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Samjhauta Express bombing carried out by indian army officer

A very disturbing development indeed.

The RSS are tying the noose around their own necks right now. They should either reform quickly and clean up their act, or they should get banned like SIMI.

As far as the army is concerned, its good that the Prime Minister himself is looking into the matter. Any religious ideologues should not be allowed to infiltrate the army, and any level.
The integrity of our country depends on the integrity of the army.
 
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Making any assumptions/conclusions at this point of time is too far fetched. The probe has to be finished and to be fought in court. The maharastra ATS has been selectively leaking the news without any concrete evidence. They said these guys have used RDX on Samjautha express, but the forensic reports of the previous investigation didn't find any traces of RDX. The next day ATS has revoked their statement. All this points to some kind of political game being played by political masters.

Only time will tell what is the real truth.
 
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ATS threatened to eliminate me in encounter: Lt-Col Purohit

PUNE: Prime accused in Malegaon blast case Lt Col Srikant Prasad Purohit on Friday made a written submission in a court here alleging that Mumbai
ATS threatened to eliminate him in an encounter and tried to extract confession from him under duress. ( Watch )

Purohit, remanded in 14-day judicial custody by Magistrate G G Italekar in a 2003 case of alleged forgery in procuring an arms license for one Milind Date from Jammu & Kashmir, in Pune, sat in the court room to write his grievances after the judge asked him whether he had any complaints regarding his two-day police remand which expired today.

"I have no complaints against Pune police. But I want to submit in writing my grievances," he said. Purohit's advocate Srikant Shivde told the court that the accused did not want to air his grievances in an open court and would prefer to put them in writing. The contents of Purohit's written submission were informed by his lawyer to the media afterwards.

Shivde told mediapersons that in the written submission to the court, Purohit has given details of the "pressure and physical and mental torture" he was subjected to by Mumbai ATS which tried to "extract confession forcibly" from him in regard to involvement in the September 29 blast.

Purohit also complained of an "encounter" threat by ATS, the defence lawyer said.

Earlier, the prosecution made a plea for seven-day police custody of Purohit to unravel his connections in Jammu and Kashmir and further investigate whether he was part of a gang that procured illegal arms and forged licences from the military quota.

The defence counsel Shivde consented to three-day police custody. He also alleged his client would be framed in another case immediately after being taken to Nashik court and his police custody would continue till November 29 till he is produced before Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court in Mumbai.

All the ten accused arrested so far in the blast were yesterday booked under stringent law MCOCA.

"My client will be safer in police custody than in the ATS custody," he remarked.

The magistrate, however, rejected the prosecution demand for police custody and remanded Purohit to judicial custody. Purohit will now be taken to Nashik and put in the central prison there.

On a plea from the accused, the judge allowed him to carry medicines and some books along with him to Nashik. The defence counsel told the court that Purohit was vulnerable to attacks of asthma and needed certain medication in his possession.

Purohit's wife Aparna, too, was present in the court.

Six persons were killed in the blast in the powerloom town in North Maharashtra's Nashik district.

ATS threatened to eliminate me in encounter: Lt-Col Purohit-India-The Times of India
 
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Now no one seems to be doubting the Indian investigating agencies!

The same people whose only worry in life was when the ISI would be blamed after every terror attack are now fully convinced that this time the investigative agencies are right..


The problem is that the indians start blaming pakistan within hours of any attack in india.
Once you take your time and properly investigate a crime and then start blaming people it holds more weight.
I am not "fully convinced" that a few low ranking officers are the only ones involved.....it goes higher up.
But a couple of showcase trial's of a few low key members of a hindu terrorist outfit......or should i be calling them a "nationalist militia" and the indian media will be happy.
Maybe the only reason we know the truth is that the pakistani police where involved in the investigation........they did say that they would share information..?
 
