Continuing DMK’s abysmal record against Terrorism after Coimbatore blasts
May 2006: Half a dozen cadres of Al Umma suddenly released from Palayamkottai prison within days of DMK government assuming charge.  
 

July 22, 2006: Five MNP (Manitha Neethi Pasarai) cadres arrested in Coimbatore on charges of plotting serial bomb blasts similar to 1998 blasts. All five acquitted on 9 February 2008 on grounds of being arrested on false charges!
 

August 8, 2006: Indian Express reported, “Senior Policemen in Thirunelveli were shocked by what they termed the DMK Government’s ‘blatant sympathy’ for Muslim fundamentalists.”
 

November 22, 2006: The leaders of KFD (Karnataka for Dignity), MNP (Manitha Neethi Pasarai) and NDF (National Development Front) gathered at a conference in Calicut and decided to form a new outfit - Popular Front of India (PFI) - to coordinate their activities. The leaders of PFI include KM Shareef, president of KFD, Gulam Muhammed, leader of MNP and Abdur Rahman Baqari of NDF (all erstwhile SIMI activists); they decided to confine their activities to South India. 
 

July 26, 2006: Indian Express carried an analytical report by Jaya Menon on the activities of MNP indulging in ‘conversion’ and conducting classes in the name of ‘Arivagam’ to brainwash new converts, especially Scheduled Castes, to train and recruit them in Jihadi squads. (The MNP is reportedly active in Theni and Coimbatore districts, which are close to Kerala borders, so that they can connect with the Kerala based extremist organisation NDF, for plotting terror activities. After this, there was no noise about MNP in media circles, though their activities were allegedly going on clandestinely.) 
 

December 2006: TMMK attempts to construct a Mosque close to Sri Kasi Viswanathar Temple in Thenkasi town of Thirunelveli district. Hindu Munnani activists led by Kumar Pandian thwart attempt.
 

December 17, 2006: TMMK cadres murdered Kumar Pandian.
 

February 17, 2007: The New Indian Express, Chennai, reported the formation of the ‘Popular Front of India’ (PFI) on 16 February 2007, as a coordinated effort between three organisations – Karnataka For Dignity (KFD), Karnataka; Manitha Neethi Pasarai (MNP), Tamil Nadu; and National Development Front (NDF), Kerala. The supposed objective of the PFI, launched in Bangalore, was, ‘to coordinate & strengthen grassroot level developmental activities throughout the country,’ followed by an ‘Empower India’ conference in the garden city. The paper further reported, “Though the organisation’s agenda has been well spelt out – democracy & social justice, the state police fear that the organisation had been set up to propagate hardliner ideology”. 
 

March 26, 2007: The Indian Express reported, “The police spoke of Al Umma, the fundamentalist outfit which had become weak after the arrest of more than 100 of its members in the Coimbatore case, which under the DMK regime had been rejuvenated and was trying to enforce edicts on the Muslim community in the districts of south Tamil Nadu.” This report gives a clear indication of Talibanisation of Tamil Nadu. 
 

August 14, 2007: Three Hindu Munnani activists (brothers of Kumar Pandian) murdered in Tenkasi by TMMK cadres; three TMMK cadres also lose their lives in the clash.  
 

January 24, 2008: A special police team arrested Ravi Pandian (last brother of slain Hindu Munnani leader Kumar Pandian & three others), and two other Hindu youths, in connection with the RSS-office bomb blast in Tenkasi! 
 

February 5, 2008: Welcoming the arrest of Hindu youth, Jawahirullah, president of TMMK posted an article praising TN police for the arrests on an Islamic website, www.twocircles.net
[http://www.twocircles.net/2008feb05/sangh_parivar_activists_arrested_blasts_rss_office.html] 
 

June / July 2008: Central intelligence agencies alerted Tamil Nadu of a possible terrorist attack on Hindu religious installations. State intelligence busted a terrorist module operating out of Mannadi in Chennai with ’specific plans’. These plans were near-operational when the police cracked down. LeT trained jihadis Toufeeque and Abu Dahir, who were also leaders of this module, managed to escape. Tamil Nadu police foiled an Independence Day 2008 terror bid by arresting Abdul Gaffur, employed in Chennai and acting under instructions from one Ali Abdullah lodged in central prison Puzhal near Chennai. 
 

Erode district police raided 30 private godowns selling gelatine sticks and detonators meant for stone quarrying and blasting wells. Police said the detonators used in the Bangalore blasts could have been sourced from these godowns. Police also raided godowns in Bhavani, Uthukuli, Sathyamangalam and Gobichettypalayam
(Ref: http://islamicterrorism.wordpress.com/2008/07/28/muslim-terrorists-target-sri-meenakshi-
and-other-major-temples-in-tamil-nadu-security-tightened/ and
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/tamil-nadu-cops-foil-aug-15-terror-bid-arrest-one/69709-3.html?xml ).
 

Other activities of Jihadi outfits
 

Emboldened by the softness of the DMK reime, the Jihadi outfits in Tamil Nadu became more aggressive, especially during Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations, attempting to block the placement of Vinayagar Vigrahas, thwarting Visarjanam processions and stoning Vigrahas during the processions. Attacks and protests against Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations have been increasing every year since 2006, and such incidents have been reported even in DMK-supportive Tamil dailies like Dinakaran, Tamizh Murasu and TV channels such as SUN TV and Raj TV. This year also the state witnessed widespread violence unleashed by Jihadi outfits during Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations; some incidents were reported in the media.
 

