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The Rediff Interview/P Kalimuthu

'If the people had been alert and vigilant... we could have arrested the extremists long back'

Ever since Madras Police Commissioner P Kalimuthu took charge of the constabulary, he has been on a seizure spree: recovering explosives, bombs and arms from various parts of the city.

In this interview with Shobha Warrier, the Man of the Moment for Madras talks about the challenges before him.

The security around your office is tight. Why? Have you been receiving threatening calls?

There have been no threatening calls to me but we do get a lot of bogus and fake calls quite often these days, and that too after the Coimbatore bomb blasts. As and when such calls are received, we act immediately by sending our bomb detection and disposal squads along with trained police dogs, to search the places thoroughly. And, only after ascertaining that there is no truth in the information, does our team come back.

The security around my office has been tightened, and similar security measures have also been taken around all important offices of the Central and state governments, educational institutions etc in order to prevent untoward incidents.

I was asking specifically about the security around your office. They do not allow handbags to be taken inside. Why?

When people come to make their representations they are supposed to carry only their petitions or a piece of paper. There is no need for them to carry their belongings. Since most of the people coming to represent are unknown people, we are not allowing them to carry their personal belongings like bags for security reasons.

As we have recovered considerable quantities of bombs and other explosive material in the city and as we have arrested a number of religious fundamentalists, we have to be very careful. As the fanatic elements were planning to sabotage important buildings, etc in the city, we have taken prompt action by arresting them and many of them have since been detained under the National Security Act. Because their attempts were foiled by our timely action, it is quite likely that some of the underground and the very active fundamentalists may try to do some mischief against the police. So we have taken such precautionary measures to maintain order.

What security measures have you taken in the city itself?

In the city we have issued a red alert to the police personnel. All important buildings, places where a large number of people are expected to gather like theatres, parks, big hotels, hospitals, educational institutions, important offices, railway stations, places of worship, hypersensitive areas/ trouble-prone places, etc are being watched by the police patrols and pickets. The police officers and staff visit such areas very frequently.

The public have also been informed about the security measures to be taken through cinema slides, news items in the mass media, etc. All the vehicles entering the city are being checked by checkpost personnel who are working round the clock at different places in the city. Storming operations, periodical raids, flag marches, etc are being conducted periodically. On the whole, the concept of security consciousness has been conveyed to the general public.

Why is it that all of a sudden we hear reports about seizures of explosives from various parts of the city? Is it because the police and the government were turning a blind eye to this problem earlier?

No, not at all. Right from the beginning, the government had given very clear instructions to all police officers in Tamil Nadu that they should take action against anybody who violates the law. There was no information at all about the presence of such explosives in the city prior to March 17, 1998. The accused persons had brought in bombs and other explosive materials from Coimbatore during November-December 1997. They had hired buildings and were moving from place to place secretly with the explosives.

You mean you had absolutely no knowledge at all about their activities?

Yes, we had absolutely no knowledge at all till some suspects were caught. Their activities came to our notice only after the Coimbatore blasts. Whenever there were instances of bomb blasts, we acted immediately. For example, in November 1997, there was a bomb blast in Madras on Anna flyover and there were blasts on trains at Erode, Tiruchy and at Trichur in Kerala. Special investigation teams were formed and pressed into service. Unfortunately, we did not get more information about the absconding accused responsible for the blasts as their whereabouts were not known.

How did this breakthrough come about then?

The breakthrough came about after the bomb blasts in Coimbatore. Special teams investigating these cases were formed and, during the course of investigation, some suspects were held. And, after thorough interrogation, we came to know the names of the people who were behind the blasts.

During the course of interrogation, we also came to know that they had moved to Madras to create problems in a big manner in the city. Immediately, we started combing the city in a massive way. We covered many streets, localities and also checked many vehicles entering the city and we also made house-to-house searches. It was then that we recovered all those explosives.

Were they not here earlier?

They might have reached Madras some time in November or December 1997. But nobody gave us any information about their presence. Had we known that the accused were in Madras with the explosives, the police would have arrested them and recovered the explosives then and there.

The general talk is that the government is soft on Muslim fundamentalists. Is there any truth in it?

