Don’t blame the neighbours

: Foreign policy can figure prominently in the political calculations of terrorist groups. For instance, train bombings in Madrid on March 11, 2004 were cleverly timed to influence the Spanish elections. The Socialist party won an upset victory in the elections three days later, and replaced the Government of José María Aznar, and the new Socialist Prime Minister José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero kept his election promise of pulling 1,300 Spanish troops out of Iraq. Aznar had hoped that by blaming the Basque separatists, he would draw attention to his tough anti-terrorist stance at home, and away from his relations with George Bush. It backfired. The electorate did not like being politically manipulated by unproven charges being presented as facts.

Apparently Indian politicians don’t have to worry about such things, so they do not hold back on their speculation. Our wonderful democracy even allows our police officers to share their pet theories with the press. There are two such theories, substantially different, about the deadly Terror attacks in Assam.

Assam’s Home Department is playing it safe and has come up with a clever formulation: an “ULFA-jihadi hand” to imply a possible link between Bangladesh-based Harkat-ul-Jihad (HuJi) and ULFA. Our officials of course could not care less that the Bangladesh Foreign Office dismisses these allegations. Bangladesh pointed out that India offered no evidence that HuJi, an outlawed group based in that country, is involved; and went on to tell India that “this is no time for finger-pointing without proof.”

India is not Spain; but it is not the case that the shenanigans of our politicians and police officers have no consequences, though they may not have to pay for them as directly as did Aznar. Indian intelligence has a very bad track record with providing definitive proof of the involvement of any particular group in terror attacks. It certainly could not have done it within minutes of these unprecedented blasts.

... contd.