized in
Anantnag, the rest in Srinagar, Baramulla, Kupwara, Badgam and
Shopian,” the report says. The report further confirms that temple
lands had been usurped and the idols damaged by explosions and some
were destroyed in rocket and grenade attacks.
With a resolute support from Islamabad, the Jehadi forces are
believed to carry on with their tirade against Hindu religion by
selectively attacking the key Hindu holy places across the length
and breadth of the country. And New Delhi has to do better than the poetic rhetoric of Prime Minister Vajpayee to
placate the majority community in India. Even after the passing of
laws like POTA, India not been able to curb the threat of terrorism,
which instead of being on decline is spreading to new parts of the
county. By not able to safeguard the lives of its citizens, NDA
government at the center has made India a laughing stock in the eyes
of the world community, and every time something extreme occurs,
they keep running to Uncle Sam for assistance.
In
sharp contrast to India’s rhetoric’s, Washington has avenged the
killing of over 7000 people killed in World Trade Center and
Pentagon attacks, by its swift and prompt action in Afghanistan,
which brought the downfall of the Taliban and has put Al Qaida on
the run for all times to come. On the other hand New Delhi has shown
its inability to apprehend even the prime accused in the Bombay
serial blasts, leave aside the terrorists responsible for the
hijacking of IC 814 Indian Airlines flight.
It
is time for India to leave rhetoric aside and face Pakistan with all
its might and fury and tell the world community that we are capable
of crippling the nerve centers of terrorism single-handedly. And
that we will not rest till Pakistan puts to stop cross-border
terrorism it has unleashed upon this country. The minority community
in India also has to address this fundamental question: Why
one community alone earns the notoriety of being terrorist’s
world-wide?
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