TERRORISM IN INDIA

TERRORISM IN INDIA(PART ONE)

• Terrorism in India is primarily attributable to Islamic, Hindu, Sikh, Christian and Naxalite radical movements.
• long term terrorist activities today are Jammu and Kashmir, Mumbai, Central India (Naxalism) and Seven Sister States (independence and autonomy movements).
• Punjab insurgency led to militant activities in the Indian state of Punjab as well as the national capital Delhi.

Mumbai

·        Mumbai has been the most preferred target for most terrorist organizations, primarily the separatist forces from Kashmir. Over the past few years a series of attacks including explosions in local trains in July 2006, to the most recent and unprecedented attacks of 26 November, 2008, where two of the prime hotels and another building, in south Mumbai, were sieged.

Terrorist attacks in Mumbai include:*

• 12 March 1993 - Series of 13 bombs go off killing 257
• 6 December 2002 - Bomb goes off in a bus in Ghatkopar killing 2
• 27 January 2003 - Bomb goes off on a bicycle in Vile Parle killing 1
• 14 March 2003 - Bomb goes off in a train in Mulund killing 10
• 28 July 2003 - Bomb goes off in a bus in Ghatkopar killing 4
• 25 August 2003 - Two Bombs go off in cars near the Gateway of India and Zaveri Bazaar killing 50
• 11 July 2006 - Series of seven bombs go off in trains killing 209
• 26 November 2008 to 29 November 2008 - Coordinated series of attacks killing at least 172.

• Armed insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir killed tens of thousands till date.

Bihar

• Poor governance and the law and order system in Bihar have helped increase the menace caused by the militias.
• The Ranvir Sena is a militia of forward caste land owners which is taking on the might of powerful Naxalites in the area.
• The state police is ill equipped to take on the AK-47, AK-56 of the militants with their vintage 303 rifles.
• Communist groups like CPI-ML, MCC and People's War took advantage of this and instigated the low caste people to take up arms against establishment which was seen as a tool in the hands of rich.
• There have been arrests in various parts of the country, particularly those made by the Delhi and Mumbai police in the recent past, indicating that extremist/terrorist outfits have been spreading their networks in this State.

Punjab

• During 1970s, the Indian Green Revolution brought increased economic prosperity for the Sikh community in Punjab.
• The insurgency intensified during 1980s when the movement turned violent and the name Khalistan resurfaced and sought independence from the Indian Union.
• Led by Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale who , though not in favor in the creation of Khalistan but also was not against it, began using militancy to stress the movement's demands.
• In 1984, Operation Blue Star was conducted by the Indian government to stem out the movement.
• Indira Gandhi, India's then prime minister, ordered the military to storm the temple, who eventually had to use tanks, helicopter gunships, artillery and chemical weapons.
• In doing so, it damaged some portions of the Akal Takht, the Sikh Reference Library and some damaged to the Golden Temple itself.
• During same year, the assassination of Indira Gandhi by two Sikh bodyguards, believed to be driven by the Golden Temple affair, resulted in widespread anti-Sikh riots, especially in New Delhi.
• Following Operation Black Thunder in 1988, Punjab Police, first under Julio Ribeiro and then under KPS Gill, together with the Indian Army eventually succeeded in pushing the movement underground.
• In 1985, Sikh terrorists bombed an Air India flight from Canada to India, killing all 329 people on board Air India Flight 182.
• The ending of Sikh militancy and the desire for a Khalistan catalyzed when the then-Prime Minister of Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto handed all intelligence material concerning Punjab militancy to the Indian government, as a goodwill gesture.
• organisations include Babbar Khalsa International, Khalistan Commando Force, Khalistan Liberation Force and Khalistan Zindabad Force.