Given the alarming increase in activities of terrorist organisations, the Government's decision to form an Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) is a step in the right direction and has not come a day too soon.

The quickness of the LDF Government's response has also helped it to blunt the edge of Opposition criticism that the Government is soft on terrorism and is pandering to organizations with terrorist links.

The decisive step is also expected to pay the LDF rich dividends in the local bodies elections which are due in September this year

After a high-level meeting to discuss the issue, which was attended by top officials of the state police and the Intelligence Bureau, Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan declared the government's decision to set up the ATF. The State's Director General of Police, Mr. Jacob Punnose has been asked to ready the organizational set-up of the squad and its terms of reference. It is learnt some officers of the now defunct Joint Investigation Team(JIT) would form part of the squad.

In glaring contrast has been the ambivalence of the principal opposition party, the Congress. The party has been speaking with a forked tongue on the issue. For instance, senior Congress leader Aryadan Mohammed is on record that the party will have no truck whatsoever with terrorist organizations like the Popular Front of India(PFI). Nor will it seek votes from such organisations, Aryadan averred.

Leader of the Opposition Oommen Chandy, however, aired a different view. He said that while his party would oppose terrorist organizations, it would not show the impudence of saying No to votes from any section of the people!

A few days after Mr. Chandy expressed his controversial views on the issue, Minister of State for Home Affairs in the UPA Government at the Centre, Mr. Mullappally Ramachandran injected politics into the issue. After his visit to Nilambur in Malabar, which witnessed an attempt to derail a passenger train, Mr.Ramachandran told newspersons that if the Kerala Government desired, the Centre would agree to an investigation by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) into terrorism-related cases. Hardly two days later, the politician in Mr Ramachandran got the better of him. He said in Kozhikode that there was mystery behind the LDF Government's announcement in the State Assembly that the State Government would request the NIA to take over the probe into the train sabotage attempt case. Mr Ramachandran wanted the Kerala Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan to admit its failure to do the needful in investigating the case before the case could be taken up by the NIA!. Also, the NIA cannot be expected to take up all terrorism-related cases as its hands were full, he added.

If Mr. Ramachandran was sincere in his promise, he should have straightaway agreed to the Kerala Government's request without seeking to politicise the issue and avoiding the temptation to score brownie points.

Mr Ramachandran should have realized that it does not pay to politicize an issue which has grave security implications not only for Kerala but also for the rest of the country. The cussedness that informed Mr. Ramachandran's statement came as a surprise as he has a reputation of being a sensible and sober politician.

Though Mr. Ramachandran and Mr. Oommen Chandy subsequently made attempts to make amends, the damage had been done. Such blatant doublespeak could cost the Congress dear in the upcoming local bodies elections, too, it is pointed out.

It is not Congress alone which has betrayed its ambivalence on the issue of tackling terror. Its principal ally in the United Democratic Front (UDF), the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), too, is not of one mind on the issue. The dichotomy in the IUML's thinking became evident when senior leader and education minister in the former Oommen Chandy-headed UDF Government, Mr. E T Mohammed Bashir, voiced his soft attitude towards the Popular Front of India which was involved in an incident in Muvattupuzha in south Kerala in which the hand of a college professor was hacked. The PFI is also under the scanner for its role in the attempt to derail a passenger train at Nilambur railway station.

Ironically, while Mr. Bashir was airing his pro-PFI attitude on a TV channel, the state committee meeting in Kozhikode of the IUML was expressing its desire to fight the forces of terrorism including the PFI.

It may be recalled that terrorism reared its ugly head in the State in the wake of the Babri masjid demolition in 1992 The militant forces tried to take advantage of the resentment among Muslim youth over the masjid's demolition. The then UDF government's failure to curb these forces helped them to dig in their heels.

The LDF Government headed by late E K Nayanar, which came into power in 1996 took the first decisive step to tackle terrorism by constituting a special squad. Enraged by the Nayanar Government's determination, the militants made an attempt on Nayanar's life.

During the period 2001-2006 when a UDF Government was in power, the State witnessed an increase in terrorist activities. A series of explosions rocked the State. Among them were the blast at a chicken stall in Kannur, the explosion at the mofussil bus stand in Kozhikode, the destruction and burning of boats in Bepur port, the burning of buses at Kalamasseri and the communal riots at Marad. The UDF rule also saw 18 people being killed in communal riots. (IPA)