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Shiv Sena may field Purohit in LS polls

MUMBAI: The Shiv Sena is toying with the idea of fielding Lt Col Shrikant Prasad Purohit, prime accused in the Malegaon bomb blast case, as a
party candidate for the next Lok Sabha elections.

Sources in the party said no final decision has been taken yet, but it will not be surprising if an offer is made to Purohit. . And the chances of his being convicted of the terror charge before the Lok Sabha polls early next year appears bleak.

Sena feels that the fieling of Purohit will reinforce its Hindutva agenda. The party mouthpiece "Saamna" has openly supported Purohit, sadhavi Pragya Thakur and other accused in the Malegaon case. Shiv Sainiks had turned up in large number outside the Nashik court, where the ATS had filed the remand applications of the accused, and even showered flower petals on the accused. The open endorsement of Purohit's candidature will also help the Sena prove that it is more saffron that its ally the BJP.

Even though BJP leaders like L K Advani have denounced the alleged torture of sadhvi Thakur, party activists had not gone to the Nashik court to display solidarity. In fact, a large section of BJP is upset with the Abhinav Bharat, the organisation with which Purohit and other accused were linked, for allegedly planning to kill top RSS leaders like Mohan Bhagwat.

The Sena may also field Sachin Vaze, a police officer who joined the party on Dussehra day last month. Vaze is an accused in the Khwaja Yunus case.

Shiv Sena may field Purohit in LS polls-India-The Times of India
 
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Terrorism is not new to India. It has dealt with all kinds of terrorism, so it can handle this new kind of terrorism as well.

This incident was outrightly blamed on ISI as usual, few indian muslims arrested immediately as an ISI agents.
Later it was blamed on indian muslims it self as their behavior may have annoyed some upper cast hindus so lower cast hindu mob reacted fairly.

This is how india has dealt with terrorism in past, now this is definately new situation and totally new experience. This time perhaps blame or fabricated stories may not be enough and from future it may be not easy to sell ISI card.

It amaze me when people ignore the circumstantial evidences, only Muslims were burned to death in Samjhuta express.
We all know usual way to kill Muslims in india is by burning them alive and in overt clashes sowrds are used to kill muslim children and women.

As a result of Samjhuta talks on IPI gas pipeline were sidelined.
Than, Pakistan's railway minister Sheikh Rashid is perhaps one of the most disliked person by indian security staff.
I mean there were many simple circumstances which were ignored.
Based on this issue Indian govt. refused to deal with Musharraf govt. and declared to wait for next govt. to further discuss all matters.
It is simply a case of state using rouge elements to acheive political goal and facilitating the terrorism against their own (out cast) people.
 
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Islamabad, Nov. 20 : Pakistan may raise the recent findings of the Maharashtra''s Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) indicating a probable involvement of the Indian Army''s Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Shrikant Purohit in the Samjhauta Express blasts incident during the scheduled meeting between Interior Secretaries of India and Pakistan to be held in Islamabad on November 25.

Purohit, presently under arrest in connection with the Malegaon blasts case, has been remanded by Nashik court Additional Judge H. K. Ganatra to judicial custody till November 29 as a prime suspect in the case.

The News has raised fingers on the ''sketches of suspects'' released after Samjhauta Express blasts by the authorities under the government of India suggesting Pakistan being the perpetrator for the incident.

The Samjhauta train blasts tragedy took place on February 17, 2007 and killed 68 people, most of them Pakistanis.

Pakistan''s Interior Secretary Kamal Shah will represent Pakistan while India will be represented at the talks by Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta.

Additional Secretary Azhar Chawdhury will represent the Pakistan''s Foreign Office.

"The issue of the Samjhauta Express has been taken up with New Delhi in several meetings including during our talks on Anti-Terror Mechanism level. We have been asking the Indian side about more information on this tragedy and sincerely hope that they will be able to share their findings with us", the Foreign Office spokesperson was quoted by The News as saying.

