C O V E R S T O R YFAWZAN HUSAIN

IN BOIn just over two hours and with more thenexplosions, international terrorism with

devices of destruction, had arrived in

The wrecked Bombay Stock Exchange: a concerted attempt to destabilise the economy?

42

A S a metaphor for modern India./-\y has no equal. As a target

JL JL for terrorists bent on sending adestructive message, it is perhaps evenmore so. That reality hit home withcrushing force last week as the city wasshaken to its high-rise foundations by asequence of explosions on carefully-selected and highly vulnerable targets, amajority of them the most visible sym-bols of the city's status as the country'sfinancial and commercial nerve centre.

For a metropolis that had barelyrecovered from the communal frenzythat took over 600 lives in Decemberand January, the latest disaster camelike a series of frenzied hammer blows. Inthe space of just over two-and-a-halfhours on a Friday afternoon, interna-tional terrorism, in its most macabreand frightening form, rampagedthrough Bombay, shattering buildingsand taking a deadly toll of human lives.

Even the traditional targets of terror-ist bombs—Lebanon, London, Ireland,Germany in the late '70s, and New Yorkearlier this month, have never beenvictim to this kind of sequential bomb-ings on a single day and with such amassive body count.

Two days after Black Friday, the tally

of deaths had crossed 300 with 1.500injured, many of them critically. Inaddition, an unestimated number, thepolice believe, were simply vapourisedin explosions powerful enough to tearthrough four levels of concrete flooring,reduce a double-decker bus to the size ofa mangled Maruti, fling people anddebris more than a hundred feet away,and shatter window panes at four timesthat distance.

"I can't believe what is happening tothis city," says Alyque Padamsee, ad-man, theatre personality and a memberof an independent city peace committeeformed after the riots. "We used tobelieve^ that something like this couldnever'happen here. Now we know thatanything can happen."

In its gruesome totality, it was anightmare come true on a much morehorrific scale than anything conjuredup by the city's violence-oriented moviemakers. Even for a country by nowhardened to terrorist strikes and com-munal mayhem, the cold-blooded, clini-cal and perfectly-planned explosionsseemed to be the ultimate act of insanity.

There were a few minutes left fortrading to end at the annexe of theBombay Stock Exchange (BSE), a 29-

storey building that overlooks thenearby port area and naval base. Aftermany days since the post-budget gloom,business was beginning to look up. At1:26 p.m., an explosion ripped apart thetwo-level basement parking area of thebuilding. It shattered offices two floorsabove—housing bank branches—andmoved outward to engulf a crowd ofshare application form hawkers, pass-ersby and roadside food sellers gettingready to serve a lunch-time crowd.

"It was like an atom bomb duringDiwali, only a million times morepowerful," says Arjun Marfatia, a Ba-roda-based broker who was visiting theexchange at that time. Marfatia, whowas near the ring when the explosioncame, saw smoke billowing out of thestaircases and flames beginning to reach

MADHU KAPPARATH

Rescue efforts at the Stock Exchange: a combination of remarkable grit and steady nerves

C O V E R S T O R Y

THE CLUESThe leads on which investiga-

tions now depend:1. Bombs went off in the

rooms of Hotel Sea Rock and theCentaur hotels at Juhu and SantaCruz. In what could indicate alinking pattern, at all three hotelsthere were occupants who hadpaid for their rooms in advance,given false names and addresses,and had left the hotels with theirroom keys at the time of the blast.Hotel staffers are being ques-tioned about these occupants andwith the help of descriptions fromthem, identikit sketches are beingdeveloped.

2. Hand grenades werelobbed from a moving vehicle atMahim's Macchimar Nagar. Eye-witnesses from the scene are help-ing the police in constructingidentikit sketches of the vehicle'soccupants.

3. Registration and chassisnumbers of the cars—some ofwhich are likely to be found in thedebris which the police are nowcombing through—that were usedin the bombings could provide vitalclues. While most of the cars areexpected to be stolen vehicles,those that are not could help movethe investigations further.

4. An abandoned Marutivan found by the police and itscache of arms and ammunition.Other articles recovered from thevan include two plastic prayerbeads, two small plastic bottlesfilled with water and labelled'holy water' in Arabic script and apacket of dates.

5. A Sri Lankan national de-tained on March 6—and wassubsequently arrested—who hadchanged large amounts of foreigncurrency with the help of stolentravellers cheques at a city hotel.

6. The abandoned van wastraced to Yakub Memon, a char-tered accountant, who flew toDubai with his family on the dayof the blasts. However, the vancould have been stolen by terror-ists. Police are investigatingMemon's antecedents.

7. Two scooters foundwith about 8 kg of explosives (RDXwith PETN ) each which was wiredto the ignition.

out in the darkness—the power supplyhad blinked out. He fought his way out ofa side entrance along with about 8,000people who normally throng the build-ing during business hours.

The explosive device, which investi-gators say was placed in a car in thebasement parking area and activated bya timer device (see following pages),claimed at least 50 lives, and injuredabout 200 people. Barely nine minuteslater, another explosion rocked thegrain trading centre at Narsi NathaStreet, near the Victoria Terminus rail-way station. Compared to the BSE blast, itwas minor in terms of magnitude andcasualties. But before anybody couldgrasp the connection, a rapid series of

economy"—the explosion at CenturyBazar in Worli, was the most visiblydestructive. At 2:58 p.m., a double-decker bus run by Bombay's transportauthority BEST, ran over a pot-holewhich, according to investigators, had aplastic pressure-based explosive device,which blew the bus to bits. Thirty peopleare estimated to have died inside the bus,and the blast decimated three nearbyapartment buildings, besides flatteningpassersby and vehicles with shrapneland concussion. The injured numberedbetween 500 and 600.

