TWO BLACK FRIDAYS AND CONTRASTING RESPONSES : SHANTONU SEN
TWO BLACK FRIDAYS AND CONTRASTING RESPONSES
Friday 12the March 1993 violence in then Bombay and the horror of yet another Friday on 13the November 2015 in Paris and specifically the contrasting response of two governments compels me to pen the following lines.
RDX laced 13 bombs were ready to blast off in 13 commercial and crowded areas of Bombay immediately after the Friday prayers. Ten off them went off . In two hours there were 257 fatalities and at the end of it nearly 1400 were found injured not all in the metropolis.. Property worth over hundred of crores was damaged. Equally shattering is the bloody violence in Paris . The Paris terror attack is simultaneously at three places. More than ten assailants armed with deadly weapons set about frightening the hell out of hundreds and thousands of Parisians. These happy people, couples ,families football fans, the elderly and the single had all gone out for a Friday night of revelry at concerts, restaurants, football grounds and to other random rallies. One hundred and thirty died wherever they had gone. Ninety nine are critically injured as I write. Hundreds more are injured.
France is bruised, traumatized silent numbed much like Bombay was that fateful afternoon. The French Government’s response has been incredibly fast and furious. Apart from prosecutorial thrust spreading over France and countries adjacent and those having common borders, picking up friends and families of the identified Islamic State backed perpetrators some of whom acquired citizenship rights of France the armed strength of France is on display . The Air Force bombed 160 localities with in the Islamic State in Syria , specifically targeting Raqqa. President Francois Hollande acted with in hours of his immediate announcing of merciless unleashing of France’s armed strength. Many radical Imams who preach violence are going to be thrown out of France. Hundred are already put under house arrest . Twenty three arrests have been announced. These actions have followed 160 raids with in the country. The nation has responded most belligerently .The rest of the World has joined hands. The American President spoke of organizing 800 or more bombings. The Russian President has also joined this conclave.
On the 16th November speaking to French Parliament , for only the second time in French history, the French President has announced that now France is at war.
India and Mumbai ( then Bombay) responded to the 1993 blast with only police action . With in days of the blast we knew that Pakistan and its ISI were behind the carnage that took place on that black Friday, the 12th March 1993. Not only the planning but the entire execution was at their behest. Pakistan training camps trained the executioners who were all of Indian origin , mostly with criminal back grounds. Bombay police acted with perspicacity and speed. All the blasts , the ten that triggered and the three which did not go off, all the instances of riotous behavior ie brandishing deadly weapons and indiscriminate throwing of hand grenades were assigned to separate teams of investigators, all members of the elite Bombay Police. Each team focused on the crime they were assigned to investigate. They started picking up culprits one by one. Over 150 were arrested and dozens were identified as absconders. Later the CBI was roped in go deeper into the crime, collect more evidence and fully unravel the role of Pakistan and their ISI agents. The Special Task Force of the CBI which I had the privilege to head as Joint Director CBI from 1993 to 1996, performed and with outstanding results. The Bombay Police filed the first charge sheet in November 1993. CBI went many steps ahead filing 18 more investigation reports on this horrendous crime nailing over 132 persons including arresting more than a dozen absconders. Subsequently, as many as 100 of them were, after a protracted trial found guilty and sentenced by India’s Supreme Court in 2015 to undergo terms of imprisonment One mastermind was hanged on its orders. But some including Dawood Ibrahim. Tiger Memon, Anis Ibrahim and some more , all with blood of innocent victims all of Bombay and all members of the masterminds remain protected by Pakistan with in its boundaries.
Unlike France today India has never even considered unleashing its armed forces on these real perpetrators of the deadliest attack ,ever, on Independent Indian soil by any country. Is this an opportune moment to get them?
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