India

North Bihar: Terror Hub or Terror Hullabaloo by Media?

Jitendra

The growing clamor in the mainstream media, that few districts especially Darbhanga and Madhubani of Bihar have been emerging as hot bed of terror activities, has raised indignation among the people of this region.

These districts have been rechristened as Azamgarh of Bihar. Azamgarh a well known town of eastern Uttar Pradesh, an adjacent state of Bihar is very ‘unpopular’ among mainstream media. The media has nicknamed it as ‘terror nursery’ of India. The intelligence agencies have been regularly swooping down into this town in connection with any terror blasts, consequently leading to large scale victimization of youths belonging to minority community.

Gradually, this ‘nursery’ has been shifted and gained its ground in Bihar. Regular ‘abductions’ (not arrest) of the youths from minority community in last few months by different agencies have brought these remote areas in national scene. But the ‘truth’ which prevails at grassroots level seems very ‘strange’ in what it has been presented by media. There were lots of contradictions in the views of even intelligence agencies. The one glaring chinks appeared came to day light that an informer of Delhi police was being dubbed as ‘culprit’ ‘mastermind’ of 13 July, 2011 of Mumbai terror blasts by Mumbai Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) chief Rakesh Mariah!

It might be co-incidence. 12 out of 13 arrested suspects in last six months are from Darbhanga and its adjoining region.

Ground zero scene

In a hamlet named, Devra-Bandholi, 30 km of west from Darbhanga town, Naqui, 22, and Nadeem Akhtar, 23, ‘two suspects’ of this village were lifted out by Mumbai police. Naqui’s brother Taqui was at his village residence. Initially, though he snubbed the media, later with the help of locals he agreed to speak. ‘It was the media who made us terrorist. They come and talk to us but never published victims’ views’ says enraged Taqui, a youth in his early twenties. He took this correspondent to his one storied well furnished house. His most of the family members were involved in leather business at Delhi and Mumbai.

Taqui says ‘neither we were police informer nor we involve in any anti-social activities. Actually we helped the police’. Delhi Police called the Naqui for simple interrogation and asked for help in locating the broker who helped the ‘few’ men in getting accommodation. In this connection, Naqui was taken to Mumbai by Delhi police through airways. After locating the broker, police left him at Mumbai where Mumbai police had lifted him up and made ‘prime accused’ in 13 July, 2011 Mumbai blast which led to death of 26 people.

Neither family members nor the local leaders or police want to discuss this issue. The women have been peeping from behind their veil at strangers. They all were not media shy. They firmly pretend that their version would not appear in the media!

A retired engineer, Mr. Lukaman Ahmed, whose engineer son, Gauhar Aziz Khomeni, 28, was also lifted, said he came to know this by paper and TV news. A local Hindi daily published it as a prominent news that chaar atankawadi giraftar(Four terrorists nabbed).

‘Media men made our child a terrorist’ says aggrieved Lukman Ahmed showing the newspaper.

A senior Imam, not want to be named, says a senior journalist from Patna spent whole day with him. He had helped him in getting touch with the ‘suspects’ family. But he didn’t mince a single word about the agonies inflicted after ‘nabbing or lifting of their ward’ to the families. His indication was of ‘mushrooming’ madarsas and mosque would be the main reason behind this terror hub.

A rumor was spread among the community that Police was looking for a suspect named ‘Danish’. It made every ‘Danish’ of this region terrorized as they think they would be the next!

It was strange to see that aggrieved families have been blaming and cursing other aggrieved family for ‘fabricating’ their wards to this case to only to settle their earlier score. And they all were looking for each other to settle this score. The most of the families were groping in the dark, confusion prevails. Even after their arrest of six months, the families were not formally informed by the police where their wards are!

Unaware from the ground zero realities, the mainstream media continue to keep itself in ‘a shell’ of realities. They come out, time to time, with a speculative ‘serious’ type analysis such as ‘Indian Mujahidin targeting Darbhanga for recruits?’

(This article was first published in newzfirst.com)

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