26/11 mastermind finally brought to justice

It seemed a hopeless task for several years, and yet the Modi 3.0 government persevered in its efforts at getting the 26/11 mastermind to India to face justice. Its success was based on hard work, whereas in contrast, the capture alive of Ajmal Kasab, one of the ISI-trained terrorists was a stroke of luck leavened by the bravery of police officer

, Tukaram Omble, who fell on the terrorist and refused to let go even after getting nearly 40 bullets pounded into him by Kasab. As a consequence of the capture of Kasab, the balloon of “Hindu terror” was punctured. Kasab himself, who was expecting to be killed and not captured, was wearing metal symbols worn by many Hindus, a touch of finesse by the ISI planners of the 26/11 attack as part of their effort to create the myth of “Hindu terror”. Unfortunately, some influential politicians in the ruling dispensation of that time, fell into the ISI trap and began propagating the ISI-manufactured untruth of Hindu terror. Had Kasab not been captured alive, that untruth would have been boosted substantially by its propagators. In contrast to the capture of Kasab, which was a lucky accident, the bringing to justice of Tawwahur Rana was the consequence of painstaking effort on the part of the National Investigation Agency. It needs to be added that both the Research & Analysis Wing of the Cabinet Secretariat as well as the Intelligence Bureau have done great service to the country, functioning that has been particularly marked since the advent of the Modi government in 2014. Much more collaboration has been taking place, a meshing of capabilities that is having an impact on the battlefield that is national security.

As a consequence of Rana being extradited to India, an outcome for which the Trump administration in the US played a key role, at last some of the networks controlled by the ISI in India will be exposed. Several such networks have been identified and eliminated during the past decade, although a few may still have escaped the dragnet. Through the questioning of Rana, several of these networks will also be rolled up. Intelligence sources at that time informed the present writer that the entire floor and room plans of the Trident hotel and Taj Mumbai, which ranks among the most iconic hotels of the world, were made available to ISI planners of the attack. As far as the attack on the Taj is concerned, we know that several on the staff of the Taj hotel displayed outstanding courage in their efforts at protecting guests from the terrorists, often at the risk or even sacrifice of their own lives. An unfortunate if inadvertent sidebar to the attack was the way in which television crews were allowed to come close to the Taj. The blow by blow detailing of the way the counter-terror commandos were operating, the way they entered, even the windows through which they gained access to inside the hotel, were accessed in real time by the ISI planners, who through their communications networks were able to inform the attackers, who thereupon waited in ambush. As a consequence, the lives of several of the commandos were put in jeopardy, and some were killed by the terrorists. Unlike in almost all past terror attacks in India, where only Hindus were the targets, the ISI planners got their terror groups to attack and kill foreigners. A separate attack was made on Chabad House, a Jewish site of prayers. As a consequence, after 26/11, the terror attack drew international attention to the reality of Pakistan being a terror hub. Yet to date, no country barring India has sanctioned those in Pakistan who are running terror factories. On the contrary, Islamabad, or more accurately Rawalpindi, has blithely continued its cosseting of terror groups, some of which are busily preparing for terror attacks in the Atlanticist countries. Rather than dismantle such terror networks, thus far these countries have looked the other way. In the 1980s, Moscow erred in not going after the sources of assistance to the Taliban in Pakistan. In the 1990s, President Clinton took the unwise route of refusing the offer of a partnership against terror by India and chose the arsonist, Pakistan, as the fire brigade to put out the flames. Not surprisingly, such a lack of common sense ensured that the terror factories in Pakistan continued, ultimately leading to the 9/11 terror attack in 2001. The cooperation extended by the Trump administration to India in the extradition of Tawwahur Rana ought not to be an isolated action but the precursor to a change in the approach of the Atlanticist countries towards the terror factories in Afghanistan.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is justly proud of being a tribune of peace in a world where conflicts are plentiful. Perhaps he needs also to be the tribune of a world free from the menace of terror. It is a reflection on the international community that there are countries that are member states of the United Nations who routinely use terror groups as part of their arsenal against countries which are their targets for such activities. A world where peace rather than war is the norm, as has been pointed out several times by the PM, would be ideal. Yet so would a world where acts of terror are absent. These are days when even going to a supermarket may prove life-threatening, should the establishment suffer a terror strike. Families are torn apart in the same way as they are by a kinetic war. Peace requires a complement of safety from terror, and perhaps PM Modi should take up the two issues. They are part of the same ideal fabric he seeks, which is why campaigning for a world without terror needs to go hand in hand with campaigning for peace in an era of war. Images such as the Prime Minister, sitting side by side with President Putin, declaring that this is the era of peace, not of war. Absence of terror is an essential component of such peace.