The spokesman said that in the past, officials had conceded that efforts to prevent drug-trafficking between the two sides had been successful. However, when it came to anti-terror efforts, acknowledging of wanted criminals by both sides, gun-smuggling and fake currency, the progress remained slow. "But even if it is a slow process it is a useful experience. After all, talking to each other about these issues is the only way", he was quoted as saying.

In July 2007, India and Pakistan at the last such talks had set up three sub-groups to go into the contentious issues such as terrorism and extradition and deportation of wanted criminals from each other''s territory. (ANI)
 
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In India, Controversy Over Hindus' Arrests
Terrorism Case Sets Off Politicking, Protests

By Rama Lakshmi
Foreign Service
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Monday, November 24, 2008


MALEGAON, India -- Every morning, dozens of Muslim men gather at a tea shop in this western textile town near the spot where a motorcycle bomb exploded in September during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. The bomb killed six people, injured 101 and punctured the walls of the shop, whose clock stands frozen at the exact minute the bomb went off.

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Ejaz Ahmad was injured when a motorcycle bomb went off near his tea shop in Malegaon, a textile town in Maharashtra state. Ten Hindus have been arrested in the September attack. (By Rama Lakshmi -- The Washington Post)

The men, slurping hot tea, pass around the newspaper to keep up with the ongoing investigation into the blast, which has led to the arrests of 10 Hindus here in Maharashtra state in recent weeks.


"We have always known that Hindu extremists were behind the blast, but we never thought the government would have the courage to arrest Hindus. The suspicion is always on Muslims," said Ejaz Ahmad, the 32-year-old shop owner, who was injured in the bombing. "Now we feel there is justice."

But in the rest of the country, the arrests of Hindus in a terrorism case and the use of the new tag "Hindu terror" have sparked enormous controversy. The acrimonious political debate and the street demonstrations in support of the accused threaten to paralyze India's concerted response to terrorism. The controversy also points to the growing complexities of combating tit-for-tat terrorism in this predominantly Hindu but officially secular nation.


Since May, several Indian cities have been rocked by bombings in crowded public places that killed more than 200 people. Police arrested scores of suspects from an outlawed Muslim student organization and a new Muslim group calling itself the Indian Mujaheddin, which asserted responsibility. But a handful of bombings in mosques and Muslim neighborhoods puzzled them.

Then, in the past month, came the arrests of the 10 Hindus, including a self-styled female saint and an army officer.

Police say that most of the 10 have been associated with or have attended meetings of a little-known group called Abhinav Bharat, or "New India," which is under scrutiny on suspicion of plotting the Malegaon bombing. At meetings across the country in the past two years, according to police, members of the group have given fiery speeches advocating the creation of a Hindu nation, attacked India's secular policies and urged Hindus to rise up against the Muslim extremist groups implicated in bomb attacks in India.

"They criticized the government and the police for being soft on terrorism," said Shailendra Shrivastava, inspector general of police in the central Indian city of Bhopal, where some of the meetings were held. "What we are seeing today is reprisal bombings against Muslims."

With every bombing this year, Hindu nationalist politicians played to the Hindu vote with denunciations of the growth of Islamist groups. And when the government arrested Muslim suspects, politicians vying for the Muslim vote would visit their families to express sympathy. This brazen appeal along religious lines has come to dominate India's response to terrorism.

The ruling Congress party government in New Delhi, which had been under criticism for cracking down on Muslim suspects, is now being accused of placating Muslims ahead of crucial six-state elections by going after Hindu extremists.

"It is a great balancing act by the Congress government. To appease the Muslims, they are now arresting Hindus for terrorism," said Himani Savarkar, 62, a Hindu nationalist and the president of Abhinav Bharat. Savarkar denied that the group had discussed bombs but said it works to "rouse Hindus out of their slumber and become alert to the danger around them from jihadi terrorism."

