It can be said with a fair amount accuracy that Pakistan has learnt a lesson that terrorism does not pay. What it sought to encourage as a means to browbeat India on the Kashmir issue has turned out to be the opening of a Pandora's box. It is now paying a heavy price for its initial complacence in checking violence by Islamist fundamentalists.

The Pakistan experiment with terrorism as a weapon to cow down opponents should enlighten Hindutva elements who seek to get even with their enemies by means of violence.

The Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh and its allies seem to have been rattled by the current investigations into terrorist attacks at Ajmer Sharif , Mecca Masjid (Hyderabad) and Malegaon (Maharashtra ) which had yielded evidences of the involvement of RSS activists.

Interrogation of these activists helped the CBIU to zoom in on Indresh Kumar, a national executive member of the RSS. One of the organization's chief strategists, he had roles in the Amarnath land grant agitation and in organizing the Madhesis in Nepal as part of its campaign to preserve Nepal's status as the only 'Hindu Rashtra.'

He is reported to have convened a meeting of 125 military officers sympathetic to his cause besides launching a Muslim Manch , an outfit meant to bring together 'nationalist Muslims.'

It is estimated that at least 30 RSS might have been involved in the bomb blasts under investigation.

The BJP and the RSS are now said to be advocating the political line that terror of any kind or on behalf of any religious is to be condemned. This came about reportedly after former National Security Advisor MK Narayanan met LK Advani and informed him after Hindu radicals' violent plans including one to murder the RSS chief.

It is by now pretty well known that blasts at Ajmer Sharif , Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad and Malegaon in Maharashtra which claimed a number of lives are part of a series planned by extremists of the Hindutva variety. The Evidences seem to suggest that the Samjhauta Express blasts which claimed 68 lives (mostly Pakistanis) on February 18, 2007 could be the handiwork of the same gang bent on their anti-Muslim agenda.

It is amusing that in the early stages of investigation of these blasts in which Muslims were mostly the victims, the police were only suspicious of Islamic involvement and even arrested some Muslim youths.

Hemant Karkare, heading the Anti-Terrorist Squad of the Maharashtra police had successfully unmasked some of the plots of 'right wing terror groups' involved in incidents between 2003 and 2008. It was when he was making significant headway in his investigations that the Mumbai terrorist attack of 26/11 claimed his life.

Explosive:
Since then there has been a lull in the follow-up. What is more interesting is that even the media, as a whole did not evince an interest in what could otherwise be an explosive issue.

In the course of the Malegaon 2008 blast investigation, the ATS chief had exposed a Pune-based outfit, Abhinav Bharat , a serving Lieutenant Colonel (Prashant Shrikant Purohit), a self-styled guru Dayanand Pandey and one Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thankur all of whom shared 'Hindu Rashtra' ambitions. They wanted to avenge bomb attack on Hindu shrines.

Recent revelation that 'a top RSS man' had provided the SIMs for Ajmer and Mecca Masjid blasts had strengthened the suspicion of RSS involvement in these blasts.

The RSS connection came to light with the arrest of Sadhvi Pragya Thakur in the Malegaon blast case. However the organizational continued in the denial mode even when some more workers were arrested.

The disclosures about the terror network have embarrassed the RSS and the BJP as they don't want to be seen as supporters of the extremist elements.

Inflammatory:
Hindutva terrorism began with some of the saffron politicians who propagated the view that Hinduism is facing a threat from the minorities and the like of Togadia went on making inflammatory speeches against

the 'imagined' enemies of Hindu or Indian culture. It was such 'educated' men who sowed the seeds of hatred that ultimately resulted in the felling of the 400-year-old Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, led to the killing of thousands of Muslims in Gujarat and the killing and destruction the nation witnessed recently in Kandhamal district of Orissa.

These are no different from the devastation that is being caused by terrorists in Pakistan at the moment. The several instances of bomb blasts and murders of innocents by some fanatics in the name of Islam are indeed despicable; and if some persons here want to commit similar horrors in the name of Hinduism, we could soon be creating our own hell in this land.

The majority of Muslims in Islamic countries are certainly as peace loving as the good people of India. But a few demonic elements in the name of religion and by sheer violence seem to have silenced the majority into non- involvement. They too have become victims of their terror.

Should such a scenario occur in India, the results will be far more disastrous,for this nation is inhabited by people practicing a variety of religions, creeds and life styles. Sowing hatred or intolerance will only be counter productive as is being amply demonstrated in neighbouring Pakistan.

The credibility of the judiciary, the police and the administration and even of the media is crucial for a stable society. Infiltration of communal elements at all these levels spells disaster. It must be born in mind that even secular political parties could be harbouring communal elements.

The RSS, the VHP and the BJP and others of their ilk, condemning terrorism with great vehemence, can not now be seen to be soft towards the misguided elements within them who might, by their conduct, sully their image and invite the wrath of the people.

The majority community can not afford to remain silent to the brutal ways of the zealots who, imitating the ways of their counterparts, might court disaster in the process. Justice must be seen to be done and all violators of the law must be brought to book .