A dangerous aspect of these outfits is the imparting of military training to their cadres. In April 2008, Tamil daily ‘Dinamani’ reported that MNP was giving “military training” (fully uniformed with arms) to around 1000 cadres (50 from each district) to conduct ‘Freedom Parade’ on 15 August 2008 (Independence Day), as a show of “patriotism”! The outfit has recruited more than 25000 cadres in four years and military training was being imparted to 300 cadres from each district. Though the outfit claimed to be focusing on ‘human rights’ and ‘social service’, the daily reported that the ‘Q’ branch police was close watching its activities. When the MNP took out a rally in Madurai last Republic Day, wall advertisements by the outfit carried the figure of the Flag of the banned outfit JKLF! (Ref:
http://prativad.com/MPDailyNews/Popular-Front's-spearheaded-Freedom%20Parade.htm)
 

In fact, this practice has been going on since 2004 (Ref: 
http://www.popularfrontindia.org/documents/Popular%20Front%20of%20India%20Annual%20Report%202007.html).
 

The same practice was carried out in other southern states such as Karnataka and Kerala. The pro-Islamic governments of Tamil Nadu and Kerala allowed these outfits to conduct the so-called freedom parade in the name of ID celebrations in Kumbakonam and Idukki
http://www.twocircles.net/2009aug15/thousands_took_part_pfis_freedom_parade_north_
kerala.html and
http://freedomparade2009.blogspot.com/2009/08/report-from-kumbakonam.html and
http://dailymuslimnews.blogspot.com/2009/07/pfi-freedom-parade-in-four-places-on.html).
 

Yeddyurappa’s BJP government allowed the ‘freedom parade’ in Mangalore in 2008, it refused permission this year for Mysore, a communally sensitive town. (Ref:
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/20200/pfi-flays-government-stages-protest.html ).
 

It is an irony that those who refused to sing Vande Mataram have been conducting the so-called freedom parade to show their ‘patriotism’! 
 

While on one side these organisations ‘claim’ to be ‘patriotic’ and celebrate Independence Day, on the other side they create unrest and try to incite communal violence in the name of Babri anniversary. When they attempted to conduct protest demonstrations on 6 December 2008 (16th anniversary) in major cities and towns, more than 7000 activists were detained by the police. The Pakistani connection of TMMK and Tamil Nadu Towheed Jamaat (TNTJ) is evident from the fact that their activities have been reported in Pakistani media. (Ref:
http://www.app.com.pk/en_/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=61510&Itemid=2)  
 

February 19, 2009: Tamil daily ‘Dinamalar’ reported that the Popular Front of India organized a massive ‘National Political Conference’ in Calicut from 13 to 15 February 2009, attended by member organizations such as Karnataka for Dignity, Manitha Neethi Pasarai, Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam, National Development Front, etc., comprising thousands of cadres. The daily reported that the conference theme was “Power for People”. Incidentally, the TMMK had just then inaugurated its political wing named ‘Manithaneya Makkal Matchi’ meaning ‘Humane People Party’. The leaders of this outfit also participated in the Calicut conference.

Conclusion
 

Karunanidhi’s atrocious and outrageous act of releasing nine jihadis from prison on the birth anniversary of Annadurai, before completion of their specified sentences, must be seen not only in the backdrop of its dreadful track record against Islamic terrorism, but in the context that 12 most wanted Islamic terrorists are on the loose in Tamil Nadu. 
 

The absconding terrorists are Abubacker Siddique alias Kakka (7 cases), Ayub alias Ashraf Ali (9 cases), Ibrahim (Coimbatore blast case), Mohammed Ali alias Yunus alias Mansoor (3 cases), Ashraf Ali (Coimbatore blast case), Mujibur Rahman alias Muji (5 cases), Mushtaq Ahmed (Chennai RSS headquarters blast case), Rasool Mydeen (2 cases), Jaguar Sadiq alias Tailor Raja alias Valarntha Raja (5 cases), Toufeeque (2 cases), Noohi N P alias Mankave Rasheed (Coimbatore blast case) and Kunju Mohammed alias Gani (Coimbatore blast case). 
 

It is believed that three of them, namely Kakka, Ayub and Thoufeeque were trained in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and are experts in making explosives. Kakka, a hardcore Al Umma activist, has seven cases against him under the Explosive Substances Act and has been absconding since 1997. 
 

Ayub alias Ashraf Ali, a core member of Islamic Defence Force, is more dangerous and was the key operative behind the three train blasts in Tamil Nadu in 1997, which killed 10 persons and injured another 72. In a bid to blast the US consulate in Chennai, Ashraf Ali along with his associates planted bombs on Anna Flyover in Chennai. He was accused of sending parcel bombs to cinema director Mani Ratnam for showing Islamic terror acts in his film ‘Bombay’.
 

Mushtaq Ahmed, who joined hands with dreaded terrorist Imam Ali, one of the founders of Al Umma, planted powerful explosives at the RSS headquarters in Chennai in 1993, killing 11 RSS workers. (Ref:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Chennai/TNs_most_dangerous_ultras_still_at_large/articleshow
/3799461.cms ). 


Though the government announced a reward of Rs 2 lakh for five of them, neither the special investigation team, which probed terrorism-related cases in Tamil Nadu, nor the state intelligence unit, has any inputs on their whereabouts or activities. Now, Karunanidhi’s compassion has added nine more terrorists to this list! When a government itself creates a conducive atmosphere for terror, how can the people expect the intelligence and police forces to function effectively? 


The compassionate government has put the state in peril. As a result, people are in a pathetic state; peace is only a pipedream.


(Concluded)
The author is a senior journalist; he lives in Chennai