A DAY after the jihadi attack in Moscow’s metro in which 39 people were killed on Monday, the Russian Prime Minister, Mr Vladimir Putin, who many Russians say is the country’s paramount leader despite stepping down as Kremlin chief in May 2008, has called upon the security forces to scrape the culprits "from the bottom of the sewers" and expose them.
This is not for the first time suicide bombers have carried out a brutal operation in Moscow. In 2004 too, in a similar operation, they had killed 41 persons in the metro. Ever since Mr Putin launched an intense military operation against the Chechen separatists in 1999, the terrorists have been organising revenge operations in which hundreds of Russians have died.
Monday’s attack has made the Russian rulers, particularly Mr Putin, quite concerned as the operation gives a tell-tale impression that the Chechen rebels have joined hands with the Al Qaeda. If Moscow is determined not to allow the Chechen rebels to raise their heads and do everything to maintain order in Chechnya, a small poor mountainous region in the Caucasus measuring only 30 by 70 miles, the separatists are equally determined to create a Muslim dominated republic. Chechnya may be a small place but it has the vast reserve of oil and natural gas and Russia at no cost would prefer to slip it out of its control. Since 2004, operation Russia has been witnessing a silent war in the region but with the latest attack in metro it has come to the streets of Moscow. In fact the Chechen rebel leader, Mr Doku Umarov who claims to be the "Emir of the Caucasus" has vowed to attack Russian cities and energy pipelines which feed the $1.3 trillion economy of the world’s biggest energy producer.
In Chechnya, Mr Ramzan Kadyrov has been Mr Putin’s protégé. But, ironically, he is not popular with the Chechens and is often accused of resorting to heavy-handed tactics against the poor people of the region which has rampant poverty, corruption and massive unemployment. It is surprising how could a person like Mr Putin failed to take lessons from the past. The main factor behind the southern states of former USSR rebelling against the Soviet Union leadership and striving to establish as independent countries was the element of utter neglect of the region by the Communist regime. They were treated as colonies. There is no denying the fact that the tactics adopted by Kremlin to keep the region in Russia and also to deal with the insurgency which has transformed into a campaign for holy war against Russia has been primarily responsible for the separatist movement gaining ground. The endemic corruption among officials has bred poverty and driven the youth into the hands of Islamist rebels.
Apparently, the jihadi attack in Moscow metro does not pose any threat to India. But the modus operandi and nature of the attack are really a matter of concern. With the Kashmiri terrorists already in league with Taliban and Al Qaeda, this type of attack could not be ruled out. Moreover, the Indian metro services are more vulnerable in comparison to the Russian metro. Incidentally, the Indian railway has been the soft target for the terrorists. Though the Government of India claims to have succeeded in curbing terrorist activities to a large extent, it would be wrong to ignore this aspect of their operation.
