Even as the media debated the ins and outs of the car blast at the Red Fort, the government was admirably cautious in labelling it a terror attack, confirming it two days later after investigators probed the incident. Some basic facts are now available in the public domain. A module was tracked from Kashmir, and a load of explosive material found its way through Saharanpur and Faridabad, a direction that logically means it was headed for the Capital.

New data confirms that the two are connected incidents, with the same module involved. So far, no direct Pakistan link has been unearthed, other than a strong dose of radicalisation of whose source and motivation is unclear. That only makes it more dangerous. This is like a virus running underground.

According to available data, in October, posters exhorting the population not to cooperate with police and such, apparently from the Jaish-e-Mohammad, were seen in Nowgam, Srinagar. An alert superintendent of police identified the person involved as a doctor — Adeel Ahmed Rather — who had served as a senior resident at Government Medical College (GMC) in Anantnag.

Even as the Jammu and Kashmir Police (JKP) investigated GMC and found arms and ammunition, UP police were alerted, leading to the arrest of Rather, who had shifted to Saharanpur, in the first week of November. That trail went on to Faridabad and the arrest of Muzzamil........

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