Pune blasts: Mind the message; it could have been disastrous

Four blasts in the space of one hour. It does not matter whether these were low intensity explosions. Things could have gone worse. The question for all concerned should be what if those were high intensity blasts? The pictures of the 2010 German Bakery blast are still fresh in the nation’s collective memory. Seventeen people, including foreigners, were killed in the incident and more than 60 injured. The pictures from today’s blasts on or close to Jangli Maharaj Road from the same city could have been similar. The police would like to play down the blasts as the handiwork of mischief-makers. In the absence of clarity we should trust them. Still the synchronisation part in the explosions is disconcerting. Local mischief-mongers are not expected to plant bombs in four different locations—the fifth one was diffused, according to media reports—with such meticulousness. It requires some degree of expertise. Even if they indeed are the people involved, it does not show the police in good light. [caption id=“attachment_400947” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Policemen cordon off an area after a blast in Pune on Wednesday. Four low-intensity bomb blasts in quick succession shook the city in the evening injuring at least two people. PTI [/caption] The important issue here is things could have been disastrous. According to sources, wires connected with watches and detonators have been recovered from spots. It reveals some amount of planning. Union home secretary RK Singh said the terror angle could not be ruled out at the moment. The purpose of the blast was obviously not to cause large scale damage to life and property. It was supposed to be a warning, or a message from the perpetrators. The new Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde was supposed to visit the city today. Was it a warning to him from the terror operatives active in the region? Even if it was not, he and others involved in the safety of the people of the country should find one. The blasts reveal that Pune continues to remain a soft target for terrorists. Also, these expose that the preventive measures against such activities remain inadequate. Today’s explosions reveal that the Karachi project—a plan hatched in Karachi by the terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba to destabilise India through India-based terrorist organisations such as Indian Mujahideen—could still be in operation in India. There has been a temporary lull in terrorist activities in the country after the US military operations in the Af-Pak region which has hit the network of terrorist outfits in the region hard. But this should be no reason for India to drop guard. There has been ample evidence in recent times that there are several sleeper cells of the Indian Mujahideen across the country. The reminder has been arriving for the Indian security agencies at regular intervals – the Pune blast of 2010 and the Mumbai blast of July last year being the latest examples. The confession of Syed Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal, an accused in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks who was extradited recently from Saudi Arabia brings out the discomforting truth that youths from India are still being sent across the border for terrorist training and exported back. Home Minister Shinde should consider this as a message for him. As the successor of P Chidambaram, he has large shoes to fill. Chidambaram was known to be tough on terror and was at least in the process of streamlining the country’s response to terror from across the border by transforming the security architecture. Shinde needs to keep the good work going. As home minister his abilities will be severely tested. The welcome message has come from Pune.