He put down his hat on the table and lit a cigarette. After grilling the accused for eight hours, he was barely able to get anything out of him. “Son of a ........,” he swore loudly. Outside his office the car was waiting for him to take him to his senior.

“What will I tell him? This man hasn’t opened his mouth, even with third degree.” The officer stubbed his cigarette and put on his cap. He was ready to leave. He knew the media would hound him with questions.

This was not the first time, the police officer had failed to get information from a terrorist, who they had arrested a few days back for planning attacks on key installations in Bangalore city. He was a prize catch for the police.

“They are very hard to crack. They just don’t speak. We have to use other ways to make them open up and win their confidence,” said the officer.

In the opinion of Dr Malini, forensic psychology expert, Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL), Bangalore, “Militants are mostly egocentric and introvert by nature. They don’t have much social contact and are unable to express themselves. They are very religious and god-fearing and come from good cultural background.”

She added that it is “very easy to influence a god-fearing mind in the name of religion. They are brainwashed completely to believe that they will kill for the sake of religion. They are told that for all this, they will get jannat (heaven),” said the psychologist.

In her experience as a forensic psychiatrist, Dr Malini has conducted several narco analysis tests in which truth serum is administered into the person and he speaks out in a state of uninhibition. “The terrorists whom I have tested, have confessed that their first initiation was during religious sermons.

They are provoked to sacrifice for the sake of religion. During their training, they become so focussed that they become insensitive to others, even their own families,” she added.

In his novel, Firdaus, K M Anees ul Haq, former deputy director general, DD and AIR says, “Jamait-e-Ulema-e-Hind, Jamate Islami and Tableeqi Jamaat and members of Muslim Personal Law Board, in their seminars and religious functions give provocative messages to the community that they have become impotent and are not fighting jehad for the formation of Hukumat-e-Illahia (Kingdom of Allah).

Though jehad in Islam means to struggle, to self purify, but they have contorted the meaning to kill others. Quite a few youth fall vulnerable to these messages and get into militant activities for the sake of jannat (heaven).

They are misguided to believe that they are doing good. This is not true because Islam does not talk of bloodshed unless in self defence. It clearly states Lakum Din-na-Kum Valiakum” (your faith is for you and my faith is for me).

“Most criminals indulge in crime for selfish reasons. They can even kill for two rupees. In this they are different from terrorists, who do it for the sake of religion. They are extremely religious people and are convinced that their mission of bloodshed and devastation is their only way to heaven,” Dr Malini said.

“They fear God but kill in His name. They spill human blood but are sensitive to a pin prick,” she adds. There are several studies on the human mind but what baffles psychiatrists is its vast and unexplained potential.

Holy warriors

*Imran alias Bilal, an alleged Laskar-e-Toiba militant, who was arrested in January 2007 by Bangalore City Crime Branch in Bangalore, for plotting terrorist attacks on the Vidhana Soudha, airport, Infosys and Wipro reportedly confessed that he was initiated into the world of terrorism at the age of 16.

He, along with other boys from Jammu and Kashmir, went to Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir, (PoK), where they were given military training to create terror in India.

“They are brainwashed to believe that Muslims in India have got a raw deal. They are shown video clippings of Babri Masjid demolition, Godhra carnage, Mumbai riots etc, and are given the task to seek vengeance against their wronged community,” said a police officer.

*Fahaad and Ali, the alleged Al Badr terrorists, who were arrested in Mysore late last year, for plotting terrorist attacks in Karnataka, confessed that they were told to take revenge for the wrongs committed on Muslims in India.

*The Mumbai train blast (July 2006) accused confessed that they took up militancy for jehad. “They were told Allah bestows his mercy on Jehadis,” said a forensic expert.

*Tareeq Dar, an alleged LeT terrorist, was arrested by Delhi police for his alleged involvement in the Delhi Sarojini Nagar market blast in November 2005. He reportedly confessed that he was given the agenda of creating terror in India.