At the moment of the blast,Dr Shalini Sabnis, who runs the Worliwomen's hospital, had just finished atelephone conversation with a friend

A victim at the Air India Building: helping hands

blasts devastated 11 other targets, in-cluding the Air India headquarters atNariman Point—the country's finan-cial and commercial hub—the jewellerymarket at Zaveri Bazar, two Air India-managed Centaur hotels in north bom-bay and the Welcomgroup's Sea RockHotel. Other targets included a petrolpump near the Shiv Sena headquartersat Shivaji Park, and two movie theatresin Central Bombay in heavily populatedareas. Between the first explosion at 1:26p.m. and the last at 3:54 p.m. at the SeaRock, Bombay streets were littered witha trail of blood and destruction.

Though the stock exchange and AirIndia building blasts were significant interms of targeting the city's financialnerve centre—Maharashtra Chief Min-ister Sharad Pawar claimed the exercisewas conducted "to destabilise the

who had informed her about the BSEexplosion. She was still holding thereceiver when the blast ripped throughthe hospital. She reacted quickly. Eventhough her consultation room facingthe street was reduced to rubble, shechecked on her patients—six womenand two infants—found them safe andherded them out, only to see a horrificsight. Cars were in flames, and peopledismembered and bloodied ran aboutblindly, screaming for help.

Harsh Thakkar, a commerce gradu-ate from Bombay's Sydenham College,was returning to his Worli home withhis brother Kumar in his Maruti afterviewing the carnage at the Stock Ex-change, when he approached the site:"Suddenly there was an explosion,"says Thakkar, "a red ball of fire roiledtowards me." It was then that Thakkar

saw something fly through the openwindow of the car. He turned and saw asevered hand lying on the back seat:"There was nothing left of the bus. Thecars ahead of me and behind weresmashed. But we were alive. It was anabsolute miracle."

Bombay, on that day, was full ofsimilar miraculous escape stories: bro-kers leaving the stock exchange secondsbefore the explosion, cars pulling out ofthe petrol pump just before it ignited andpeople passing targeted buildings min-utes before they blew up. But providen-tial escapes apart, the real reason why alot more people didn't lose their lives atthe blast sites is because of Bombay'slegendary qualities: a welcome com-bination of sheer grit, calm nerves, and aremarkable degree of unselfishness.

A T the BSE, in-house security quicklyf-\k charge to seal off the flaming

A. A. entrance and usher people to asafe exit. After the initial panic hadsubsided, people calmly went down thesteps; there were no stampedes. Andthose outside who were safe, rushed inalmost immediately to pull out the deadand injured. And some did so, despitebeing injured themselves.

Jasmin Shah, an employee at anearby branch of the Bank of Maharash-tra, was on her way to the exchange. Onthe steps when the explosion happened,she staggered under the impact andtried to go back to the bank. Hardlyrealising that she had glass shards in herarms, legs and stomach, some twoinches long, she forced herself to keepgoing till she reached her office acrossthe street. Maruti Pawar, a peon withSobhagya Advertising, was passing byand rushed in to help with lifting thedead from the basement and the street,pulling away many of the injured to asafer area till ambulances could takethem to the hospitals. Asvin Seth, a sub-broker with his office near the exchange,rushed out when he heard the explo-sion, and immediately started tending tothe injured on the street.

These scenes were repeated allover Bombay. At the Air India build-ing—where the first two floorswere badly damaged, passersby-turned-rescue workers piled the injured intowhatever vehicle was available, withobliging owners ferrying them to hospi-tals. A driver who did not stop whensignalled was cursed and his car stoned.At the Sea Rock, the staff took oversmoothly and efficiently. The visitingEnglish national hockey team managerAlan Walker recounts how after theblast that knocked out a section of the

The Centre: How it Reacted

THE Home Ministry's controlroom received news of thebomb blasts at 2.30 p.m., one

hour after the first blast rocked theBombay Stock Exchange (BSE). Themessage was immediately passed onto Union Home Minister S.B. Chavanin Parliament, and to Minister ofState for Internal Security, RajeshPilot, attending a BSE function.

Pilot was looking forward to arelaxed evening. It was his weddinganniversary and he had promisedhis wife he'd be home by7.30 p.m. Earlier in theafternoon, Chavan hadheld a meeting in his Par-liament House office to re-view the alarming situa-tion. By 5 p.m., high-levelteams of the IB, RAW, CFSLand ballistic experts fromthe NSG had been rushed toBombay. The country wasplaced on high alert, thearmy alerted in Bombayand security beefed up incommunally sensitive ar-eas. The Bombay Police,on high alert, was quick inreacting. The riot Policehad taken up positionswithin hours of the blastand managed to control aminor outbreak of stonethrowing at Mahim whichgot tense whenhandgrenades were flungby occupants of a car.

By evening, all policeofficers and junior ranks who wereon leave were recalled and policestations ordered to check basementsof high-rise buildings. Residentswere also asked to keep basementsand cars secure. Checkposts were setup and vehicles randomly checked.

Prime Minister Narasimha Raowas in Sikar in Rajasthan where hehad gone to address a public meeting.Immediately after his return at about5.30 p.m., Rao was intercepted byPilot and briefed on the situation.

The crisis, Home Ministrysources reveal, did not help Chavanto forget even momentarily his ani-mosity towards Pilot. Maharashtrabeing his home state, Chavan wasnaturally keen on going himself in-stead of letting Pilot seize the initia-

tive but he insisted that he wouldonly leave next morning. Gettingwind of news that Pilot, instead ofwaiting for the special plane, wasarranging to leave by a commercialflight, Chavan swung into action—but not before Rao intervened askingboth to leave the same evening.

