Which states are most vulnerable to terrorism? An Intelligence Bureau report warns that IT centres are likely targets.
We know which the top targets are. One is the economic lifeline. It can be transportation, it can be IT. Then you have high visibility targets -- various defence establishments, for instance. Wherever we have specific information about a target we act on it. There was talk about an attempt on an atomic energy establishment. We prevented that.
Hyderabad and Bangalore are important economically and also because they have substantial number of relations with outside connections.
The Shahid Bilal network is in operation both in Hyderabad and Bangalore. They (the terrorists) have three or four prongs. Hyderabad and Bangalore at one level; Varanasi and eastern UP at another; Maharashtra and Gujarat at a third. If we get information about the Shahid Bilal network we intensify the protective mechanism in Hyderabad and Bangalore. If we have information about the Azim Cheema network, we know which are his areas of operation.
Unfortunately, Hyderabad has become part of the three or four (terror) networks that are operational.
Hyderabad and to some extent Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi are the four cities where a concentration of terrorist activity has been identified.
What about the rest of South India?
I don't think any part of the country can be kept outside. In terms of gradation, Hyderabad and Bangalore are much higher (than other parts of the south).
You are no longer dealing with terrorists who come from broken homes, are uneducated or ill educated. There are quite a few (terrorists) with doctorates. It is really an idea which they have that Muslims are being persecuted. In India, we have dealt with it much better than anywhere else in the world.
Photograph: Security personnel screen visitors at the Lumbini Park in Hyderabad, August 30, 2007. Photograph: Noah Seelam/AFP/Getty Images
Also read: 'There's no cause that can justify terrorism!'
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