800 terror modules busted in India over 4 years: Narayanan

Islam,Terrorism and Jihad

13 Aug 2008, NewAgeIslam.Com

800 terror modules busted in India over 4 years: Narayanan

New Delhi, August 12, 2008   As many as 800 terror modules were "disrupted" in the country over the past four years, National Security Advisor MK Narayanan revealed in an interview published on Tuesday.   Narayanan told The Straits Times of Singapore that Indian intelligence was looking for a local mastermind behind the recent blasts in the country. "Clearly, there is some kind of an organisation."   "We are trying to (tackle extremists) as democratically as possible despite occasional complaints of targeting of minorities or profiling of people. Certainly no profiling is taking place," he asserted."When you disrupt one of them (terror modules), we don't go public. Press will call it a publicity stunt. Obviously, some are getting away and there are quite a few under the scanner at the moment," he said.   "What is the evidence?" asks Satish Chandra, former deputy national security advisor. "It (the claim) doesn't jell with the extent of terror India is facing," Chandra felt.   Narayanan said it was "difficult to say locals are not involved" in the blasts that shook Jaipur, Bangalore and Ahmedabad. "In Jaipur, cycles used for blasts were bought from a series of shops. The extent to which locals are involved, whether they are mercenaries…is what we are trying to unravel."   Former Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal felt the NSA's statement was not wrong. "You can't eliminate the menace of terrorism, but India needs a national consensus on how to deal with the problem."   Narayanan also pointed to the difficulties that might arise while dealing with terrorist elements in a country like India.   "We are trying to (tackle extremists) as democratically as possible despite occasional complaints of targeting of minorities or profiling of people. Certainly no profiling is taking place," he asserted.   Narayanan said enforcement agencies needed more support at the ground level. "Quite clearly a number of bombs are being planted, some of it can be detected. The degree of support is not forthcoming in some areas. We are against much more."   All over the world, he stressed, there was an increasing level of terror as well as sophistication of methodology and triggering devices. All this indicated that many more "high-grade people" were involved in acts of terrorism, Narayanan added.      **********************     India: '800 terror cells operating with external support unearthed' 12 Aug 2008, PTI   KUALA LUMPUR: Indian intelligence agencies have uncovered at least 800 terrorist cells in the country operating with "external support," and are now looking for the brains behind them within India, National Security Adviser M K Narayanan has said. "We are concerned that there is a great deal of external inspiration and support, we are also concerned and are looking at a mastermind within the country," Narayanan told Singapore's Straits Times in an interview here, when asked about investigations into the blasts that rocked Bangalore and Ahmedabad on consecutive days.   Narayanan said intelligence agents had "disrupted" several modules, some of which are "not entirely foreign."   "Clearly, there is some kind of organisation. We have to find out if that organisation is localised or there is an external group or module operating," he said without elaborating.   He also expressed concern over the bombing of hospitals by terror outfits in Ahmedabad -- the first instance of a hospital being targeted by terrorists in India.   "Copycat systems are coming up," he said. "Like putting bombs in vehicles near hospitals soon after blasts, knowing that large congregations will be there and impact will be much greater," Narayanan said.