Such rhetoric has been part of India's political landscape for two decades, as Hindu nationalist parties gained center stage with strident appeals to Hindu sentiment. But although scores of Hindu activists have been arrested for rioting, this is the first time any have been arrested on suspicion of terrorism.

The police got their first lead in the Malegaon case when forensic analysis revealed that the motorcycle was owned by a 36-year-old Hindu holy woman, Pragya Singh. They also claim to have records of telephone conversations that include Singh.

"We have evidence against all the accused for their respective roles in instigation, abetment, providing explosives and funding," said Ajay Misar, the public prosecutor in the case, citing cellphone call records, bank statements, diaries, laptop data and confessions. "All the evidence will be scrutinized by court, not by political pressure or public opinion."

But Singh's attorney, Ganesh Sovani, said police beat his client with "flour-mill conveyor belts" to extract false confessions. "She sold her motorcycle in 2004. How can she be held responsible now? She had no control or knowledge of how and who used her bike," Sovani said.

Police say that another suspect, Lt. Col. Srikant Prasad Purohit, provided combat training and explosives to Hindu activists and that they have a text message he sent to another accused after Singh's arrest. The message allegedly reads: "Cat is out of the bag. Singh has sung. Please delete my number."

Many Indians have expressed shock and embarrassment at the sensational findings unfolding daily on television.

As soon as police, politicians and the news media uttered the term "Hindu terror," Hindu nationalist groups across India began protesting. "Hindus can never be terrorists," the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said, adding that terrorists do not have a religion. Others said Hindus were peaceful people and had never invaded any other civilization in history. One columnist suggested that the phrase "Hindu terror" be replaced with "Hindutva terror," separating the attacks from mainstream Hinduism by using a political term denoting Hindu chauvinism or pride.

"You cannot call it Hindu terrorism. If you must, then call it retributive terrorism," said Ram Madhav, a spokesman for Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the umbrella group for most of the country's Hindu activists.

At each appearance of the accused before the judge, hundreds of Hindu activists stormed the court chanting, "We are with you," waving orange flags and showering marigold petals on the vehicles carrying the prisoners. They charged the government with demonizing "Hindu saints, Hindu society and the Indian army."

"The cases are fabricated. But even if they have done anything, I would say it is a reaction, not an action," Savarkar said. "We cannot keep showing the other cheek. The Hindus are fed up." She set up a legal aid fund this month to help Hindus booked in the Malegaon case.

The BJP is running campaign ads on TV accusing the Congress government of smearing the names of soldiers who sacrifice their lives for the nation. On Friday, Purohit, the accused army officer, alleged in court that the police had threatened to kill him if he did not confess.

"His whereabouts are all a matter of record with the military. Every hour of his life is accounted for," said his attorney, Avinash Bhide. "The media coverage has already tried and proven him guilty."

In the coming days, hundreds of orange-robed self-styled Hindu saints will march to New Delhi to launch a "Hindu mobilization drive."

"We have to be cautious," said Sanjay Nirupam, a Congress leader. "We don't want to be called an anti-Hindu party. We should isolate the extremist groups but not alienate the entire Hindu community."

But Fareeda Sheik Liaqat, who lost her 10-year-old daughter in the bombing that Ramadan night in Malegaon, says the naked politicking over terrorism reopens her wounds constantly.

"I do not understand politics, but the person who killed my beautiful girl should be punished," said Liaqat, 35, as she ran her hand over her daughter's pink-and-blue Spiderman school bag. "She wanted to be a doctor."
 
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Sangh parivar turns hysterical

Praful Bidwai

NOTHING speaks as eloquently of the Bharatiya Janata Party's massive Rightwards shift as prime ministerial-hopeful LK Advani's falling in line with his colleagues' hard-Hindutva position on the Malegaon blasts. His statement attacking Maharashtra's Anti-Terrorism Squad as "politically motivated" and his defence of Pragya Thakur and Lt.Col. Prasad Shrikant Purohit is a big departure from his earlier attempt at "moderation" by saying that "terrorism has no religion."