No, not at all. It is wrong. The government was never soft towards any anti-social or anti-national elements. In fact, the government has instructed the police to be effective and alert, and deal with the situation very firmly and fearlessly. There was no definite intelligence about these fundamentalists and their design till March 17. These persons moved from one place to another in a suspicious manner but not a single citizen came forward to give any information about their movements and their whereabouts.

Was it because they did not understand the magnitude of the problem? Or were they scared? What could be the reason?

I do not know. The public should know and watch the type of people who are around them. Even if they are not in a position to know all about their neighbours, they should at least find out who they are, what they are doing, etc.

A problem peculiar to metropolitan cities perhaps?

Yes, this is a metropolitan city and everybody is busy and they are not bothered about their neighbours. Now if people were really alert and vigilant, if they had provided some clues about the suspicious movements of their neighbours, we could have prevented them from moving from place to place. We could have arrested them long back.

With reports about seizures of explosives and bombs from various parts of the state coming out almost on a daily basis, the image of Tamil Nadu has changed to that of a state synonymous with bomb culture. How do you react to this?

Even now, Tamil Nadu is peaceful, except for the fact that there was a very unfortunate episode of bomb explosions in Coimbatore, and that too on a particular day. There was no blast elsewhere. In Madras we recovered bombs. Except Coimbatore, the rest of Tamil Nadu was totally peaceful. So where is the question of bomb culture?

I was not talking about these last couple of years. It is said that the bomb culture began creeping into the state some time ago.

I don't subscribe to the theory that there is a bomb culture here. No doubt, a few extremist elements and religious fundamentalists have been exploding bombs here and there in order to create fear in the minds of the masses and in order to get cheap popularity. Certainly it is the handiwork of a microscopic minority.

Is it not sad that a minority group could create fear in the minds of ordinary people and send the signal outside that this state has become a haven for extremists?

It happens in any civilised society, but it is sad. For example, in Andhra Pradesh, the outlawed People's War group is active in certain areas. Do you mean to say that the bomb culture is there in Andhra Pradesh?

Unfortunately the image of Tamil Nadu outside has changed now and the impression one has is that of bombs all over...

It is not correct. People may think anything. We had some bomb explosions... Just because there were some instances like that, you cannot say that bombs are everywhere. No, I don't agree with that at all.

You have recovered quite a lot of explosives from many parts of Madras. From where do you think the expertise to make them has come?

It is under probe.

What about the northern part of Kerala, as everyone seems to be saying...?

All these things are being investigated into. A detailed probe is on. We can't say anything at this stage.

Like it was reported earlier, do you see the hand of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence behind these blasts?

I am not in a position to answer that because I do not have all the cases on hand. I will talk only with reference to Madras. Even though we did not allow any bomb to explode here and even though we have arrested a number of accused, we are yet to arrest some more hardcore underground elements. Till these elements are arrested and questioned, I will not be in a position to give a correct answer to your question.

Are the recovered explosives crudely made or very sophisticated?

Some of these bombs had a sophisticated mechanism but a number of them were crude bombs. So, the presumption is that these elements might have got training from someone who is an expert.

What are the measures that you are taking to make the people and the city safe?

The people and the city are very safe. I have said on many occasions that we have taken enormous preventive measures. We have formed checkposts and they are there on all the roads leading to Madras, and all the vehicles moving under suspicious circumstances are being checked thoroughly and we are conducting a series of search operations at intervals. This has become a routine affair now, we have provided security to all important public places like hospitals, banks, hotels, railway stations, etc. In some of the trouble-prone areas, we have deployed the police. We have arranged meetings with representatives from all these institutions and discussed the precautionary steps to be taken. The message has gone down well and, at many places, they are taking elaborate measures.

Are you educating the police about bombs? The recent incident at Anna Salai where some policemen carried an abandoned brief case on their cycle to the police station was highlighted in all the papers.

You might have seen now the type of security measures that we have taken around our campus. The earlier incident at Anna Salai was unfortunate. The poor constable did not know then that he was carrying a bomb inside the suitcase. Once he knew it was a bomb, he called us. It is human tendency to touch any abandoned object. But we are trying to educate the people not to touch anything lying around. They should first cordon off the area and should not allow anyone to go near the object.

These days reports about the seizures of explosives are appearing in the newspapers almost daily. Will this not cause a fear psychosis among people?

Not too many seizures. And the recovery was almost over. So there is no question of fear or repeated threat.

The Rediff Interview