B'lore blips on terror radar, ATS pressed into action

B'lore blips on terror radar, ATS pressed into action
Priyanjana Dutta
CNN-IBN


Bangalore: Bangalore changed on December 28, 2005, when the attack on the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) shook the city.

While Abdul Rehman and Afsar Pasha, the suspected masterminds behind the attack are under arrest, the police are yet to trace the terrorists who carried out the attack.

But one thing is clear - Bangalore is now on India's terror map.

Says Joint Commissioner Crime, Bangalore, Gopal Hosur, "We have been able to detect one or two modules, which have been operating and whose interrogation have led to some links. So far, there has not been much of terrorist activity in Karnataka. IISc was the only one and with that we have been bale to get some leads and round up some modules."

Karnataka has now formed an Anti-Terrorist Squad comprising of 25 personnel.

And this is not the only threat. Bangalore is also bracing itself for cyber terror.

Twenty-four-year-old Nadeem Kashmiri was arrested in June this year as the man behind the Hongkong Bank Internet fraud, but it's his alleged links with the LeT and the ISI that show how real the cyber threat is.

Says DGP, COD Economic Offences Wing, K R Srinivasan, "We recently chargesheeted the case against Kashmiri and one of his UK contacts Asraf, the details of which are yet to be established. He is still in judicial custody. He has talked about certain people, but unless we verify the complicity of the people I cannot confirm anything."

Intelligence reports also place reputed IT companies on terror target lists. While IT companies are tightlipped about the threat, for the first time, they are wary.

"I think there is an increased threat perception but I don't think there's cause for panic. I think companies have put in place basic security measures to prevent access to people and vehicles. That's the first thing. Companies are also beginning to share information with each other on intelligence that they get or practices that they follow to prevent these kind of attacks," says Convenor, Bangalore Forum for IT professionals, C M Kumar.

However, sections of the IT Industry feel the terror threat isn't being taken seriously.

The Secretary General of the Union for IT Enabled Services India, Kartik Shekhar, says, "I feel not much is being done. For example, we have a unique call center charter and here we list out the whole set of dos and don'ts and this we've been telling companies time and again, but none of them are adhered to."

Economic targets, known faces, and symbols of success - terror groups today are targeting them all, which brings Bangalore sharply into focus, since it is modern India's economic success story.