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    COVER STORY                                                       NOVEMBER 28, 2025        |  The Indian Eye                    5

            chairman in a separate case added an-                                                                 in remote hideouts but in hostels,
            other layer of suspicion, even though                                                                 WhatsApp groups, university librar-
            no direct connection to the blast has                                                                 ies, private apartments, and encrypted
            been officially asserted.                                                                             channels.
                For security agencies, these over-                                                                    The suicide bomber’s own trajec-
            laps raise troubling questions. Why                                                                   tory reflects this evolution. A doctor
            are multiple individuals associated                                                                   and professor, he moved between
            with reputable educational institu-                                                                   campuses and cities, blending into ac-
            tions turning toward violent extrem-                                                                  ademic life while harboring extremist
            ism?                                                                                                  motivations. His second vehicle — re-
                What ideological networks are                                                                     covered and now being examined for
            operating unseen within academic en-                                                                  evidence — may provide more clues
            vironments?                                                                                           about his activities in the months be-
                And most importantly, why are                                                                     fore the attack.
            highly educated professionals — peo-                                                                      The sophistication of the module
            ple who should be insulated by oppor-                                                                 is reflected in the precision of the op-
            tunity and social mobility — embrac-                                                                  eration: vehicle procurement, recon-
            ing the path of terror?                                                                               naissance, IED assembly, coordinated
                The Red Fort blast has forced                                                                     support roles, and the timing of the
            agencies to re-examine long-held as-  Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets the injured in the Red Fort car blast, at Lok Nayak Hospi-  blast. This was not amateur radicaliza-
            sumptions about radicalization. Ear-                   tal in Delhi (DPR PMO/ANI Photo)               tion. This was professional execution.
            lier waves often involved young men                                                                       Even the legal system felt the
            driven by conflict exposure, lack of op-  Her message reflected the emotional                         pressure. When co-accused  Jasir Bi-
            portunities, or targeted recruitment.   fault lines that these attacks trigger:   Architecture of Terror  lal Wani sought special access to meet
            The current trend seems powered by   the grief of victims, the fear of repri-  hat makes the Red Fort at-  his  lawyer  at  the  NIA  headquarters,
            something different: ideological con-  sals,  and  the  difficulty  in  separating   tack particularly alarming is   the Delhi High Court firmly refused.
            viction incubated in environments   individual acts from an entire region’s  Wthe emerging architecture   “This is not a special case,” the judge
            that appear, outwardly, to be modern   identity.                    behind it. Investigators now believe   said, underscoring the importance of
            and aspirational.                     Yet  the  debate  also highlighted   that this module operated through   procedural integrity even amid public
                When a doctor becomes a suicide                                                                   pressure.
            bomber, the nation is forced to ask not   something else — the widening gap   personal networks rather than mass   Meanwhile, NIA’s multi-state
                                                                                recruitment. It was  tight-knit,  disci-
                                              between political narratives and the
            only who radicalized him — but how   security  challenges  unfolding on  the   plined, and ideologically aligned. It   search operation continues, with offi-
            he lived in plain sight for so long.  ground.                       did not require large camps, foreign   cers convinced that the arrests so far
                 Some Hard Questions              While politicians traded accusa-  handlers, or cross-border infiltration.   represent only part of a larger net-
                                              tions, NIA teams were examining 73   It required belief — shared by a small   work.
                  s news of the accused profes-  witnesses, coordinating with Delhi,   group of highly educated individuals   A Real Threat
                  sionals  filtered  out,  the  po-
            Alitical  reactions  grew  sharp   J&K, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana Po-  who built a lethal trust ecosystem   he Red Fort blast has shattered
            and predictable. Congress MP Im-  lice, and pursuing every lead to uncov-  among themselves.                a dangerous illusion — that
                                                                                    This marks a significant shift from
                                              er a wider conspiracy.
            ran Masood called Umar Un Nabi a      The investigators saw the case as a   earlier generations of militancy.  Tterrorism emerges only from
            “misguided youth,” sparking a storm   systematic internal threat. The political   Today’s radicalization model is   the margins of society, from remote
            of criticism. BJP leaders accused the   class saw it as a moment for position-  quieter,  more  insular  and  more  dif-  terrains or from foreign soil. The new
            opposition of offering “intellectu-  ing. The two perspectives rarely met.  ficult  to  detect.  It  can  take  root  not   reality is stark: extremism can emerge
            al cover” to extremists,  linking  the                                                                from  college  classrooms,  medical
            statement to past controversies and                                                                   labs, professional corridors and ur-
            what  they  called  an  “appeasement                                                                  ban neighborhoods.
            culture.”                                                                                                 The nation must confront this
                But amid the political jousting,                                                                  new profile: educated, articulate, pro-
            the core issue was largely ignored.                                                                   fessionally accomplished, ideological-
                Is it accurate to call a trained                                                                  ly committed, and  embedded within
            medical professor — a man who con-                                                                    society.
            sciously planned, sourced, and deliv-                                                                     This shift demands new thinking.
            ered an explosive device into a crowd-                                                                It demands new strategies. And most
            ed public space — “misguided”? Can                                                                    of all, it demands that India recog-
            someone with years of education, pro-                                                                 nize the contours of a threat that is no
            fessional stability, and access to infor-                                                             longer distant. The idea that a healer
            mation fit into that category?                                                                        could turn into a suicide bomber or
                Or does the label serve as a con-                                                                 that a professor could transform into a
            venient shield that avoids engaging                                                                   radical bomber handler forces a pain-
            with the deeper, more uncomfortable                                                                   ful question — What are we missing?
            reality — that radicalization in India                                                                    India must now decide how it will
            today cuts across class, education, and                                                               face this threat — with clarity, politi-
            professional success?                                                                                 cal maturity, institutional courage and
                As  the political  rhetoric escalat-                                                              a willingness to look beyond old as-
            ed, Mehbooba Mufti visited the fam-  Jammu and Kashmir Police Special Operations Group (SOG) and CRPF conduct raids and   sumptions. Because the danger is no
            ily of a Kashmiri victim of the blast   search operations in several residential areas, suspected to be linked with Jamaat-e-Islami   longer at the border. It is already here,
            and urged that national anger not be                  and militant groups in Pulwama (ANI)            living and working among us, waiting
            turned against ordinary Kashmiris.                                                                    for the moment to ignite.

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