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Varanasi blasts : New wave of terror

	March 13, 2006

Two bomb blasts ripped thorough the temple town of Varanasi in Eastern Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday, March 7, heralding a new wave of terrorist attacks in the country. There are indications that the Varanasi explosions were mounted by Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba or Jaish-e-Mohammed groups which have been responsible for many such incidents in the past. A little known outfit, Lashkar-e-Kahar, believed to be a front for the Lashkar-e-Taiba or Jaish-e-Mohammed, claimed responsibility for the blasts in which more than 20 people died.



The Varanasi Cantt Railway Station and Sankat Mochan Temple were the main targets of the attack. The worst hit was the railway station where 14 persons were killed and 30 injured in a powerful explosion outside the waiting room on Platform No. 1 where a Delhi-bound train was at the time stationary. Just before this, a bomb want off at the Sankat Mochan Temple which was full of devotees. At least six persons were killed and 25 injured in the explosion. The security forces also recovered explosive devices at other places in the city, which did not explode and were defused later.



Security forces not only in Uttar Pradesh, but also in other parts of the country were placed on alert after the Varanasi blasts. After a high level emergency meeting held in the Union Home Ministry on Tuesday evening, a general alert was issued to all states and the national capital, Delhi, placed on high alert. Home Ministry officials said that they believed that the blasts were part of a planned conspiracy. They said the terrorists chose Tuesday for the blasts as there is a heavy rush of devotees at the Sankat Mochan Temple on that day.



Within hours of the Varanasi blasts, a special task force team of the Uttar Pradesh police, helped by a team of the Jammu and Kashmir police, gunned down a terrorist in Lucknow on Wednesday morning (March 8). The police later claimed that the killed terrorist may have been involved in the terror attacks in Varanasi. The STF team said that the terrorist, Salar Aka Illullah Aka Doctor Aka Saleem, was an expert in planting explosives and was the area commander of the Lashkar-e-Taiba in Uttar Pradesh. The STF claimed that he was also involved in the attack on Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, in which a scientist was killed. A Pakistan-made “Star” pistol, a telephone diary containing slips issued by PCO booths for overseas calls made by him, detonators, fuse and 2.5 kg. of RDX were recovered from his possession.







On Wednesday itself, two terrorists owing allegiance to Lashkar-e-Taiba, were gunned down in an encounter with the Delhi Police in North West Delhi. The police say that the persons gunned down wanted to carry out a terror attack in the national capital. The deceased have been identified as Lashkar’s Bangladesh chief Ghulam Hasan alias Kajol. Forty pockets of plastic (PETN) explosives weighing four kilograms, one AK 56 with two magazines and 51 rounds , four hand grenades, two Luger-make imported pistols with two magazines and fake currency were recovered from the slain militants. “Intercepts of phone conversations between Abu Ali Kama and Tariq Ahmed Dar a few days after the Delhi serial blasts revealed that LeT was planning more attacks in the city and busy markets are their specific targets,” a senior police official said.



The terrorists were carrying plastic explosives which, experts say, could cause an explosion stronger than the one seen during the serial blasts.





Terror strike averted in Mumbai



That the Varanasi blasts was not a stray incident, was confirmed by the timely detection of two kilograms of explosive ammonia nitrate from the Byculla Railway Station in Central Mumbai on Saturday, March 11.



Apart from the explosive filled in a plastic water bottle, the police recovered a pocket-size transformer that could have provided the power if a detonator was to be attached to the device. Police Commissioner A.N.Ray said a high alert has been sounded in the city and security tightened at all places of worship, railway stations and vital installations. The seizure came a day before the 13th anniversary of the serial bomb blasts on March 12, 1993 which killed 256 persons and injured 713, besides causing damage to property worth Rs. 27 crore. Early this year, three militants from Jammu and Kashmir, allegedly having links with Laskhar-e-Taiba leader Sayyad Salahuddin, were arrested from the busy Nagpada area of central Mumbai, along with highly sophisticated wireless detonators.



