Feb. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Nine people were killed when a bomb ripped through a bakery popular with international visitors in the Indian city of Pune, prompting opposition demands that the government cancels peace talks with neighboring Pakistan.
Police said at least 53 people were injured late yesterday by the blast that ripped billboards from their mountings and left tables and chairs scattered in the street.
It was the biggest terrorist strike in the nation since the 2008 Mumbai attack left 166 people dead and strained ties between the neighboring countries as India blamed Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba.
Terror and talks cannot go together, Prakash Javadekar, spokesman for the Bharatiya Janata Party, said in a phone interview today from the capital, New Delhi. Pakistan is sponsoring terrorism. We cant negotiate at this stage.
The Congress Party, which heads Indias ruling coalition, said people shouldnt jump to conclusions about the impact of yesterdays attack on the talks scheduled for Feb. 25 between the nations foreign secretaries.
The BJP should understand that people of this country dont like people playing politics with terror, spokesman Manish Tewari said in a televised address.
The Mumbai assault interrupted five years of peace talks that led to increased cultural, transport and sporting links between the countries, which have fought three wars since independence in 1947, two of them over Kashmir. The divided Himalayan territory is claimed in full by both nations.
Progress in Talks
The government in New Delhi says progress in the talks depends on Pakistan ensuring its territory isnt used for terrorist activities.
Troubled relations between the two South Asian rivals are a concern for the Obama administration as it seeks to defeat a Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan aided by militants in Pakistans northwest.
Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said yesterdays attack was the biggest terror incident in 14 months.
Evidence points to a plot to explode a device at a place frequented by foreigners and locals, he said, adding that forensic investigations must be completed before its possible to say who was behind the bombing.
A spiritual center near the bakery was among five locations surveyed by David Coleman Headley, a Chicago man indicted by the U.S. for scouting targets before the Mumbai terrorist attacks, Home Secretary Gopal K. Pillai told reporters.
Headley, 49, the son of an American mother and Pakistani father who was born Daood Gilani, was arrested by U.S. authorities on Oct. 3 and has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Five Trips
Prosecutors say he made five trips to Mumbai from 2006 to 2008, taking photographs and making videotapes of targets later attacked.
Irrespective of what happened in Pune, the government of India is pursuing the case of David Coleman Headley, Chidambaram said. We have not given up our case that we should be given access to Headley for interrogation.
Following the Mumbai attack, Chidambaram created a federal investigation agency, strengthened patrols of coastal areas and improved training for anti-terrorism police as part of a national security overhaul.
Pillai said Dec. 9 that India remains vulnerable to terrorist attacks even after the revamp. Ports, power plants, nuclear installations, oil refineries and information technology firms are particularly vulnerable as groups based in India and abroad try to wreck Indias economy, he said.
Rebel Groups
Rebel groups in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir have been fighting for independence from India or a union with Pakistan since 1989. The country also faces insurgencies in some northeastern states, while Maoist guerillas have attacked economic infrastructure and security forces in southern and eastern parts of the country.
The attack was overdue rather than an attempt to scuttle the peace between India and Pakistan, Ajai Sahni, executive director of New Delhi-based Institute of Conflict Management said in a phone interview. Its a miracle that 2009 passed without a major incident. The surprise is it has taken so long coming.
To contact the reporters on this story: Saikat Chatterjee in New Delhi at
schatterjee4@bloomberg.net; Jay Shankar in Bangalore at
jshankar1@bloomberg.net
India Bombing Kills 9, Prompts Calls to Scrap Pakistan Talks - Bloomberg.com