Hyderabad attack not a one-off incident

The Hyderabad police are studying the pattern pertaining to the shootout that took place on Friday in which one police constable was killed. The pattern is very similar to what happened last year, and there could be more attacks of a similar nature in future, fear both the Hyderabad police and the Intelligence Bureau.

While the Hyderabad police is fixed on the fact that it is suspected Lashkar-e-Tayiba and Harkat-ul-Jehadi Islami operative Viqarrudin who carried out the attack, the IB sources say that it is also exploring the possibility of a rival faction undertaking this attack.

However, the police say that it not just a 'one-off' incident and their investigations have revealed that the attack was aimed at conveying a strong message to the Andhra Pradesh government.

Some youth who took to terror following the Mecca Masjid blasts have been trying to cause trouble, since they feel that the Muslims in Hyderabad were uncessarily framed for an incident that they were not involved in.

The residents of the old city in Hyderabad, which has targeted the most following the Mecca Masjid incident, feel that this incident was the turning point.

The controversial Maulana Naseeruddin had recently told rediff.com that some of the boys in their city had gone astray following atrocities by the police. He also said that this was not the right solution, but there were other ways to fight police atrocities.

Mecca Masjid -- the turning point

On March 18, it will be three years since the Mecca Masjid blast killed scores of people, which was followed by police firing. The police in Hyderabad are taking no chances and security has been beefed up. The police believe that terror outfits would try and strike once again in order to prove a point to the establishment.

Following the Mecca Masjid blasts, there was complete chaos in Hyderabad.

The police had said that it was the Harkat-ul-Jihadi-Islami headed by Shahid Bilal had orchestrated the blast. Minutes after the blasts when Muslims protested that incident, there was police firing in which several persons were killed.

The incident has given birth to a lot of anti-social elements. Riazzuddin Nasir, son of Maulana Nasirrudin, had sworn to avenge the death of his friend, Mujahid, who was killed in a police encounter following the masjid blasts. He then joined the Lashkar-e-Tayiba.

The other man who has become a prime nuisance to the Hyderabad police is Viqaruddin, who is being suspected for Friday's incident. He was also a creation of the Mecca Masjid incident.

He joined Shahid Bilal and is said to have trained in Pakistan. He has given the police the slip once in the past. Investigations conducted on this man have revealed that he was upset that he was being framed in the Mecca Masjid case, and hence he decided on taking revenge.

Even the various interrogations that were conducted following the twin blasts in the city at Lumbini Park and Gokul Chats revealed that it was an operation stage-managed by Bilal in order to avenge the Masjid incident.

Police sources in Hyderabad told rediff.com, "We have intelligence inputs on future strikes and we are closely monitoring the situation and also keeping a close tab on people who leave or enter the city."

The cops say that there are cells of the HuJI and the Lashkar-e-Tayiba which are very active in the city.

The Hyderabad police have more reason to worry since the interrogation of a recently-arrested suspected terrorist, by the name Asif, has also revealed similar details. He told the cops that he met Viqar some time back and the latter had said that the Mecca Masjid blasts will be avenged. The police are currently working on these leads.

Moreover, there is also a large section of the people who feel that the AP police are in denial about the fact that the Mecca Masjid blasts were carried out by some right-wing groups.

The Civil Liberties Monitoring Committee, a non-governmental organisation, while condemning the Friday attack, said that it is strange that the culprits have carried out such a strike at a time when the city was on high alert.

"Police check ups are going on in every nook and corner and it is so strict that people have stopped coming out of their houses. We believe that it is a greater conspiracy to defame a particular community and to divert people's attention on the anniversary of the Mecca Masjid blast. It is also because of this incident that Muslims are neither in a position to conduct a protest meeting nor to pay their tribute to the martyrs of Macca Masjid blast and subsequent police firing victims," it said.