A reluctant prime minister had tobe pressurised to make a quick trip toBombay. In January, when Bombaywas in the midst of large-scale com-munal rioting, Rao had gone only a

PRAMOD PUSHKARNA

Chavan (left), Pilot: domestic crisis

week later and, as appalledBombayites remember, had not oncedisembarked from his car. He didbetter this time by visiting two bombsites and one hospital where he metthe injured. A bullet-proof Ambassa-dor was, however, flown in to Bom-bay by a special plane two hoursbefore he himself left by an Indian AirForce Boeing. The vehicle wasneeded for the trips to the blast sites.

The Home Ministry quickly issuedinstructions to all states to beef upsecurity at all airports and railwaystations. Indian Airlines was asked notto accept cargo or courier packets tillfurther orders, while all internationalports were put on alert. For once, theGovernment seemed to have actedSWiftly. —HARINDER BAWEJA

45

C O V E R S T O R Y

18th floor, his players, who were sun-ning themselves by the poolside, werestunned. "Immediately there was a lot ofstaff directing us—there was no panic."And where there was, mainly amongemployees and visitors at the Air Indiabuilding—stairwells jammed with peo-ple and elevators overloaded—outsidershelped calm them down. In fact, therewas so much help from the public at thescenes of destruction that it promptedwhat is possibly the best tribute to them,from the Bombay Fire Brigade chief D.G.Kulkarni: "Our biggest problem was

help from the enthusiastic mobs."Anybody who could, chipped in. The

fire brigade rushed tenders to the stockexchange within 10 minutes of theblast. The city has only 35 tenders, ofwhich 20 were sent to Dalai Street. Asthe blasts spread, the fire departmentwas completely stretched, speedingfrom one bomb site to the other, withordinary people helping to plug the gap.The navy sent down a contingent fromits base, the army offered help and thepolice—after a controversial record dur-ing the January riots—moved quickly.

Explosion near the passport office at Worli: gruesome sight

Besides immediately fanning out to thetrouble spots and positioning them-selves in previously riot-torn areas toforestall any chances of violence, manypolice vans roamed around the cityusing public address systems to appealfor blood donations. Meanwhile, samar-itans did their bit by going around withplacards bearing the same requests.Hundreds of willing donors queued up atthe city's 11 blood banks. Everyoneseemed willing to help.

In the city's hospitals, the scene wasone of overflowing morgues, packedoperation theatres and overworkedstaff. As victims began to pour into StGeorge's Hospital from the BSE, for in-stance, its doctors went into overdrive.Says Dr Ashok Kamble, the residentmedical officer: "The experience culledduring the riots was invaluable. Wedidn't even take two minutes after thefirst few bodies came in to organiseourselves." In half an hour, St George'shad received 80 injured, and 11 DOAS(dead-on-arrival). People were beingbrought in with multiple trauma inju-ries, fractures, abdominal ruptures—anentire spectrum of cases requiring im-mediate attention. All 90 doctors on itsrolls were brought in, as were almost300 support staff. The hospital's 40-strong dentist force helped suturewounds. As hands began to fall short,volunteers from the Directorate ofHealth Services and Medical Educationrushed in. And among the first few tooffer help at the hospital were workers ofthe Shiv Sena.

THANKFULLY, the collective shockand outrage as well as the choice oftargets prevented a greater holo-

caust—the fear of communal blood-letting. Once the news about the targetsspread, so did the realisation that fewvested interests in Bombay would havethe capacity or the expertise to pull offsuch a co-ordinated operation. And as italso proved that it was not directed atpeople from any particular community,everybody banded together to face thedaunting challenge. "This is a time forall of us to stay together," said KeolaPrasad, a taxi-driver from Varanasi,whose windscreen sports a prominenttrishul and a Shiv Sena sticker. "It isobviously the work of outsiders." Hisidol, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray, foronce refrained from provocative state-ments and publicly said pretty much thesame thing.

This time around, Bombay's traumawas localised. Except in the affectedareas, life went on normally, with shopsand businesses staying open. There was

46

minimal panic buying of groceries, un-like in January, and no discernible trendof emergency cash withdrawals frombanks. Also, a touch of the characteristicBombay defiance, of not taking thingslying down.

Fear and tension are still prevalent,close to a week since the bombings. Butthe reaction is a little different this time."After January, I seriously consideredmoving out of Bombay," says MohanMahapatra, general manager, market-ing, with a city-based food productscompany at Masjid Bunder, who hadmoved out of Ahmedabad two years agoto escape its increasing communali-sation. "But now I've changed my mind.No mad bomber is going to tell me whatto do." •

THE INVESTIGATION

A PAUCITYOF CLUES

W HO were the mad bombers?*\nd what was their motive?hese were the questions that

haunted the country as the frantic man-hunt for the bombers slipped into highgear. Inexplicably, no organisation hascome forward to claim responsibility forthe explosions, as would be expected in acase where the choice of targets indi-cated an aim to create economicdestabilisation.However, the very so-phistication of the modus operandi—-atleast seven of the blasts were triggeredby car bombs—and the use of plasticexplosive which is not available in Indiain the quantities used, point to theinvolvement of an international outfit.

Initial investigations make it clearthat high explosives such as RDX andTNT were used and set off by timers."The use of these explosives and det-onating mechanisms requires ex-tremely sophisticated training andexpertise," says police bomb disposalexpert Nandkumar Chaugule.

