Despite frenetic action being reported everyday, following the chance arrest of two militants by the Honnali police and more subsequent arrests for questioning, those who are in the know of things don’t believe that the situation is all that alarming. But, there is no room for complacency either.

A senior intelligence officer points out that the media, in its enthusiasm to report on the “sensational developments” might be missing the forest for the trees. “There is a wide difference between terror modules which are well-entrenched and the activities of a few misguided elements. What we are seeing in Karnataka now is mostly of the latter kind.”

The authorities do not discount the fact that in several pockets of Karnataka there are activists and sympathisers of the banned Students’ Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and some who are affiliated to organisations like Lashkar-e-Toiba. A majority of them have joined the “cause” as a reaction to certain incidents of perceived injustice to them or their community.

Riazuddin Naser, who was picked up along with Asadulla Abubakar by the Honnali police recently, is a typical example. Naser’s father has been arrested by the Gujarat police in connection with former Gujarat minister Hiren Pandya’s murder case. He has been in police custody since April 2005 and according to Naser’s family, the incident has deeply “disturbed” Naser.

The police investigations seemingly reveals that Naser had undergone terrorist training in Pakistan and come back to India in May last year and was in the process of establishing a “network.” 

The backward regions of Bellary, Gulbarga, Bijapur and Bagalkot, which are close to Hyderabad and Mumbai, seem to have become the “catchment” areas because of less police surveillance and easy accessibility to other hideouts. “More than the local incidents, these groups are moved by what is happening in Iraq, Iran and other Arab countries, especially after 9/11. With unemployment on the rise, they are looking for outlets to express their frustration and anger,” said an officer.

The police suspect that Bangalore and Hyderabad, because of their economic prosperity and the concentration of the American MNCs in the IT industry have become the “natural targets.”  If Hyderabad has borne the brunt of terror attacks of late, the intelligence sleuths believe that the Honnali arrests may have prevented a major “incident” in Bangalore or other places in Karnataka. 

The State has been lucky in the sense that there have been only a handful of Islamic terror related incidents so far. There was a series of bomb blasts at the churches at Hubli, Bangalore and Bidar, besides Wadi (on the Andhra border) in the year 2000-01.  

Police successfully nabbed the accused, who were identified as those belonging to the little known organisation Deendar Anjuman. According to the police, their main motto was to create turbulence in society and trigger communal clashes in the state. In these cases, the trial of around 30 accused has been completed by a special court and the judgement is awaited.

The most shocking terror incident in Bangalore to date has been the attack on the Indian Institute of Sciences, Bangalore in December, 2005 in which a retired professor was killed. In the recent arrests, it is claimed that some of them might have been involved, though there is no conclusive proof as yet.

DGP K R Srinivasan says that the modus operandi of the militants was to move from one place to another depending on police vigilance. They will move to north Karnataka in case of tight vigil in the south and vice-versa. The intelligence is being stepped up by opening more branches in the City and all the districts of north Karnataka.

(Inputs from SS Vattam/ Raju S Vijapur)