As the sangh parivar feels the heat, the BJP has turned hysterical. It has abandoned all pretence of political decency in venomously branding its opponents "ISI agents." Party spokesperson Prakash Javadekar is outdoing abusive sadhus by claiming that the government has no right to accuse sadhus "and the army" "of terror." This confuses one officer with the entire army.

BJP president Rajnath Singh stridently insists that votaries of "cultural nationalism" (Hindutva) can never be terrorists -- by definition.

Let's leave aside all the evidence, including the use in Malegaon of a motorcycle registered in Thakur's name, other links between the network and bombings, and the fact that army personnel present at Purohit's interrogation have endorsed the ATS.

What's relevant is the BJP's argument that the law shouldn't apply to "saints." Besides, the detention of a shady sadhu like Amritanand isn't a conspiracy against the Hindu community!

The absurdity of the BJP defending terrorism after making it a central plank of its election campaign should be self-evident. Yet, that's the message from the sangh parivar's November 16 Panipat conclave, at which Rajnath Singh and Uttarakhand Chief Minister B.C. Khanduri joined hands with anti-secular sadhus to announce an outrageously communal campaign

Nothing can condone the presence of these leaders, one an elected public official with Constitutional responsibilities, and the other the topmost office-bearer of a big party, at the gathering. The Panipat meeting will probably go down as a rabid version of the BJP's 1989 Palanpur conclave, which resolved to demolish the Babri mosque.

The parivar brazenly defends Hindutva terrorism in the belief that the public believes it's patriotic. In reality, the parivar seeks to destroy India's essence as a multi-cultural, multi-lingual, multi-religious society through an anti-secular counter-revolution.

Prejudice, hatred, militarism and violence against non-Hindus have been integral to "cultural nationalism." The pubic knows that Hindutva has a history of assassinations, bloody riots and anti-minority pogroms.

People know that Nathuram Godse killed Gandhi because of Hindutva's vicious prejudice against Hindus who try to prevent communal riots. If the Godses and Narendra Modis are "patriots," India will only breed assassins and terrorists acting in the name of a community whom they don't represent.

For years, the RSS-BJP tried to distance themselves from Godse by claiming he wasn't an RSS member when he killed Gandhi -- although he had been one earlier, for years, and was inspired by the same ideology. Today, even the BJP defends Abhinav Bharat's ultra-communal president Himani Savarkar, Nathuram Godse's niece.

Hindutva is particularly amenable to terrorism. Its principal difference with other forms of religious extremism is that its tries to pass itself off as nationalist by claiming to speak for the numerical majority, which isn't separatist. This view is dangerously majoritarian, and hence anti-democratic. Majoritarian extremism is also more widespread and enjoys state indulgence.

Hindutva terrorism cannot be seen in isolation from the culture of divisiveness and hatred that the BJP has promoted in its cynical pursuit of power. Violence is integral to this and to the party's political mobilisation strategy.

This culture has percolated into the police forces. Thus, the Maharashtra police recently told a Dhule court: "It's an established fact that Muslims are the masterminds behind all terrorist activities across India."

They also exonerated the Hindu Rakshak Samiti, by saying its violence (in which seven of the 10 people killed were Muslims) was "mere retaliation to what has been happening in the country for the past few years."

The BJP is now hardening its rabid Hindutva posture. If the Rajnath Singh line prevails, as is happening, and if the BJP does relatively well in the assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Delhi, it will feel vindicated in its defence of saffron terror.

This will encourage it to mount a grossly communal and divisive campaign in the Lok Sabha election, the like of which India has never seen, with potentially terrible consequences.

Disturbing signs are already discernible. Mr. Narendra Modi has emerged as the undisputed successor to Mr. Advani. He has gained even more legitimacy through Tata Motors' decision to shift the Nano car project to Gujarat and through his endorsement by Big Business.

