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Was Madani the link between ISI and Al-Umma?

D Jose in Thiruvananthapuram

The interrogation of those arrested in Kerala in connection with the serial bomb blasts in Coimbatore, and subsequent raids in various establishments have yielded valuable clues to the police.

Officials said several Islamic organisations were in league with terrorist outfits outside the state. They suspect the National Development Front, an organisation that came up recently, of having close links with the Al-Umma, the outfit said to be behind the blasts.

Raids at the houses of some prominent NDF leaders in Kozhikode have strengthened the police's doubts. Al-Umma, though based in Tamil Nadu, has spread itself into Malappuram and other Muslim-dominated districts in a big way. The police say the organisation has close links with Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence.

People's Democratic Party leader Abdul Nassar Madani, who was arrested on Tuesday, is alleged to be the go-between for the two organisations.

The PDP chief, remanded to 14 days judicial custody, was released to the police on Friday for further interrogation. Madani has allegedly been arranging training for Al-Umma activists in Pakistan, sleuths claimed. He had attempted to send Mohammad Ashraf, one of the blast accused, to Pakistan. However, Ashraf could not proceed from Bangkok due to technical reasons. Madani had arranged Ashraf's trip with the help of Zainuddin Haji, an accused in the pipe-bomb case in Malappuram.

Police said Ashraf was to return to Kerala after the training as Madani wanted him for subversive activities in Kollam, which houses the banned Islamic Sewak Sangh's headquarters, and is the nerve centre of the PDP chief's activities.

Earlier, following Madani's arrest, the police had raided his headquarters and arrested K P Abubacker, principal of the Shariat College, Kollam.

The PDP chief, according to the police, had planned with Ashraf to shelter the accused at a hotel in Kozhikode on March 11.

Interrogations so far reveal that Kerala was the base as well as safe passage for arms and explosives. Two kilograms of RDX was brought in before the blasts. Ashraf is believed to have been the main source, and had supplied guns to several individuals in Tamil Nadu. The Tamil Nadu police are trying to recover these; their Kerala counterparts, too, have launched a massive hunt for hidden weapons and explosives.

On the political front, the revelations have shocked the two dominant political powers -- the ruling Left Democratic Front and United Democratic Front. Both had aligned with Madani's party at one time or the other. Though Chief Minister E K Nayanar had been talking about several organisations receiving help from foreign agencies, no one imagined that the situation would be of this magnitude.

State CPI-M secretary Chadayan Govindan has urged the people to isolate the extremists, calling upon the government to take stern action against those who were whipping up passions against Madani's arrest. He asked the people to be vigilant against majority communalists taking advantage of the situation.

The Indian Union Muslim League, which represents the bulk of Muslims in Kerala, has disassociated itself from the extremist elements. Party general secretary Korambayil Ahmed Haji said the IUML has always opposed political terrorism.

The Bharatiya Janata Party, meanwhile, blames both the UDF and LDF for 'nurturing' and 'pampering' Madani, even after fully well knowing his role in engineering communal troubles. The party has asked the Fronts to tender an apology to the people.

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