‘White-Collar Terror A Ticking Time Bomb’: Army Veteran Draws Parallels Between Delhi Blast & Pulwama Attack

In the wake of the Delhi blast and the unravelling of the Faridabad ‘white-collar’ terror module, Lieutenant General (Retd) KJS Dhillon has warned that the world is entering a phase where 'white-collar' operatives are increasingly driving terror plots — a trend he describes as a "ticking time bomb". A slow-moving Hyundai i20, driven by Dr Umar, exploded near the Red Fort area last week. The blast came hours after the security agencies busted a 'white-collar terror module' in Haryana's Faridabad, leading to the recovery of 2,900 kg of explosives and the arrest of three doctors.In an interview with ANI, Lt Gen (Retd) KJS Dhillon said, "White-collar terror has always been there in Kashmir and other parts of the world... They are like a ticking time bomb."

"The white collar terrorism will increase in the coming days... Sleeper cells were always there in India, but for the first time, we are seeing indulgence in terror acts..." he asserted.He said that the "entire module of the Faridabad and Delhi Red Fort blast has a signature stamp of Jaish-e-Mohammad (Pakistan-based terror group)." Drawing a parallel between the Delhi car blast and the Pulwama terror attack, the Army veteran recalled that the car used in the Pulwama attack had 7-8 owners, just like the Hyundai i20 used in the Delhi blast. The slow-moving Hyundai i20, which exploded near Delhi's Red Fort, had changed hands multiple times - from Okhla to Ambala and finally to Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama. "During the Pulwama attack also, the car involved in the blast had exchanged 7-8 hands... There were many similarities between the 2 attacks," he said. 40 CRPF personnel were killed, and several others were injured when a terrorist of the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad rammed his explosive-laden car into a convoy in Pulwama's Lethpora on February 14, 2019.On the recovery made by officials during simultaneous raids in Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh, Lt Gen Dhillon said, "The recovery of 2900 Kg of explosives, 20 detonators, and 24 remote control units had the capability to detonate 20 separate bombs weighing 150 kg each... They could have been detonated simultaneously at nearby places or even pan-India." "You can imagine the amount of catastrophic impact it could have had in population centres. It is a great action by the security forces, J&K police and intelligence agencies..." he added.

Lt Gen Dhillon, who served as the Director General of the Defence Intelligence Agency (DG DIA) and Deputy Chief of Integrated Defence Staff (Intelligence) under the Chief of Defence Staff from March 2020 to January 2022, is currently the chairperson of the Board of Governors of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Mandi.Lt Gen (retd) Dhillon has recently authored a new book titled 'Operation Sindoor, The Untold Story of India's Deep Strikes Inside Pakistan,' which details how India responded to the Pahalgam terror attack in April this year.