Delhi car blast: No room for laxity

THE Delhi car blast, which left 12 people dead, has jolted the nation, prompting a pan-India security alert. The Ministry of Home Affairs has handed over the probe to the National Investigation Agency, leaving little room for doubt that the incident is being regarded by the government as an act of terror. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was in Bhutan on Tuesday, declared that the conspirators would not be spared. Speaking in a similar vein, Home Minister Amit Shah has directed probe agencies to hunt down every culprit involved in the deadly explosion. The obvious question is: Did this rush-hour mayhem in the national capital happen due to an intelligence failure and/or a security lapse?

Indian agencies should have been better prepared after cops from J&K, in coordination with the Haryana Police, seized a huge cache of explosive material from an apartment in Faridabad on Monday -- hours before the blast near the Red Fort Metro Station. The police claim to have unearthed a terror module with the arrest of Muzammil Shakeel, a doctor from Pulwama who was working at the Al-Falah University in Faridabad. Umar Nabi, the Pulwama resident who was allegedly driving the car that exploded on Monday evening, is also being linked to this module. It is suspected that the Delhi and Faridabad cases are part of a larger inter-state network that may cause disturbances across the country. This underscores the need for the police and other agencies to heighten vigil.

There should be no reluctance to fix accountability for serious lapses. The Pahalgam terror attack may not have happened had preventive steps been taken. However, the apparent laxity has gone unpunished so far. This must not be repeated in the Delhi case. At the same time, the government needs to acknowledge the grave threat posed by home-grown terrorism and radicalisation. Bolstering internal security should go hand in hand with ensuring that no community feels alienated or victimised.