Jaipur blasts suspect apprehended from Karimganj in South Assam

Jaipur blasts suspect apprehended from Karimganj in South Assam

From Jyoti Lal Chowdhury in Silchar

With the arrest of a middle aged Bangladeshi national identified as Helal Ahmed in the district of Karimganj in South Assam recently by BSF in the aftermath of the serial bomb blasts in Jaipur and the claim of the paramilitary forces and the police who grilled him about his being a sector commander of HuJI (Harkat- ul-Jihad-al-Islam) in Sylet, there is enough substance to lend credence to the reports of the intelligence agencies that the dreaded terrorist outfit is operating from its Dhaka base. He is believed to be one of the masterminds behind the Jaipur blasts. Investigation by the intelligence arms of the various agencies so far has established that he is a diehard terrorist. He used to frequent Barak Valley, different parts of Assam and across the country. A senior police officer of Barak Valley admitted that Helal Ahmed used to cross over from Bangladesh posing as a cleric, often leading a group of religious persons. The police official said he has been sent for narco-analyst test to SB headquarters at Guwahati and many more things are expected to come out about his identity. Intelligence reports have documents to prove that HuJI is based at 380, Khelgaon, Taltula, Dhaka with ever widening network in close nexus with ISI and other anti-national elements. The deadly bomb blasts in Mumbai, Delhi, Varanasi and Hyderabad brought out Bangladeshi connection with HuJI in sharp focus. Director General of Field Forces Intelligence of Bangladesh plays second fiddle to HuJI. Khwaja Ilyas, intelligence agencies say, is the present commander of the outfit whose modus-operandi is to rope in unemployed youths in Bangladesh and India for arms training in Karachi. The agencies have sounded alarm bell for cities and towns of Assam as well. Despite all the big talks of the border being fenced or brought under close watch, it is as easy as ever before to infiltrate or exfiltrate mainly through West Bengal and float or set up modules. These modules are formed with persons drawn from diverse professions, from a tailor to shop owner and engineer. Mobile numbers of some of them have been listed by the intelligence agencies, raising intriguing questions about their unhindered contacts. Suspect mosques and madrasas in sensitive border areas, about which BSF has given enough indication; provide leverage about a large consignment of arms brought in to an air force base near Dhaka by a Kuwaiti C-130 Aircraft which was received by the terrorist outfit in question under the supervision of the Director General of Field Forces Intelligence. HuJI rank and file receive training in Pakistan and Pak Occupied Kashmir. The outfit’s ever expanding base and influence is attributed to its flow of funds. Investigations reveal that a banned NGO of Kuwait Al Harmain linked with Al-Qaeda was the major funding agency for HuJI. Now its main source of funding is Al Farooq International Trust, headed by Amir Urf Maulana. In the Varanasi blasts, it was the Bangladeshis who did the spadework. Mastermind Wall Ullah, local commander of HuJI, was conduit for the three Bangladeshis identified as Bashir Uddin, Mustafez and Zakaria. After carrying out the blasts in the temple city, they safely slipped away and were reported to have left for their native country. Intelligence agencies are worried at the fragile security and long stretches of porous border in the Northeast. Even in the Hyderabad blasts, it were the Bangladeshis who provided a sort of emotional base for the terrorists to carry out the blasts. It is to be recalled that HuJI, a pan-Islamic outfit born out of Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) has its cadres drawn from SIMI which provides local base in India and help with logistics. Most militants of the outfit are products of the Wahabi-Deobandi madrasas of Pakistan. Hundreds of cadres, trained in bomb making and armed insurgencies infiltrate the Indo-Bangladesh border for terror acts in India. It has global affiliations and is part of the Islamic front of Osama bin Laden.

Gujjars to get 5 per cent quota in Rajasthan

June 18, 2008 19:25 ISTLast Updated: June 18, 2008 20:49 IST
The Rajasthan government on Wednesday announced a five per cent reservation for Gujjars under a "special, separate backward class" category sealing an agreement with the community and ending the nearly month-long agitation by its members demanding Scheduled Tribe status.
Apparently as a balancing act ahead of assembly polls later this year, the Rajasthan government also announced 14 per cent reservation for "poor among upper castes" including Bramhins, Rajputs, Vaishyas and Kayasthas.

Addressing a joint press conference with Gujjar leader Kirori Singh Bainsla in Jaipur, Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje announced five per cent quota for Gujjars as also Rebaris and Banjaras.

Apparently keeping in mind the sensitivities of the influential Meena community, which enjoys the ST status in the state, she sought to allay apprehensions about the impact of the quota for Gujjars on the present reservation system.

