India exercises restraint post-Monday’s blast
While the complete and exact details of Monday’s car explosion near Red Fort in Delhi will come later, a disturbing pattern is perceptible: the radicalisation of highly educated Muslim professionals, in this instance doctors. It is true that earlier too some educated professionals joined jihadist organisations, but the recent blast, that killed nine people and injured 20, stands out for the involvement of doctors only. Umar Un Nabi, who was driving the car, was reportedly a member of the “doctor module”, who managed to escape during raids by J&K police in Faridabad. It is suspected that he panicked after the cover of his module was blown and the main accused in the Faridabad module, Muzammil Ahmad Ganaie, was arrested.
He kept moving continuously in the car with explosives. The usual suspect is Pakistan, but initial investigation reportedly indicates that the handlers of the Faridabad module were based in Turkiye and Nangarhar in Afghanistan, from where they were communicating with Umar and other module members. This looks like another dimension to the jihadist terror in India, but this may not be completely surprising. The Turkish government, especially under President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, is actively providing logistical, diplomatic, and financial support to various terror groups worldwide, a news report in May said.
Turkiye’s National Intelligence Organisation (MIT) and state-backed NGOs are accused of systematically supporting terror groups, including Jamaat-e-Islami, Hizbul Mujahideen, and Popular Front of India (PFI). They have been specially targeting youth in Kashmir and Kerala. This is a distinct possibility because Turkiye has never concealed its antipathy towards India. President Erdoğan is keen to present himself as the champion of Muslims all over the world (but not in, say, Sudan, where Muslims are dying in large numbers, and the killers are also Muslims). If Ankara’s role in the Red Fort bombing becomes clear, New Delhi must react accordingly. It may have to rethink its attitude, which at present smacks of appeasement, towards Ankara.
The point to be emphasized here is that India should adopt a tough posture vis-à-vis Turkiye; for too long we have suffered its misdeeds. Even if we find no evidence of its involvement in the recent blast, we must recognise the Armenian Genocide. In April 1915, Ottoman Turkey began the mass murder of Armenians, a Christian minority; it was a long, meticulously planned operation that aimed to annihilate an entire people. Approximately 34 countries, including the United States and Russia, recognise the Armenian Genocide; sadly and shockingly, India is not among them.
Perhaps, it is the suspicion of Turkish involvement that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and other senior government functionaries have not blamed Pakistan for the outrage. This was despite the loose talk Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif indulged in, accusing New Delhi of involvement in the recent suicide bombing in Islamabad.
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the suicide blast that killed 12 people. Sharif nonetheless blames India. Such an abrasive reaction may have stemmed from anxiety in Pakistan. At the cessation of recent hostilities, Modi had made it clear that any terrorist incident would be seen as an act of war by India. Political and military authorities in Pakistan, instead of making bellicose statements, must focus on restraining the terrorists who try to destabilise India.