Last week’s terror attack at a concert hall in the outskirts of Moscow should send an alarm to governments across the globe. Till now more than 130 people have been reported dead. The ease with which four camouflaged and armed men walked into the auditorium during a Pop music programme and displayed enormous calm while executing their diabolical plan demonstrated the strength of terrorist guile and prowess.

They used powerful firearms and also set fire to parts of the hall. Four suspects have since been arrested and charged in Court. It will be several weeks before the world gets to know their background and motivation. Moscow will try its best to prove any Ukrainian links.

The incident makes a mockery of all that security forces do constantly to make us feel safe at any public place. Even conceding that the venue of the concert was not protected — there was no specific intelligence to make special arrangements, such as frisking and posting of armed guards — there are allegations of complacence on the part of the organisers.

Washington claims it had very recently alerted Moscow about a possible terrorist assault .

The latter denies that any actionable information had in fact been conveyed to it. This is the usual passing of the buck seen across the world, especially in India.

Ukraine angle

Of course the first suspect for the attack was Ukraine. This was natural in the context of the prolonged hostilities between that country and Russia. President Putin is emphatic that it was Ukraine that was behind the gory incident. Reports however suggest that he did not have any credible evidence to bolster his accusation.

Also, the ISIS Korshi a regional affiliate of the central ISIS, was quick to claim responsibility and released several video images of its attack.

A relatively unknown outfit to many of us, ISIS (K) had in the past been seen in Afghanistan in hostile manoeuvres against the Taliban, that included the 2021 attack outside Kabul airport. Its presence in Iran and Pakistan is also generally known. Actually about 20 of its suspected associates had been arrested in Russian territory in the recent past. Unless concrete evidence is adduced to prove a Ukrainian hand, we have to go by the ISIS (K) claim.

Experts believe that the terror outfit had for long openly accused Moscow of an anti-Islam posture.

The latter’s active intervention in the Syrian civil war in 2016 in favour of President Bashar al-Assad had infuriated many Islamic groups, including the ISIS and this is perceived to be a major cause for the Moscow outrage.

Whatever be the trigger for the incident, President Putin is undeniably shaken.

While he may work hard to prove that Ukraine was the villain — if only to appease public opinion in his country — he should be worried how to contain terrorism in his multi-ethnic country with a substantial Muslim population (more than 15 million), the largest in Europe.

Avoid complacency

We in India should be concerned as we have evidence of latent support to the ISIS in certain parts of India. The known numbers of activists and sympathisers may be small, but should not lull us into complacence.

The arrest on March 20 of Harris Farooqi, believed to be ISIS head in India in Assam, and his associate demonstrates that terror threat to our country is not insignificant. Close on the heels of this action comes the arrest of an IIT Guwahati biotechnolgy student for pledging allegiance to the ISIS.

This confirms the belief that there are substantial efforts to recruit educated youth and indoctrinate them. Despite all the stern measures taken by New Delhi, it is believed that there is no let-up of surreptitious efforts to finance terror.

It is a tribute to our law enforcement agencies that there has been no major terror attack since 2008. Is this due to terror fatigue or the high state of alertness of the security apparatus? Only time will tell.

The writer is a former CBI Director and former High Commissioner of India to Cyprus

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