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This is an archive article published on September 16, 2008

Terrorists scaring people with everyday objects?

It seems psychologists have a different way of interpreting the mindsets of terrorists - three days after the blasts that rocked the national capital, they have come up with what appears to be a 'scaring' theory.

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It seems psychologists have a different way of interpreting the mindsets of terrorists – three days after the blasts that rocked the national capital, they have come up with what appears to be a ‘scaring’ theory.

According to them, the use of tiffin boxes, bins and bicycles to plant bombs actually points to the terrorists’ mindsets of scaring people with objects of everyday use.

“The tiffin box is used to carry food by everyone, be it a peon or a professor or a CEO of a company. When one sees images of bombs ripping apart these objects, a deep sense of fear sets in,” psychologist Dr Aruna Broota said.

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In the aftermath of such blast incidents, one may also experience the post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

“A person may undergo serious trauma and fear psychosis after he experiences an accident or a tragedy and he then becomes a recluse and abstains from returning to his normal life. A terrorist’s mindset is to scare people. Its like you look for food and you get a bomb,” Broota explained.

While Saturday’s blasts in New Delhi saw garbage bins being used at Central Park and Barakhamba Road in the city’s main shopping hub to plant bombs, the market at Greater Kailash saw bicycles as the bomb holders.

Agreed Virender Kumar, who volunteered to help blast victims at LNJP hospital: “Nowadays, whenever I see a garbage bin, a tiffin box or a bicycle parked at a desolate place, the first thing that crosses my mind is explosions and terror.”

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Another leading doctor corroborated the theory. “These items like tiffin boxes, bicycles and bins obviously are used to evade suspicion but they also propagate fear. The next time he comes across an object associated with the trauma he reacts hysterically,” psychiatrist Samir Parikh said.

Even former Intelligence Bureau (IB) official M K Dhar accepted the interpretation.

“The person, at times, may have hallucinations out of a particular phobia that varies from person to person. Terror minds use such objects to place bombs as they are the safest options and do not invite suspicion,” he said.

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