Fly on the wall
Harish Gupta
Why India Won’t Name Pakistan or JeM — Yet
The Red Fort blast has triggered outrage, high-level meetings and an all-agency dragnet. Yet one element stands out: the government’s unusual silence on Pakistan and Jaish-e-Mohammad — even though recent investigations in Srinagar, including the emergence of the “white coat” module and appearance of JeM posters, have clearly indicated the group’s renewed activity.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, speaking in Bhutan, called the blast a “conspiracy” and promised that “conspirators will not be spared”. Union Home Minister Amit Shah warned that the culprits would face the “full wrath” of agencies. But India has not named JeM, Pakistan, or cross-border handlers — a striking contrast to the last terror incident in April in Pahalgam. The Pak & JeM links were clearly established in Pahalgam that led to Operation Sindoor.
This raises a few important questions. If JeM networks are resurfacing in Kashmir, why is the Centre avoiding explicit attribution? Are investigators seeing something more complex — perhaps a hybrid module, a cut-out, or a domestic link that requires caution? Or is New Delhi waiting to avoid the diplomatic blow back of a premature accusation?
Officials point to three reasons. First, the government wants a single, airtight evidentiary chain before making a public attribution — especially after past instances where early naming complicated investigations. Second, India’s diplomatic posture now leans on evidence-heavy claims to strengthen its case in FATF and global counter-terror forums. Third, a premature charge would give Islamabad an opportunity to dismiss the blast as “politicized”. Additionally, the Turkey angle has also surfaced for the first time in the "white coat" terror act.
The message is deliberate: proceed with facts, not assumptions. The calibrated silence suggests the government wants the investigation to speak first — and speak decisively — before Delhi escalates the matter to a geopolitical stage.
Why did the police fail to track Dr Umar Nabi ?
The probe agencies are saying that the mastermind of the Red Fort blast Dr Umar Nabi panicked and the blast in his car took place at Red Fort by accident. But there are many lurking questions as to why the toll plazas in Haryana were not alerted by the J&K and Haryana Police on November 8-9 night when Al Falah University premises were raided together to catch the doctors involved in the conspiracy.
Accepted that Dr Umar Nabi's name was revealed on November 9 by Dr Muzammil Ganai and search began for him. But Dr Umar had fled on October 30 itself from the Al-Falah institute. He knew Dr Ganai could spill the beans of his involvement in the module soon. He hid at nearby Nuh city in a rented accommodation for more than ten days along with his car. But toll plazas across Haryana were not alerted to check all outbound vehicles immediately. Umar's i20 car was spotted at a toll plaza on November 9 midnight on the way to enter Delhi.
There was no alert in Delhi about Dr Umar or his car HR 26 throughout November 9-10. There were other lapses too. But India was lucky enough that this “Doctors-Terror” module was exposed in time by a senior Cop who himself had earned a degree in medicine in 2010 but chose to become a cop, cleared UPSC exams and later posted in Srinagar as SSP in 2025. Nowgam police station fell under his jurisdiction when JeM posters appeared on Oct 18. Dr GV Sundeep Chakravarthy, SSP did not dismiss them as a routine act of misguided youths and probe ordered. What started on October 18 in the Kashmir Valley, with posters of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), ended on November 10, with a blast near Delhi’s Red Fort. Rest is history.
SMART Policing on Paper, Failures on Ground
It's a classic case as to how the absence of Smart Police Stations let suspects slip. Nearly ten years after the Prime Minister coined the term “SMART Policing”, India still does not have a single operational Smart Police Station. The gap between projections and preparedness is now unmissable — and costly. Investigators admit that Dr Umar, a key suspect in the terror chain, could have been intercepted at a Haryana check post had even the most basic smart policing features been in place: automated ID verification, integrated criminal databases, vehicle flagging, or real-time alert syncing with NCRP.
Instead, India’s check posts are still manual, paper-driven, and disconnected from national grids. Haryana is not an exception — no state has built a station that meets the promised SMART standards: seamless digital workflows, behavioural analytics, cyber-linked command centres, or AI-assisted suspect tracing.
The government lists dozens of initiatives — ASUMP upgrades, CyTrain courses, cyber-forensic labs in 33 states, JCCT teams, and weekly peer-learning sessions. But these remain parallel cyber improvements, not replacements for outdated police station architecture. Without integrated data pipelines, real-time tracking, or automated red-flag mechanisms, suspects in crimes and terror activities will continue to move across districts without leaving a digital footprint.
A decade of “SMART policing” has produced impressive presentations — but not the smart police stations that could have altered the outcome of these investigations.