In neighbouring Goa, the police arrested a militant on charges of plotting an attack. Director General of Police Niraj Kumar said in Panaji on March 11 that the police arrested Tariq Anwar at Margao railway station. He was found to be carrying explosives and fire arms. Tariq is reported to have confessed during interrogation that Pakistan-based Tehrique-ul-Mujahiddin, the militant outfit to which he belongs, was targeting busy tourist places in the state. The police recovered two kilograms of RDX, two Russian hand grenades, a detonator, three mobile phones and three cameras from Tariq.



The DGP said that Tariq had undergone two and a half years of training in Pakistan and had also traveled to Bangladesh and Nepal. Police teams have fanned out across the state to check his local links and more arrests are likely.





Nationwide condemnation of Varanasi attacks



People cutting across party lines and religions, condemned the Varanasi terrorist attacks. The President and the Prime Minister appealed to the people not to allow themselves to be provoked by the terrorist intent to create communal tension. Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil told Parliament a day after the attacks at Varanasi that Sankat Mochan Temple appeared to have been targeted to create communal tension in the country. He said the Centre has rushed more forces to Uttar Pradesh to help the state government in the maintenance of peace and public order. Patil said, “the Government remains firmly committed to combating terrorism. All of us have to ensure that such acts of terror by some desperate anti-national elements do not disturb peace, public order and communal harmony in the country and are not allowed to undermine our determination to combat, control and contain violence.”



Patil read out his statement in the midst of chaos and din in both Houses of Parliament raised by BJP members supported by some NDA allies that led to the adjournment of both Houses for the day. Observers say that there was a visible distinction between the protests by BJP and its allies. While the BJP members trooped into the well of the Lok Sabha raising slogans, its allies like JDU and the BJD, only stood up at their seats. Some like the Akali Dal did not even join the protest.



Several political leaders visited Varanasi in the wake of the terrorist attacks. Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Home Minister Shivraj Patil visited Varanasi on the night of March 7 and went to the places where the blasts took place and met those injured in the attacks. BJP president Rajnath Singh also went to Varanasi to have first hand view of the situation there. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav visited Varanasi on Wednesday, March 8, and said that the blasts were part of a terror strike and smacked of a deep-rooted conspiracy.



There was a bandh in Varanasi on Wednesday, and thankfully it was almost totally peaceful. Through their calm response to the terrorist attack, the residents of Varanasi showed that they are not going to be swayed by communal elements taking advantage of the incident. One evidence of this was peace marches taken out by all sections of people.



In a spontaneous move, students of Banaras Hindu University (BHU) marched to the temple. They reiterated their resolve to fight terrorism. Youth Congress activists took out a march through the busy streets for maintaining communal harmony. They carried placards and raised slogans of Hindu-Muslim-Sikh-Isai unity and brotherhood. BHU students as well as volunteers of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh participated in blood donation camps. There was no shortage of blood in the hospitals where the injured are being treated.



Abdul Batin Nomani, Mufti-e-Banaras, called upon the people to maintain peace and communal harmony. “My appeal is to all sections of people and political leaders to refrain from making our city the boxing arena for settling political scores and deriving political mileage from such tragic incidents,” the Mufti said.



Expressing similar sentiments, Sankat Mochan Temple foundation chief priest Veerbhadra Mishra lamented the loss of lives. He said such terror attacks would change the security scenario and even religious places would be turned into police strongholds. As a result, the free movement of devotees would be restricted.



Muslim community calls for peace



The Muslim community with one voice condemned the blasts in Varanasi and called for communal peace in the face of any attempt to disturb public order. In a statement, the Jamiat-Ulema-i-Hind said : “Any violence especially in a place of worship is most condemnable. We demand that the law enforcement agencies take full precautionary measures to maintain peace and public order. We appeal to all peace-loving citizens to exercise restraint and maintain peace and unity.”



The All India Muslim Personal Law Board, at its executive meeting in Bangalore, condemned the attacks and said the guilty should be brought to book, It also noted that some political parties were trying to spread communal tension with an eye on the coming Assembly polls.





Politics takes centre-stage, BJP to launch twin yatras



While the Congress and the Left parties condemned the bomb blasts in Varanasi, the BJP blamed them on what it called the soft policies followed by the Manmohan Singh Government at the Centre and the Mulayam Singh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party Government in Uttar Pradesh. Congress president Sonia Gandhi on her visit to Varanasi said the Centre would not allow the atmosphere of communal harmony and peace to be disturbed in the city and the state.



