Heartland strikes

The first and distinct aspect of the Uttar Pradesh blasts was the careful coordination 8212; within a few minutes of each other 8212; with which they were done. Simultaneous strikes of this kind are not new, of course. Fifteen years ago, Bombay saw 13 discrete and deadly explosions rip through the city. But Friday8217;s five coordinated bomb attacks drew a larger arc: the three cities of Varanasi, Faizabad and Lucknow. This is evidence of the spread and support that the perpetrators appear to have.

The other aspect about the blasts was their location. It was the courts that were targeted this time, rather than temples or railway facilities. This may seem to give credence to the theory that the strikes were in retaliation of the refusal of lawyers in the state to defend those incarcerated for terrorist crimes. While this could be a probable explanation, experience should tell us that nothing can be presumed when incidents of this kind take place. Until every piece in the jigsaw is assembled through a combination of painstaking investigation and careful scrutiny, there can be no place for facile surmises or amateur sleuthing. While developments like the recent detention of members of an alleged Jaish-e-Mohammed module who evidently had plans to abduct Rahul Gandhi or the similarity that the bombs in the latest instance had with those used in the Hyderabad blasts, need to be taken into close consideration, every terror attack by its very nature has its own set of causative factors and circumstances. This demands meticulous investigating, not freelance theorising.

Incidents of this kind need a unified response but they invariably lead to an orgy of finger-pointing. UP Chief Minister Mayawati8217;s first response was to call a press conference and shrug off all responsibility. The 8220;central agencies8221; did not provide us with the requisite intelligence, she said. The fact is that there has been enough developments in her own backyard which should have put her state police and intelligence agencies on alert. Just six months ago the Railway Police had discovered a large cache of explosives in the Faizabad railway station. The country is too large and too vulnerable to be secured by a few agencies that bear the word 8216;central8217; to their names. National security demands national effort and the vigilance of every citizen.