While forensic reports may providesome clues later, bomb experts havebegun deciphering the signaturescrawled across every deadly shrapnel.This will provide them with clues as tothe sophistication of the timers, thenature of the explosives and the exper-tise needed to assemble them. Mostpolice and intelligence sources are em-phatic that there is no terrorist group inthe country capable of pulling off suchan operation.

Moreover, the sheer impact pointed

to imported explosives rather than thenormally used nitroglycerine. This, inturn, meant plastic, gelatine or theAmerican RDX. Most experts veeredtowards plastic, more specifically the C4variety used in Pakistan, which flowsfrom the United States and West Asia.The Indian Army uses the PEK variety,but has not reported any large quanti-ties missing from its stock. Gelatine islocally available but it would have takenat least four months to smuggle insufficient quantities of the industrialexplosive and the risk of exposure was

sparingly. Similarly, Kashmir terroristshave preferred the remote controlleddevices to blast isolated military trucks.Even the LITE, which used RDX toassassinate Rajiv Gandhi, has usuallygone in for suicide attacks.

"It would need a team of at least 10electronics experts, with the nerve andexperience of handling explosives, tocarry out such an operation," saysB.K. Singh. The transistor bombs thatripped through Delhi in 1985 were farcruder and were assembled by nearly200 radio mechanics. The explosive

Bomb disposal squad at Worli: groping in the dark

too high, says B.K. Singh, who headsDelhi's bomb disposal squad.

Terrorists in Punjab and Kashmirhave used C4 plastic bombs, but never tosuch effect. The Bombay explosionswere vastly superior and sophisticated.That, says explosives expert P.S.Bhushan, is because the power of theblast can be magnified with properplacing such as inside a closed car,converting the automobile into onehuge device. "More importantly, theyknew how to direct the thrust of theexplosion exactly where they wanted.Amateurs normally end up creatinghuge craters in the ground, where thepower of the device gets expended."

The timer is a delicate mechanism.When an amateur tried to plant a bombin Delhi a couple of years ago, he endedup getting blown up himself. Even theBabbar Khalsa, the only militant groupin the country that has specialised in theuse of bombs, has used time devices

used in Bombay—at least 300 kg wouldhave been required—must have comeby the sea route. But, say Home Minis-try sources, it was not a question ofan Indian group using foreign help.Alter all, such explosives are not for saleand not available. It was more a case offoreigners utilising Indian grievances.

However, to store such a huge quan-tity of explosives, to shelter the wholeteam, and to purchase the cars wouldrequire substantial local assistance andmassive financing. Further, dry runswould have been conducted for at least aweek. A pliable Indian connection,hungry for revenge and totally moti-vated, would also be required to providelocal assistance and back-up.

But even the Indian connectionmust have been of a certain level. Entryinto the BSE basement parking, wherethe bomb exploded, is restricted to mem-bers who pay Rs 1.5 lakh as deposit toreserve a single parking slot. The police

C O V E R S T O R Y

The Air India basement: strategic target

feel it is unlikely that a BSE member couldbe involved. More plausible is the theorythat the terrorists had infiltrated the BSEsecurity system and somehow laid theirhands on the car stickers that allowaccess. Either way, the terrorist or ac-complice would have to be able to poseas a wealthy stockbroker.

Much the same level of people would

have been required to check into thethree five-star hotels. So far, all theinvestigators have are the names, obvi-ously false, in the check-in registers.Room 1840 of the Sea Rock Hotelwas booked in the name of a 'MrAlvani'. According to the hotel staff, anadvance of Rs 8,000 was paid on March8. He checked in the morning before theblast and had not checked out, but hadinstead left the hotel taking the room keywith him.

Similarly, at the Bombay AirportCentaur, 'Ramesh Saxena' checked inon March 11 around 3:2Op.m. and wasout of the hotel with the key at the time ofthe blast. He had paid an advance of Rs5.100 for the room. At the Juhu Cen-

taur, a man first signed as 'Gyanchan-dani Lalit', then scored it out and regis-tered himself as 'Sanjeev Rai'. Heoccupied Room 3078 and was out at thetime of the blast. He also paid an advanceon checking in.

Preliminary investigations showthat the handwriting in the three regis-ters do not tally, which indicates thatthree operatives were used. Accordingto police sources, in two places—SeaRock and Airport Centaur—they hadgiven the same fictitious address.

Meanwhile, the sole suspect pickedup for questioning is a Sri Lankantravelling on a fake Turkish passport.The suspect, who was detained one dayafter the blasts, had changed $1,20,000at the Oberoi Hotel where he checked inon March 5. He was first arrested onMarch 6 after he presented forged Amer-ican Express bank traveller's chequesand was later found to be travelling on aforged passport. He was let off on bail.

While the police withheld details, hisremand application said that the CuffeParade police, who arrested him, hadasked their counterparts in Tamil Naduto check whether he had links withTamil extremists. But the fact that hewas released on bail seems to indicatethat he may not be connected to theBombay blasts.

