Muslims smell sub-plot in Mumbai attacks

A large section of the community has called for widening the attacks probe to go into the circumstances of how Maharashtra anti-terror chief Hemant Karkare was killed, reports Zia Haq.

After a never-before Muslim anger directed at Pakistan, comes suspicion on the “enemy within”. A large section of the community has called for widening the attacks probe to go into the circumstances of how Maharashtra anti-terror chief Hemant Karkare was killed.

HT Image

The Urdu press has put the concern in bold-letter print. “In the mayhem, only three people were eliminated with targeted killing, including anti-terror chief Hemant Karkare. This creates suspicion,” Aziz Burney, the fiery editor of the widely read Urdu daily Rashtriya Sahara, wrote in Thursday’s edition.

Burney told HT that Muslims fear the slain police officer could have been “eliminated”, taking advantage of the mayhem unleashed by the terrorists. Moreover, he said, the role of “American and Israeli agencies should not be ruled out”.

In Aligarh, political science reader in Aligarh Muslim University, Arshi Khan, made a seemingly baseless but damning charge: “The sub-plot of the Mumbai attacks is to send a deadly message to police officers who dare to investigate crimes by Hindu fascists.”

“This is baseless speculation. Hemant Karkare, if at all, could have been eliminated without such a massive barbaric operation. Also, though it may be true that Israel and its intelligence agency MOSSAD is sympathetic to RSS, why should it undertake an operation that targeted a Jewish Centre,” said well-known commentator Asghar Ali Engineer.

The good news for Muslims is that there has been no proof of any local Muslims being involved directly, he said.

However, even members of the intelligentsia appeared speculative. “It can’t be Lashkar alone. It’s beyond their capacity to have crossed territorial waters like this. The probe should focus on forces within as well,” professor Rizwan Kaiser of Delhi’s Jamia Millia Islamia University said.