Gujarat News

Between 2007 and 2008, when the Indian Mujahideen (IM), a group of banned Student Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) activists, with the help of the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and jehadi forces, carried out several bomb blasts across the country in what was virtually a declaration of a war on India, the nation was almost clueless about the invisible enemy. Even as the IM terrorists targeted various cities in Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Jaipur, the security forces didn't know what to do. Finally, the terrorists attacked Ahmedabad. And that proved to be the bane of the perpetrators.

 

In a record 20 days, the Gujarat Police cracked the case, and by the time the terrorists targeted Delhi again for the second time in a span of one year, they had found enough clues to pass them on to to their Delhi colleagues. It led to the Batla House encounter in September 2008 and the end of the IM's bloody game in the country. In the past decade, the Gujarat Police has succeeded in ensuring the conviction of 250 accused in terror-related cases.

After the arrest of almost 15 police personnel along with Gujarat minister of state for home Amit Shah in the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case, the Gujarat Police today stands demoralised. The force, once known for its expertise in dealing with terror from militant Wahhabi groups, is today in no position to repeat that feat. Two of the main actors in that historic cracking of the 2007-2008 blasts, Shah and Abhay Chudasama, are in jail now. And they are not the only ones accused of killing the gangster and languishing in jail. Three police officers, whose name struck terror in the hearts of he terrorists, DIG D.G. Vanzara, SP R.K. Pandian and DSP N.K. Amin, are also behind bars for almost three years now.
When Mohammad Abdul Khwaja, a HuJI terrorist actively involved in almost all the terror attacks in South India in the past seven years, was arrested a few months ago he told the Hyderabad Police that the Gujarat Anti-Terrorist squad was on their hit list because of its drive against militant Wahhabis. Indeed, it is to Vanzara's credit that no bomb blast had taken place in Gujarat for almost five years till he was arrested in 2007. The IM terrorists struck in July 2008. Says KPS Gill who brought terrorists to their knees in Punjab, "The actual truth in a police encounter is generally known to law enforcement agencies but still if they act contrarily then it affects the morale of security forces fighting terrorists." Not many amongst the non-political class would contest them.