The RSS has tightened its grip on the BJP. As membership and attendance in its shakhas plummets, the RSS will try to play a more active role in other parivar outfits, including the BJP, and of course the VHP-Bajrang Dal.

The Panipat conclave, and the BJP's hardened stance, demolish the wishful argument that incumbency in power would impel the BJP towards "moderation" and sobriety.

The BJP isn't that kind of party. It will always occupy the dark region between parliamentary politics as an instrument of power, and its foundational loyalty to the sangh parivar's hate-driven ideology and violent politics.

The BJP has entered its most communal phase. It's playing with fire. It must be stopped.

It goes without saying that the unearthing of the Hindutva terrorist network presents a major challenge to the Indian state. It has become a litmus test for its secular credentials and loyalty to the Constitution.

The police must investigate the network impartially and professionally. They must refrain from making premature statements to the media before investigations are completed and solid evidence is obtained.

The Union home ministry has done well to ask the states to furnish reports on the activities of Hindutva groups. It should now act on them by banning the VHP-Bajrang Dal and the RSS.

True, bans have their limitations. But their value in de-legitimising extremists must not be underrated. They can put the more dangerous organisations in the parivar on the defensive and enable the government to prosecute BJP members connected with them.

:The Daily Star: Internet Edition
 
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More Army officers under scanner for Malegaon blast

New Delhi: The ambit of the Malegaon blast investigation has widened.

Sources have told CNN-IBN that five more serving officers of the Indian Army are being probed by Military Intelligence and the Maharashtra Police for their role in the Malegoan bomb blast.

They are being questioned for their association with Abhinav Bharat and for providing logistical and operational support for the blast.

In fact, the Mumbai Anti-Terrorism Squad is seeking Army's permission to question at least three of these serving officers.

The government is also taking a closer look once again at the possibility of banning at least the Bajrang Dal if not the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

There is also evidence emerging that Lieutenant colonel Srikant Prasad Purohit was paid by RSS leaders to kill a key functionary Mohan Bhagwat.

Meanwhile, the Madhya Pradesh Police have already re-opened the Sonal Joshi murder case.

Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur's bike was sold to Joshi and sources say he was killed under mysterious circumstances in December 2007, possibility by someone from within the Abhinav Bharat itself.

Both Lt Col Purohit and the Sadhvi have been accused of being behind the September 29 bomb blast in Malegoan.

But the Sangh Parivar is not taking the allegations lying down.

"All this is the result of a big conspiracy. This being done at the behest of Sonia Gandhi," alleges senior Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Acharya Giriraj Kishore.

The VHP has now planned a country-wide agitation from Wednesday against what it says is the United Progressive Alliance's (UPA) propaganda to malign Hindu leaders and the Army.

The biggest fallout of the Malegoan blast is that it has breached the secular image of the Army.

And the biggest worry of the government at the moment is whether the case of Lt Col Purohit and others is an isolated incident or are the defence forces finally losing their secular sheen.

More Army officers under scanner for Malegaon blast
 
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Just a comparison of events if the Samjhauta bombing happened in Pakistan

If Bombing happened in Pakistan by Muslim Terrorist Group:
Initial reaction: Pakistani Media and Politicians including the government) will blame it as the work of RAW/CIA/Afghan for the blasts.
Later: The real terrorists responsible for bombing will become heroes with official patronage from ISI. Will run terror outfits and roam freely inside Pakistan and occasionally to middle east. They will become role model for other terror minded people.

Bombing in India:
Initial reaction: Media and Politicians blamed ISI and other Islamic terrorist group. Government did not officially blame on Pakistan.
Later: Investigations carried out and the real perpetrators are brought to justice irrespective of their religion.

That's the difference between India and Pakistan.
 
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Later: The real terrorists responsible for bombing will become heroes with official patronage from ISI. Will run terror outfits and roam freely inside Pakistan and occasionally to middle east. They will become role model for other terror minded people.

When that happened?
 
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