The Toll of Negligence

The Nowgam police station blast leaves plenty of questions unanswered

- Kaleem Geelani

IT WAS ON AN OLD MIGRANT PROPERTY, in a densely populated residential area and surrounded by houses, that the Nowgam police station stood. Strange place to store 358 kg of ammonium nitrate, chemicals and batteries. The same explosive used in the November 10 Red Fort blast in Delhi.

What was the stuff doing back in Nowgam, uptown of Srinagar, ground zero of the crackdown that exposed the 'white collar terror' network? The recovered explosives are the 'case property' of Nowgam Police, which had registered a case under various sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, an investigation under which led to the busting of the Faridabad module and the recovery of 2,900 kg of bomb-making material from Faridabad. Procedure dictates that all evidence be submitted before a magistrate in the original locale of the case. So, part of it was put in containers and carted in trucks over 1,000 km to Nowgam.