Black September of Malegaon

By Mustfa Khan

Modasa (Gujarat) and Malegaon (Maharashtra) blasts are first interstate simultaneous terrorist attacks coming as they did at 9.30 p.m. on Monday September 29, 2008 when Muslim crowds were milling out of the nearby mosques and by lanes for shopping and for refreshment. There is more to it than meets the eye. Both the towns have sizable concentration of Muslims. Modasa has the dubious distinction of being a safe haven for the banned SIMI activists and the blast in Malegaon took place in the leeward of the first floor SIMI office in Bhiku chowk adjoining the sprawling Noorani mosque. The epicenters were the nonvegeterian eateries bristling with usual fasting crowds. The timing was also like what happened two years back in Malegaon, floodgate of worshippers pouring into the lanes and streets after special prayers.

But Malegaon's cup of misery and painful suffering has already been brimming. The town has a lacerating tryst with September. This September was the second anniversary of the first ever bomb blasts. Now the town would be marred by two anniversaries every year henceforward. The much-flaunted emporium known as the Manchester of India is reeling under the scourge of bombings. The wounds of the September 8, 2006 were not healed when another bloodbath had a fiery visitation. [Is it a reminder or reprisal of the Indian Mujahideen email?]

First report put out by the inefficient police had it that literal fire was caused by a gas cylinder blast. Certainly a ploy to downplay the gravity of the situation. However, it backfired as the inferno set off by low intensity bomb sparked off protest by the incensed mob that could not brook the presence of police on the scene. There is, in fact, a police chowki duly staffed with regular police and along with special reservists hardly fifty feet away from the blast spot.

Most eerie is the coincidence of timing that obviates the immediacy of the police in space. In 2006 the bombs exploded puzzlingly sans police on the scene but this time their presence with their vehicle and chowki was a chilly reminder of the state power. What more could be the visible symbol of the ineffectiveness of the government organ?
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