The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Wednesday, September 25, 2002, Chandigarh, India

THE TRIBUNE SPECIALS

50 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE

TERCENTENARY CELEBRATIONS

M A I N N E W S

Intelligence reports ignored
Digant Oza

Gandhinagar, September 24
The terrorist attack on the Swaminarayan temple in the high security zone close to the Raj Bhawan and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s residence here this evening has brought to the fore yet again the alleged criminal negligence of maintaining law and order in the State.

Sources in the Sachivalaya which is two Km away from the temple attribute the brazen terrorist attack to another serious lapse on the part of the Modi administrative despite adequate intelligence in this regard.

This has once again pushed the beleaguered minority community on the backfoot.

It is bewildering that senior police officials dealing with intelligence who had given adequate warning of Pakistan aided militants whipping up communal frenzy was overlooked by the political leadership. This was passed on to the Constitutional authorities. Not only that, these officers had been subsequently transferred for highlighting the serious situation prevailing in Gujarat on the communal front.

A retired principal of the Law College in Ahmedabad squarely blamed Mr Modi for the current disaster in which militants killed more than 26 people including women and children and left at least a 100 others injured. He said ever since the February 27 carnage in Godhra and the subsequent communal riots in other parts of Gujarat, the Modi government has done precious little to promote amity and communal harmony in the State.

Meanwhile, the Gujarat Lok Sangharsh Samiti, a representative forum of more than 300 voluntary organisations, just five hours before the militant attack on the Swaminarayan temple submitted a written memorandum to President A P J Abdul Kalam in New Delhi saying Intelligence Bureau feedback was categorise “that as long as the administration does not demonstratively prove that it is impartial, such incidents of violence will continue.”

Some of the local NGOs blame the overarching bandobast by the police force for the Chief Minister’s Gaurav Yatra as the main cause for side stepping the prior warning and intelligence gathered by the IB.