Shortly after the explosions, thepolice recovered four hand-grenades,seven new AK-56 rifles and 14 maga-zines from a maroon Maruti van, MFC1972, parked near the Worli CenturyBazaar bomb site. Also recovered fromthe van were two plastic prayer beads,two small plastic bottles filled with waterand labelled "holy water" in Arabic anda packet of dates. But it seems ridiculousfor intelligent and well-trained bombers

EXPLOSIVE HISTORY

August 2, 1984: A bomb ex-ploded at Meenambakkam Airport,Madras, killing 30 and injuring37. The Tamil Eelam Army, a smallSri Lankan militant group, wasresponsible.May 10 and 11,1985: Over100 transistor bombs exploded in

New Delhi, mainly in slum colonies,killing 85. An equal number of bombswere defused. The Babbar Khalsa wasresponsible.June 23, 1985: Air India flight182, from Toronto to Bombay, ex-ploded in mid-air and crashed off theIrish coast, killing all 329 persons onboard. The bomb was kept in theluggage hold. Pro-Khalistan elementswere suspected.March 15, 1987: The Madras-Trichy Rockfort Express capsized overa blown-up rail bridge about 50 kmfrom Trichy, 25 were killed and 139injured. The Tamil Nadu Viduthalai

Padhai (Tamil Nadu LiberationTroops) was responsible.May 21,1991: Rajiv Gandhi and17 others died at Sriperumbudur inTamil Nadu when a human bomb,Dhanu, triggered the plastic explosiveRDX, which she carried on her belt.LITE alleged to be behind the hit.May 9, 1992: Punjab MinisterManinderjit Singh Bitta was attackedin Amritsar with a car bomb parkedon the road. The explosion killed 12and injured Bitta. The explosive usedwas 8-10 kg of yellow RDX. Anothercar bomb, which did not explode, wasplanted on an alternate route.

48

to leave behind such damaging evi-dence. Police believe that the van and itscontents could have been set up in a bidto point to an Islamic connection. Thevan was traced to Yakub Memon, achartered accountant, who flew toDubai on the day of the blasts. However,the van could have been stolen byterrorists. Police are investigatingMemon's antecedents. •

THE SUSPECTS

WHO COULD BERESPONSIBLE?

SO far, the Government seems to beleaving no stone unturned in itsefforts to track down the bombers.

By Sunday, March 14, it had alreadyestablished contact with the intelligenceagencies of various countries, includingthe FBI in the US, Israel's Mossad andBritain's Scotland Yard. Interpol wascontacted for help on the day of thebombings and a reply came within 24hours containing a list of names ofmercenaries who have been known tobe hired to carry out such acts.

The list includes names of people ofLebanese, Pakistani, Egyptian and SriLankan origin. Interpol has also providedthe photographs and the handwritings ofthese suspects. These were flown intoBombay on the morning of March 14where the photographs could be shownto the receptionists of the hotels at SeaRock and Centaur where the suspectshad stayed. The handwriting too will becompared for possible leads.

The initial reports compiled by theCentral Forensic Science Laboratory es-tablishes that the magnitude was aresult of the highly explosive RDX mate-rial used. The report also establishes that30 kg of RDX were used at the Air Indiaand the Bombay Stock Exchange blastsites, two places which registered themaximum damage to life and property.At other sites, 10 kg of RDX was found tohave been used.

RDX, available mainly in westerncountries, is a safe-to-carry, easy totransport, 'low explosive', plastic bomb.Besides, it can be easily smuggledthrough on national and internationalflights since it does not show up on X-rays or metal detectors. The forensicteam has also confirmed that the bombswere detonated by timer devices.

RDX is also an expensive and diffi-cult-to-attain explosive, two other rea-sons which fit the 'external hand' theory

first floated by Home Minister S.B.Chavan. Bombay's Police Commis-sioner A.S. Samra has already pointedout that the quantity of explosiveswould have cost no less than Rs 3 crore,an amount which only secret agenciescan afford. The Bombay Police is stilltrying to establish whether or not thecars in which the bombs were placedwere stolen. If stolen, investigators willrun into a dead-end.

Investigations have been given aboost with the discovery of a new Bajajscooter whose registration plate pointsto Thane. It was first spotted standing inNaigaum, Dadar in Central Bombay onMarch 12 by a doctor who has adispensary there. At first he thoughtnothing of it but when he returned onMarch 14 to find it still standing, healerted the police, who found it loadedwith seven to eight explosives—a mix-

senseless. There are any number ofsensitive, densely-populated areaswhich would have provoked an immedi-ate communal backlash and made thepoint more forcefully.

Terrorists in Punjab are on the runnow. Nor do they have the kind oforganisation and support in Bombay asthey did in Delhi in the wake of the 1984anti-Sikh riots. They do, however, havethe international support for financingsuch an operation. But, once again, itwould make no sense for them to targetBombay and financial symbols, whentheir strategy so far has been to attackthe symbols and representatives of theGovernment. Moreover, Sikh separatistgroups claim immediate responsibilityfor any such acts. In this case, no one hascome forward yet.

The other obvious terrorist groupsare the various Kashmir-based militant

Rajiv Gandhi's assassination at Sriperumbudur: a portent?

ture of RDX with chemicals and PETN(Semtex)—which had been wired to theignition key. It is being examined forfingerprints.

The investigations so far lie in therealm of speculation. What the agencieshave started is the process of elimina-tion. Soon after the blasts, the initialsuspicion was that they were of a com-munal nature. But an act of reprisal byMuslims against the forces of Hindutvamakes no sense considering the choiceof targets. Bombay's Muslims havenever shown the kind of expertise andorganisation which marked the March12 bombings.

Similarly, if it was the Hindutvaforces, the choice of targets was equally

organisations. So far, however, theyhave not operated outside Kashmir.Moreover, they are even quicker off themark than their counterparts in Punjabto claim responsibility.

On the basis of pure circumstantialevidence, the LITE is one separatistgroup which has the expertise, finance,foreign contacts and motivation re-quired to pull off such a devastatingattack. It has access to car bombs andhigh explosives as in the assassination ofRajiv Gandhi, with RDX concealed in abelt pouch. They even have a powerfulmotive, the recent killing of Kittu, one oftheir top military leaders, during a com-bined operation by the Coast Guard andthe Indian Navy off the coast of Tamil

MARCH 31, 1993 » I N D I A TODAY 49

C O V E R S T O R Y

Nadu. The LITE had publicly vowed toextract revenge. Besides, LITE chiefV. Pirabhakaran has been declared afugitive by the Indian Government andthe Rajiv Gandhi assassination case isabout to be taken up in court.

