Shock and outrage
REGIONAL ROUNDUP
| In its July 6 edition, Dainik Bhaskar took on the front page the news of Kafeel Ahmed, the Glasgow bomber, having been discovered to be an Indian. He was found to be the brother of Sabeel Ahmed, a doctor arrested from Liverpool for alleged terror links, the paper reported. Quoting Daily Telegraph, Bhaskar added that both bothers had studied medicine at Bangalore before going to the UK. |
| An edit in Punjab Kesari lambasted the commonly held notion that no Indian Muslim could ever have links with terror. "After 9/11, when Muslims across the globe were being eyed suspiciously, Sonia Gandhi continued to claim that Indian Muslims were true Indians and could never be involved in terror attacks. The arrest of Kafeel, Sabeel and Haneef has put paid to her claims," the edit said. |
| The other story that was covered in the regional press was the showdown between militant groups and the Pakistan army at Islamabad's Lal Masjid. A day after army troops stormed the mosque to flush out militants, resulting in the death of 60 terrorists including that of radical preacher Abdul Rashid Ghazi, Rajasthan Patrika took the story on the front page. Quoting a private news channel, the paper reported that Ghazi used women and children as shields before being killed during the siege. The report was accompanied by a picture of Ghazi and of an army officer set to storm the mosque. |
| Bangalore's link with the terror attacks in the UK grabbed front page attention in all leading Kannada dailies. Newspapers have dedicated full pages to the issue. The papers covered the issue exhaustively with reports being filed from district centres on the antecedents of the accused and their activities. Each newspaper had multiple editorials on the issue last week. |
| Kannada Prabha expressed fears over Bangalore's reputation as a cosmopolitan city being tarnished. Market leader Vijaya Karnataka was critical of the establishment in its editorial: "Terrorism has become a global phenomenon. Bangalore's link to the terror attacks is a shocking discovery. This menace needs to be tackled through joint efforts. The centre and the states should co-ordinate security in the metros. This is an wake-up call to all governments." |
| Other state issues, such as the gunning down of Naxalites and floods, also made it to the front pages. |
| The Bangalore link in the UK terror investigation didn't hit the front pages of Tamil daily Dinamalar. However, the edition dated July 11 carried reports on the seizure of CDs and hard disks from Kafeel Ahmed's house in Bangalore and on the Australian Federal Police questioning Haneef. The next day's edition also carried a couple of reports on Kafeel Ahmed's alleged links with al-Qaeda, accompanied by a box item on the rising panic among Indian Muslims in the UK following the failed terror plots. |
| The daily also carried reports on 'Operation Silence' within the Lal Masjid along with photographs. The edition dated July 10 dedicated half of one of the inside pages to a special report on the operation. During the week, reports on the BSNL tender issue, the election of the Vice-President, co-operative elections, the Naxal issue, the death of former Prime Minster Chandra Shekhar, and medical counselling dominated the front pages of the daily. |
| Though all Telugu dailies published stories on the failed terror plot at the Glasgow airport and the showdown at the Lal Masjid, the reportage was somewhat subdued. What received substantial coverage in Eenadu, Andhra Jyothi, Vartha and Andhra Bhoomi were the killing of 22 police officers in a Naxal ambush on the Chhattisgarh-Andhra border and the death of former PM Chandra Shekhar. |
| In Eenadu, the Glasgow incident found mention in the inside pages. A day prior to this, the paper had carried a report on the remand of Bilal Abdullah, the accused in the terror plot, besides the reported visit of the British police to Bangalore. Andhra Bhoomi too had a write-up on why the educated were increasingly getting attracted to terrorism. |
| Andhra Jyothi, Bhoomi and Vartha gave prominent coverage to the visit of Presidential candidate Pratibha Patil. Besides, Bhoomi reported on the farmer unrest over the non-availability of seeds for kharif sowing. |