Different threads in Red Fort bomb blast

It points to a new phase in Kashmiri militancy and indicates the limits of a force-alone counter-terrorism policy

- Manoj Joshi

Three alarming signals are coming from the recent Red Fort bomb blast. First, the doctor’s module comprised mostly Kashmiris from the Valley. Second, what functioned in Jammu and Kashmir as an overground network of supporters and sympathisers, who provided shelter and finance to the militancy, have now graduated to become active terrorists. And third, the ongoing investigations are revealing much deeper and sustained support for terrorism in the region.

Since 1990, Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) has been hit by a separatist militancy that has led to thousands of people dying through acts of violence. But this violence, which has featured many acts of terrorism, has been confined to the state. Acts, such as the Delhi blast of November 10, have been rare.

It would seem that the doctor-terrorist module has been radicalised by Maulvi Irfan Ahmad Wagay, a Srinagar-based cleric. The alleged perpetrator of the Delhi blast, Umar un-Nabi, a doctor, was from Government Medical College (GMC), Srinagar, and Adeel Ahmad Rather, another doctor and the first person to be arrested, from whose locker an AK-47 was recovered, worked at GMC Anantnag. Though there have been a lot of source-based reports on the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) connection of Wagay as well as Shaeen Shahid, another doctor, there is no clear picture yet of the ideological journey of those involved. Additional arrests and interrogation should provide a fuller picture.