BUT several factors undermine thattheory. For one, they have gener-ally not been known to operate

outside Tamil Nadu and neighbouringstates. Also, Bombay is certainly not acity where they are well organised. Andwhy would they choose financial andcommercial .targets? Currently, theyhave their hands full fighting the SriLankan security forces and, apart fromthe Kittu incident, they have little rea-son to suddenly launch an all-out waragainst India. In any event, the orga-nisation is virtually crippled in TamilNadu, its former stronghold and operat-ing base.

Thus, by a process of elimination,

in the support of aggrieved BombayMuslims. The serial blasts have beeninterpreted as a reprisal by Muslim fun-damentalist organisations and the isi inreply to the violence against Muslims inthe recent riots in the country.

Home Ministry records accuse theisi of using Indian Muslim fundamental-ist organisations, mainly the Jamait-e-Islami, to promote terrorism in India. Oflate, according to intelligence sources,the isi has being trying to forge linksbetween the Kashmir and Punjab mili-tants for coordinated operations. A hugeconsignment of AK-47 rifles and explo-sives recovered in Ahmedabad a fewmonths ago was traced to the Kashmirimilitants and was meant for gangs in theMuslim-dominated areas of Gujarat andMaharashtra. The consignment wasseized after the interrogation of an isi-trained militant, Manjit Singh Lalli, whohad arrived in Bombay under an as-sumed name, Iqbal Ahmad, and with a

Damaged cars at the Stock Exchange: professional job

the needle of suspicion has startedpoint-ing unwaveringly at the Inter ServicesIntelligence (isi), Pakistan's aggressiveexternal intelligence operations wing.Top intelligence and police officials areunanimous in suspecting the isi.

The foundation for their suspicion isthe strong roots that the isi has been ableto cultivate among the Muslim (Kash-mir) and Sikh militant groups operatingin India. Indian intelligence organi-sations have been, for some time, talkingabout the K2 factor. K2 is a gameplan,believed to have been launched by the isi,under which it was trying to unite Sikhand Muslim militants. The isi, it is nowbeing conjectured, could well have roped

Pakistani passport.The isi is also believed to have sent

groups of saboteurs with Pakistani pass-ports to India. Lalli, under interroga-tion, had spoken about an isi conspiracyto hit at vital installations including anatomic plant in India. For quite sometime, the sea route along the Gujaratcoast has become the main conduit forthe smuggling of weapons from Paki-stan. And Pakistan is the only countrywhich would choose targets deliber-ately intended to cripple India's eco-nomic progress.

Further, the car-bomb technique hasbeen used in Sindh and Karachi. The LSI,Indian agencies believe, could be retaliat-

Moment ofReckoningSHARAD Pawar exuded charac-

teristic confidence and energywhen he returned to Bombay and

was sworn in for the fourth time as thechief minister of Maharashtra. Barely aweek later, he appeared tense andshaken as powerful bombs explodedwith alarming rapidity in differentparts of the metropolis. The messagewas clear in the mass of mangled steeland human bodies—the task of restor-ing peace and stability in the nation'sindustrial and financial capital will bea far greater challenge than Pawar hadanticipated.

Just a day before the blasts, the newchief minister had told a gathering ofpolice inspectors and senior officers atthe Police Club: "I don't want Beirutreplicated in Bombay." The irony isthat Bombay, till then reeling underthe impact of communal violence, sud-denly became captive to terrorism.

While indicating to policemen thathe expected a greater degree of profes-sionalism than was evident during therecent riots in the city, he shrewdlyannounced a scheme of handsomeincentives totalling nearly Rs 5 lakh forgood performance by both officers andmen. He called upon the Bombay Po-lice to work towards four objectives:action against rioters, better crimedetection, the removal of the fear psy-chosis that had gripped the city, andthe return of the people who had fleddue to the recent riots.

Sadly, as the spectre of interna-tional terrorism emerged from the dustof the bomb explosions to haunt analready beleaguered city, it was evi-dent that the optimism generated inBombay by Pawar's return may havebeen premature. In a matter ofmonths, communal maniacs and thenterrorists have robbed the throbbingmetropolis of its vitality. Now Pawarhas to prove himself equal to the task ofproviding leadership and direction at atime of grave crisis when his mettle asthe most respected leader in the state isunder severe test.

He was in his sixth-floor office atMantralaya when the first explosionripped through the Stock Exchange.An hour later, the floor trembled under

Pawar after being sworn in: testing times ahead

him as another high-intensity carbomb went off at the nearby Air-Indiaheadquarters.

No one was surprised by his quickresponse. He despatched his ministersto the explosion sites and hospitals,went on television to appeal for unityand calm, conferred with police andarmy officials to ensure communalpeace, devised a compensation pack-age for the victims and their families,visited the sites at night and remainedin his office till 1 a.m. The contrast withhis predecessor was not lost on any-one, "The chief minister respondedwith alacrity and immediately sensedthe seriousness of the situation," ob-served Minister of State MarzbanPatrawala.

