Thursday 14 November 2013

Give Us Our Daily Slingshots | Ashish Khetan


Over the past four years, our investigative agencies have arrested more than 100 IM members. This hasn’t halted its activities; new waves of recruits have filled the ranks. Recent blasts in Hyderabad, Bodh Gaya and Patna are evidence of the epidemic dimensions homegrown terror is taking. It goes without saying that, since most of these cases are sub judice, we must not reach any conclusions before the trials are completed. But the fact also remains that terror bombings have become an almost daily occurrence. Who is plotting these attacks, procuring explosive material and making and planting the bombs? What are the motives? What are the bombers trying to achieve? These questions are too relevant to the future of our democracy to be left to the courts alone to adjudicate on. Society in general and the political class in particular must confront them and seek out answers.


Of late, the media has widely covered the arrest and revelations made by IM operative Mohammed Ahmed Zarar, bet­ter known as Yasin Bhatkal. One telling detail, though, has not been told: a recurring theme in his interrogation report run­ning into 160-odd pages (of which the writer has a copy) is the spectre of communal riots and the excesses of rabid Hindutva organisations. Sample this, quoted verbatim from the NIA report, with its rather curious reference to slingshots:
Give Us Our Daily Slingshots | Ashish Khetan

No comments:

Post a Comment