The CPI(M) politburo in a statement issued after its meeting in New Delhi said that the fact that the blasts took place at a temple and in the railway station in Varanasi showed the diabolical motive behind the terrorist attack which is to create communal tension and a backlash. The party said it was unfortunate that the BJP was resorting to low level politics by attributing the terrorist outrage to socalled minority appeasement by the Government and secular parties. The politburo said this type of communal politics vitiates the atmosphere in the country. The CPI, in a statement, said that political parties must refrain from politicising the incident which may lead to communal polarisation of the people in Uttar Pradesh and elsewhere. The party central secretariat said that the Union and the State governments should make all efforts to pin down the culprits.



The Congress on its part said that when it was in the opposition, it did not disrupt Parliament proceedings during terrorist attacks on temples like Akshardham in Gandhinagar, and Raghunath in Jammu, and on the Red Fort and Parliament. Party spokesperson Rajiv Shukla flayed the BJP decision to take out twin yatras and dubbed them as ‘riot’ yatras.



BJP president Rajnath Singh, on his visit to Varanasi said that the soft policies of the Central and State Governments had helped in the emergence of disruptive elements. He wanted the probe into the blasts to be handed over to the CBI.



In New Delhi, leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha L.K. Advani announced that the party will organise two simultaneous rath yatras to cover the country to mobilise support for the party’s “anti-minority and anti-Muslim vote bank politics” plank, ahead of the Assembly polls in five states. One of the yatras will be led by Advani himself and the other by party president Rajnath Singh. Advani said that the party would utilise the yatras to mobilise support against the Congress move to give reservations to Muslims in Andhra Pradesh and amendment of the Foreigners Act to bring the quashed Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunal) Act through the back door. He said the party would attack what he described as the Government’s soft approach to terrorism.



In response to a question, Advani confirmed that the yatras would be part of political mobilisation. “The BJP is a political party. We cannot keep politics out.” Party managers have been told to ensure that the route of the yatras covered the five states going to the polls.



Advani said that an important lesson for the UPA, its allies and supporters was that any political party that promotes “minorityism” for the sake of vote banks was dangerous and was contributing to the rise of religious fundamentalism. This, he added, constituted a “grave threat to national unity and integrity” and “it was not an exaggerated fear.”



Advani announced that as a protest against the terrorist attacks in Varanasi, party leaders have decided to give the Holi celebrations a miss this week as a mark of solidarity with the victims of the bomb blasts.



The Bahujan Samaj Party, a major political player in Uttar Pradesh, said that the State Government had not learnt any lesson from the terror attack in Ayodhya and the riots in Mau. Party president Mayawati alleged that the law and order situation in the state worsened whenever there was a Samajwadi Party-led Government in Lucknow. She demanded the dismissal of the Mulayam Singh Government and the imposition of President’s Rule in the state.



Observers say that the twin yatra announced by L.K. Advani appears to be a desperate attempt by the BJP leader to rediscover the virtues of Hindutva politics. The yatra announcement coming after he lost his clout in the Sangh Parivar with pro-Jinnah and anti-RSS statements in the wake of his Pakistan visit last year, surprised many of his party colleagues and senior RSS leaders. It is uncertain whether the Sangh cadre will rally around Advani in the yatra gambit.



The senior BJP leader himself is not sure of the response to his yatra, which is why he has allowed current BJP chief Rajnath Singh to share the limelight in the hope of getting BJP and Sangh cadres to pitch in. Advani’s proposed yatra, besides aiming to cash in on Hindu sentiment for electoral gain, also reflects the flip-flop of a man unable to achieve his ambition of becoming Prime Minister. After going against the RSS line last June, praising Jinnah, Advani is changing colours again. Since last year, he has lost credibility as a Hindutva leader. And till the Parivar accepts him as one, it is unlikely that his yatra will help him regain lost ground.



Moreover, despite its name, the Bharat Jodo Yatra’s success will depend on its ability to polarise votes on the basis of Hindutva. It is to be seen how other NDA leaders like Nitish Kumar, Mamata Banerjee and Navin Patnaik view it, since their own support base is not confined to Hindutva politics.