BENGALURU: After TNIE on Tuesday quoting the National Investigation Agency (NIA) reported that Bengaluru was the main hub of the banned terrorist organisation Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) post the Burdwan blast in 2014, Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai announced that the city will soon have an anti-terrorist squad (ATS) to deal with any kind of exigency.
The proposal for a full-fledged ATS for Bengaluru is not new, official sources told The New Indian Express. “There has been a long-pending demand for an exclusive ATS for Bengaluru, especially after the 26/11 Mumbai carnage. The Internal Security Division (ISD) was formed for the state after the Mumbai terror attack but the city needs its own ATS given its vulnerability and international reputation as the Silicon Valley of India,” an officer said.
There have been targeted attacks by various proscribed terrorist organisations in Bengaluru since 2000. A church in JJ Nagar was blown up by the banned terrorist organisation Deendar Anjuman followed by the IISc attack by the Lashkar-e-Taiba in December 2005, serial blasts in 2008, Chinnaswamy Stadium blast in 2010, Al Ummah bomb explosion at BJP office in Malleswaram in 2013 and the 2014 explosion on Church Street by a SIMI member.
“A separate and dedicated ATS on the lines of Mumbai and Delhi special cells is an urgent need. A new proposal will be submitted to the government soon,” he added.