Advani and his party never loose an opportunity to exploit the issue of terrorism and insecurity in peoples' mind but they fail to look at their own record . The issues of national security shouldn't be used by any party for political gains.
Advani literally has the worst record as the union Home minister in containing terror related incidents . Kandahar fiasco was talked about earlier ( http://saynotoadvani.blogspot.com/2009/03/advani-and-kandahar-hijack-episode.html ) During his tenure J&K witnessed peak levels of terrorist violence, J&K assembly, Raghunath temple in Jammu, Indian parliament, Red Fort, Akshardham Temple in Ahmadabad and other high profile installations came under suicide attacks.
But the then opposition behaved responsibly and avoided politicising the terror. The spate of urban bombings in populated areas and market places began in 2003 when Mumbai was attacked by little known 'Gujarat Revenge Force'.
Over time, jehadist outfits located across the border achieved more sophistication and started picking up soft targets. The serial bomb blasts are undoubtedly meant to disturb communal peace and create fear psychosis among people. Should the political parties further the goal of jehadists through politicisation of terror?Do we need the blame game to start after every strike? Indian security establishment is beginning to deal with the terror threat and hopefully they will tackle this new face of terror -- urban bombings.
It has little to do with empty rhetoric of anyone claiming to be hard harder hardest against terror.
One shouldn't forget that the hate politics played by these very people in the past has aided the cause of jihadist propaganda machinery and recruitment of locals for carrying out terror strikes. Associating one whole community with terror and indulging in hate propaganda will take the nation anywhere?
*Major Terror attacks and mass killings in J&K between 1998 and Sep 11,2001
June 19, 1998: 25 at ChapnariJuly 28, 1998: 16 in two villages of Doda districtAugust 8, 1998: 35 at KalabanFebruary 20, 1999: 4 at Muraputta, 9 at Barlyara and 7 at BllalaJune 30, 1999: 15 in Anantnag districtJuly 19, 1999: 15 at LayataFebruary 28, 2000: 5 near QazigundMarch 20, 2000: 35 at ChatisinghporaAugust 1, 2000: 31 Amarnath Yatris at PahalgamAugust 1-2, 2000: 27 in Qazigund and AchabalAugust 2, 2000: 11 in Doda districtFebruary 3, 2001: 6 in Mahjoornagar in SrinagarFebruary 11, 2001: 15 in Kot-ChadwalMarch 2, 2001: 15 in ManjkoteMarch 17, 2001: 8 near Atholi in DodaJuly 21, 2001: 13 including 7 Amarnath pilgrims at SheshnagJuly 22, 2001: 12 in Cheerji and Tagood in Doda districtAugust 4, 2001: 15 in Ludder-Sharotid Har area in Doda district
*Incidents of terrorist violence and casualities in J&K in the post Sep-2001 period
* Decimation of Hizbul and drastic improvement of security situation in J&K in past few years , PM's initiative on Confidence Building Measures, Round Table Conference and successful conduction of elections to the state assembly with high levels of popular participation
"The Hizbul Mujahideen, once the strongest militant outfit in Jammu and Kashmir, now faces decimation. The outfit has lost its top leaders and cadres in encounters with security forces, especially Jammu and Kashmir police.The group, which once ran an unquestioned writ in the Valley such foreign militant outfits could not do without it, lost some of its top leaders like Hanief Bhat, Sajjad Bhat and Rahool Bhat. Last year, it had lost as many as 23 top commanders and 300 foot soldiers. The Hizb’s cadre strength always stood between 5,000 and 7, 000 until a few years ago. "
Dramatic improvements in Jammu and Kashmir, where terrorism related killings - at 768 - fell below the 'high intensity conflict' mark of a thousand deaths for the first time since 1990 (when they stood at 1,177). At their peak in 2001, fatalities had risen to 4,507.
* Data on fatalities due to terrorist violence all over India
From 1998-2001 (excluding left wing extremism)
Year No. Of Deaths
1998 3764
1999 3754
2000 4975
2001 5839
From 2002-07(Including the fatalities due to left wing extremism)
2002 4455
2003 4217
2004 3208
2005 3188
2006 2765
2007 2598
(Source: South Asia Terrorism Portal)
"As many as 18,350 civilians died during the past nine years in 61,226 incidents of violence in Jammu and Kashmir, north-east, naxal-affected States and communal flare-ups.Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil may be facing flak for a string of recent terror attacks, but his Ministry has quickly compiled statistics of violent incidents and civilian deaths for two periods – 1999 to 2003 of the BJP-led NDA rule and 2004 to 2008 – to show that incidents of violence were actually on the lower side during the UPA rule. While during 1999-2003, the number of civilian deaths were put at 11,714 in 36,259 incidents of violence, the 2004-2008 period witnessed 6,636 civilian deaths in 24,967 incidents, showing a substantial decline.In Jammu and Kashmir, in 18,106 incidents as many as 4,519 civilians lost their lives during 1999-2003, while in the 2004-2008 period the number of incidents in the State came down to 7,769 resulting in 1883 civilian deaths.Similarly, in the north-eastern States, in 7,697 incidents of violence 3,051 civilian deaths occurred during 1999-2003 while during 2004-2008 the region saw 6,498 incidents of violence which resulted in 1,899 civilian deaths.In 3,761 incidents of communal violence as many as 1959 civilians lost their lives during 1999-2003, but the number of incidents came down marginally to 3,472 during 2004-2008 and the civilian deaths dropped to 573.However, 2004-2008 witnessed a higher number of incidents of naxal violence – 7,228 in which 2,281 civilians died. During 1999-2003, the number of incidents of naxal violence were put at 5,695 resulting in 2,185 civilian deaths."
*Nothing beats BJP's counter terrorism strategy-Hate politics
More to come..