Pawar's return from New Delhiafter a 20-month stint as Union de-fence minister had been accompaniedby high drama. Prime MinisterNarasimha Rao's unexpected decisionto send him back to troubled Maha-rashtra after Sudhakarrao Naik wasasked to resign came as a shock to hissupporters. It was seen as a setback toPawar's prime ministerial ambitions,and a victory for Rao's gameplan toremove all potential challengers fromDelhi. Pawar acolyte and Congress(I)MP Praful Patel declared: "None of usis happy with his return to Maha-rashtra." A memorandum was sub-mitted to Rao against Pawar's shifting,which reportedly contained signa-

tures of over a hundred Congress(I)MPs. "Normally a leader puts thememorandum aside the moment yousubmit it, but Rao seemed transfixed bythe long list of signatures,'' maintainedan avid Pawar supporter.

But others close to him believedthat though outwardly Pawar ap-peared reluctant, he had accepted thenew assignment willingly. Some of thedrama was necessary since he hadpromised in 1991, when he resigned aschief minister and went to Delhi, thathe would never hold a position ofpower in Maharashtra again.

HOWEVER, the campaignlaunched by Naik, in alliancewith rivals like Union Home

Minister S.B. Chavan, had weakenedPawar's base within the StateCongress(I). Naik's mishandling of thepost-Ayodhya violence had alsoshaken the party and given strength tothe Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) combine. The violence in Bombayin December and January was also amajor blow to the commercial vitalityof the metropolis.

At his first press conference aftertaking over as chief minister, Pawarstated: "Even today, there are 15 areasin the city that people are afraid to visit.My first task is to rebuild public con-fidence in the nation's financial capi-tal." It was equally important forPawar to quickly reassert his leader-

ship of the Congress(I) in the state. Thesheep had to be brought back under hisfold. Said a political confidant:"Pawar's return to Bombay will notaffect his chances for prime minis-tership. In fact, if he proves success-ful here, his stock will actually goup further. It is not necessary for you tolive in Delhi if you want to becomeprime minister."

Pawar's 26-member ministry pro-claimed his shrewd plan to appease hispolitical rivals and strive for partyunity. Though it is dominated by hisown supporters, the more controver-sial ones were kept out. At least for thetime being. And not only were Delhiloyalists like Ramrao Adik andVilasrao Deshmukh included, but sowere relatives of vehement rivals—Naik's nephew Avinash Naik andChavan's son Ashok Chavan.

Unlike his lethargic predecessor,immediately after his return from NewDelhi, Pawar demonstrated that hemeant business. Even before he wassworn in, he chaired a meeting ofsecretaries and divisional commission-ers from districts to assess the problemsfacing the state. After extricating him-self from slogan-shouting, garland-wielding supporters who converted hisswearing-in ceremony into an electionrally, Pawar stayed on at the magnifi-cent seaside Raj Bhavan to conduct awide-ranging examination of the re-cent communal carnage in Bombay.From 8.15 p.m. to 12.10 a.m., the newchief minister conducted his first offi-cial meeting with top city and statepolice officers. "His objective wastransparent—to convey to the policetop brass that law and order in themetropolis is his priority number one,''later observed a policeman.

After the bomb blasts, however,Bombay appears far more vulnerablethan ever before. Neither Pawar's leg-endary skills at political manipulation,nor pep talks to the police force, noreven his ability to react quickly toevents will now be enough to stop thecity from sinking into an endless spiralof violence. In the coming months, thenew chief minister will have to displayexceptional qualities of leadership toonce again unite Bombay's dividedcitizens against the common danger,and devise a sophisticated plan tocombat the twin threat of communaland terrorist violence. Clearly, Pawarnow faces one of the biggest challengesof his political career.

—M. RAHMAN

C O V E R STORY

ing against the recent blasts in Sindh,which Pakistan claims was the handi-work of Indian agencies. The motive andtiming being ascribed is that militancywas ebbing in Punjab and fresh initia-tives were being contemplated in Kash-mir. The related conjecture is that it suitsPakistan to deepen the communal dividefollowing the demolition of the BabriMasjid and while Bombay's communalwounds are still fresh. Intelligence re-ports had also pointed to an increase in isiactivity in Bombay. The former gover-nor, C. Subramaniam, in fact, had in astatement once said that Pakistan wasmoving arms into Bombay from Karachi.But all these conjectures will, by defini-tion, remain purely tentative until theGovernment acquires conclusiveevidence. •

THE FUTURE

ERA OF FEARAND PARANOIA

FACED with the lack of hard evi-dence, the isi theory is the mostconvenient one for the Indian Gov-

ernment to float. It not only deflectsattention from the magnitude of the actand its consequences but provides theGovernment with a rallying point. If thetheory gains ground, as media reportssuggest, the country—and oppositionparties—will tend to converge behindthe Narasimha Rao Government. Untilthe investigations prove otherwise, thePakistan hand will clearly prove ahandy political tool.

The obvious question, in the light ofthe havoc wreaked in Bombay, iswhether there was a massive securityfailure. Such a well-planned and elabo-rate operation involving the stealing orbuying of at least seven vehicles, smug-gling in approximately 40 kg of highexplosives, rehearsals, local recruit-ments, should have produced some hintof impending trouble. Some BombayPolice officials insist that an alert wassounded. "During the last month wehad given a number of alerts thatPakistan's isi was trying to send in armsand trying to create trouble," says asenior CID official, adding; "We hadalerted the Coastguard and Customsabout this. After the alerts, containerchecks have been going on at sea ports.All containers on ships were checked—it took a month to do this."

The officials point out that in thelast year, they received specific mes-

sages to check three ships, coming infrom Holland, Germany and Karachirespectively which was the last to dockin mid-January.

