Mr. Home Minister, how safe is Pune?
A series of low intensity blasts on August 1 left the residents of Pune in a tizzy. For a city that is still reeling under the after-effects of the German Bakery Blasts, the minor explosions at Jangali Maharaj Road, Balgandharva Theatre and Garware Chowk were a perfect demonstration of how the terror could strike at any moment to ruin a place that is touted as the Pensioner’s Paradise and the Oxford of the East amongst other eminent titles . On February 13, 2010, a bomb carefully wrapped in a knapsack, went off at the city’s crowded place, Koregaon, an iconic area which left 17 dead and 64 others injured. Post the blasts, as always, the police swung into action and ordered for 300 CCTV cameras to be put up across Pune’s strategic locations. The state Anti-terrorism squad (ATS), in one of its prompt replies arrested Mirza Baig, a suspected Hizbul Mujahideen member, in the same year and a case was registered against him in the District and Sessions Court of Pune. However, till date,...