Bangalore's image as a safe city takes a beating

Bangalore's image as a safe city takes a beating
The Hindu

DGP K.R. Srinivasan says Imran's arrest is `proof' that Bangalore is high on the terrorist radar, writes K.V. Subramanya

BANGALORE'S REPUTATION as a safe city has again taken a beating with the police on January 5 arresting Imran Jalal, a suspected terrorist from Jammu and Kashmir, and unravelling a plan to attack the Bangalore airport and facilities of IT majors Infosys and Wipro.

Since the terrorist attack on the Indian Institute of Science (IISc.) on December 28, 2005, this is the second incident of the police arresting suspected terrorists who had allegedly planned to target vital installations in Bangalore, which had been for long considered a safe city.

In October last, the Mysore police arrested two Pakistani nationals who were reportedly planning to attack the Vikasa Soudha in Bangalore.

According to Director-General and Inspector-General of Police K.R. Srinivasan the arrest of Imran and the two Pakistani nationals was "proof" that Bangalore was high on the terrorist radar.

While metropolitan cities such as Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Kolkata had been witnessing terrorist activities, mainly by jehadi groups, Bangalore had been free from the menace.

The IISc. attack was the first such incident in Bangalore, though several suspected militants were arrested or shot dead by the police in encounters in the city.

The only act of sabotage carried out in the city in recent years was the blast at St. Peter's and Paul Church in Jagjivan Ram Nagar in June 2000.

The members of the now banned Deendar Anjuman, which had links with the Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), had allegedly carried out the explosion at the church.

After the blast at the church, there was an explosion in the van, in which the Deendar Anjuman members were travelling near Minerva Mills in Magadi Road police station limits.

The van blast, in which two persons were killed, gave vital clues to the police in arresting several members of Deendar Anjuman.

The most successful and major operation by the police against alleged terrorists in the city took place on September 29, 2002 when a suspected ISI agent, Imam Ali, and four of his accomplices were killed in a pre-dawn encounter.

In another major operation in November 2002, the Fraser Town police foiled the attempts of Tamil militants, who reportedly had links with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), to kill some prominent Kannada activists and create unrest in the city.

The most infamous of the militants who had taken shelter in the city (in 1991) were the assassins of the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

While some of these LTTE cadres committed suicide by consuming cyanide at a house in Konanakunte, the police arrested a few others.