However, Police Commissioner A.S.Samra stated in a high level meetingwith Sharad Pawar and Home MinisterChavan that they had no prior informa-tion of the impending blasts. There wereno intelligence reports which even sug-gested that terrorists were planninganything of such a magnitude. The onlysecurity alert was the usual one issued inthe month of Ramzan, taken more seri-ously this time because of the recentriots in Bombay. But even that proved

against them. "A plastic explosive cantake the most innocuous shape and it isvirtually impossible to detect a well-disguised time device," says a top policeofficer. Most Indian cities are soft tar-gets. The borders are porous, and thegrievances that breed the support net-work for bombers, are multiplying.

More frightening is the fact that carbombs are probably the most horrificweapon in the terrorist's arsenal. Itsprofusion and banality is its best camou-flage. No nation in the world, evenadvanced countries with terrorist prob-lems, have been able to counter the useof car bombs effectively. The IRA has

All that can be done to prevent car bombing is tighten up security

ineffective in the face of the serial bombs.As Samra said, the blasts were not a signof a police intelligence failure but evi-dence that the operation was so well-planned and executed.

Though belated security mea-sures—like the screening of courierpackets and tightened security at air-ports—have been enforced, the fear isthat March 12 is not the end of the terror.Because no organisation has claimedresponsibility, the identity and motive ofthe terrorists has been shrouded inuncertainty and foreboding. There areeven theories in some intelligence anddiplomatic quarters that suggest theimplication of West Asian countries,angered at what they see as a pogromagainst Indian Muslims.

Even so, the implications of the serialbombings are chilling for the countryand its security agencies. If such exper-tise and type of explosives have arrivedin India, there is virtually no defence

used them with virtual impunity on thestreets of London and the one in NewYork earlier this month shattered Amer-ican confidence.

In Colombo, where car bombs havecaused such devastation, security mea-sures include the screening of cars enter-ing public places such as shopping cen-tres, government buildings and hotels.Portable mirrors are passed under thecars to look for hidden devices whileluggage compartments are physicallyexamined. No cars are allowed to park inthe porch area, the opposite of whathappens in most Indian hotels.

The Bombay bombings reveal a defi-nite pattern, the choice of high-profile,crowded commercial targets and monu-ments to India's economic strength likethe BSE and five-star hotels where amajority of tourists stay or even AirIndia, the best-known internationalsymbol of the country. If the strategy isto scare away foreign investors and

I N D I A TODAY * MARCH 31. 1993

undermine India's economy and its in-ternational image, the terrorists havepartly succeeded. As industrialistAditya Birla says: "Industry certainlycannot thrive in a situation of uncer-tainty and lawlessness."

But barely days after the blasts,Bombay was limping back to near-normalcy and frenetic efforts were un-derway to get the BSE operative as soonas possible. The Government's resolveappeared equally resilient and the offersof help from major western countriesseemed to indicate that the economicsetback may not be as disastrous asoriginally feared.

That, unfortunately, is easier saidthan done. Guarding against such actsof terrorism will require a superhumaneffort and a huge financial outlay, apartfrom the political resolve required. WithChavan and Pilot at loggerheads andNarasimha Rao under growing politicalpressure from the BJP as well as dissi-dents within his own party, the omensare not exactly favourable.

THE good news is that, for themoment at least, there seems to bea move to sink political differences

in the face of what is a national crisis.Says BJP President MurliManoharJoshi:

intelligence agencies when Parliamentreopens. It could also go to the extentof demanding the Government's resig-nation. Says party Vice-PresidentK.R. Malkani: "It is a weak governmentincapable of handling a Bombay-typesituation. It must go."

Moreover, if a Pakistan involvementis detected, the BJP will step up itscampaign to destabilise the Govern-ment and push for retaliation, even anarmed conflict. High-level militarysources say that the country is in noposition to indulge in an armed con-frontation with Pakistan at this stage.The resource crunch may have affected

HEMANT PITHWA

Rao and Pawar at the Stock Exchange after the blast: political vulnerability

But that could only be an invitationfor yet more terrorist attacks. Policeofficials admit that until some solidclues emerge—or luck favours them, aswas the case in the New York bomb-ing—there is little they can do excepttighten up security in obvious areas.Police officials suggest a two-prongedstrategy to deal with the threat. One,breaking the organisational base of theterrorist outfits. Two, strengtheningground-level security. "The need is todevelop a ground-level highly-expertintelligence network which cansensitise the security agencies aboutsuch terrorist attacks,'' says a high-levelintelligence operative.

"The Bombay blasts are not a Hindu-Muslim problem; it is a national issue."Echoes CPI(M) leader in the Lok SabhaSomnathChatterjee: "We should jointlytry to stop India from becoming a play-ground for international terrorism."Even Congress(I) dissidents like NatwarSingh, K.N. Singh, B.P. Maurya andSheila Dixit have issued a jointstatement stating that "each one of usshould unitedly help to strengthen thehands of the Maharashtra and the Cen-tral Governments".

But how long such spirit will last isanybody's guess. The BJP is alreadyplanning to demand that the Centreissue a statement about the 'failure' of

both sides but the Indian Army's hard-ware and strategic planning has beenhit the hardest. With Pakistan's nuclearcapabilities, a military adventure couldprove costly.

Even more so given the economicinstability introduced by the Bombaybombings, however temporary it mayprove. That, coupled with the loomingthreat of political instability, could proveto be more destructive than the bombswhich, for one fiery day, turned Bombayinto Beirut.

DILIP BOBB with HARINDER BAWEJA,

SUDEEP CHAKRAVARTI, ARUN KATIYAR,

LEKHA RATTANANI, DAKSESH PARIKH and

RAHUL PATHAK

MARCH 31, 1995 * I N D I A TODAY 53