"This quota would not have any adverse effect on the present reservation system in the state," she said adding, "there is a necessity to give special support to some sections."

Expressing gratitude to Raje and giving her all credit for ending the stalemate, Bainsla said that in view of Wednesday's announcement the Gujjar agitation would be called off after he reaches Pilupura in Bharatpur, the nerve centre of the agitation.

"We hope there will be no need for any more agitation on the issue", he said.
Earlier, the formal announcement of the agreement between the two sides, which was slated for morning, was delayed by a few hours apparently due to some last-minute glitches.

The 27-day Gujjar agitation, which witnessed largescale violence, claimed 43 lives in police firing in Rajasthan and Haryana.

Soon after resolving the Gujjar issue, Raje addressed a separate press meet announcing reservation for economically poor among upper castes, based on a report submitted on Wednesday by the Economically Backward Classes Commission.

The speed with which the commission report was accepted by the government underlines the Bharatiya Janata Party's anxiety to ward off possible backlash by upper castes, perceived to be the party traditional vote bank, to reservation for Gujjars.

At the same time, the chief minister assured other castes that EBC's recommendations would not affect the existing quota categories of SC/ST/OBC.

The state EBC Chairman Justice Shashi Kant Sharma and his two colleagues Ashutosh Gupta and Mahesh Tanwar submitted the report to the government on Wednesday, Raje said.
A cabinet meeting would take up the report on Thursday and consider its implementation in the state at the earliest, she added.

The state EBC commission was set up on the pattern of the Central EBC to cover poor people of upper caste and who were deprived of their educational and professoinal rights, Raje said.
In the past, almost every political party promised reservation for poor among upper castes, but it was never fulfilled, she said.

The Rajasthan government also a relief package for the Gujjar community including Rs.5 lakh cash ex gratia each to the next of the kin of those killed in police firing and violence.

Besides cash, one dependent of the deceased would be given a government job, an official release said, adding the seriously injured person would be paid Rs 1 lakh while persons with simple injuries would be given up to Rs 25,000.

The state government also assured the Rajasthan Gujjar Arakshan Sangarsh Saimit that the legality of the demand for withdrawal of criminal cases filed againt those during the agitation would be examined on merit.

The Gujjar delegation, in turn, also assured the state government that it would not raise any other demand and it would not support any other Gujjar faction's movement and agitation in future.

About 35 Gujjar leaders, four state ministers K L Gujjar, Nathu Singh Gujjar, L N Dave, S M Jat, and state BJP president Om Prakash Mathur and senior party leader Ram Das Agarwal were signatories to the agreement between the two sides. Source: http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/jun/18rajriot.htm

80 killed, over 150 injured as terror strikes Jaipur

KS Tomar and Siddhartha S Bose, Hindustan Times

Jaipur, May 13, 2008

At least 80 people were killed and over 150 injured in seven explosions that took place on Tuesday evening in some of the most crowded areas of Jaipur. The eighth bomb was found and defused.

“We have information that 80 people have died,” Rajasthan Home Minister Gulab Chand Kataria was quoted by AFP as saying. Earlier, Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje told reporters that 60 people had died and 150 were injured.

State police chief AS Gill said, “Obviously, it’s a terrorist plot. The way it has been done, the attempt was to cause maximum damage.” He did not rule out the use of RDX and timer devices.
Though no one has claimed responsibility yet, security and intelligence sources said the explosions could be the handiwork of the Bangladesh-based Harkat ul Jehadi Islamia or the Pakistan-based Lashkar-i-Tayyeba. The home minister said one suspect had been detained and was being investigated.

This was Rajasthan’s second brush with terrorism in recent years — the last being a bomb blast at the Ajmer Sharif dargah of Moinuddin Chisti on October 11, 2007 that killed three devotees.
The Tuesday terrorist strike in Jaipur started at 7.25 pm. There were seven explosions at six places — Manak Chowk, Sanganeri Gate Hanuman Mandir, Johri Bazaar, Tripoliya, Chauti Chaupar (two explosions) and Chandpole Hanuman Mandir. Police said another bomb was defused at Chandpole Hanuman temple.

The temples were chosen obviously because Tuesdays are special for Hanuman worship, and the explosions would have the maximum impact. The bombs were carried on bicycles — or perhaps cars — to the destinations before being exploded by the terrorists. Flowers strewn in blood at Chauti Chaupar and police helmets scattered on the Kotwali police station porch told a gruesome tale. Two bombs had exploded in quick succession at Manak Chowk and Chauti Chaupar.
Many of the flower vendors at Chauti Chaupar were injured, as bombs exploded behind the cement platform on which they displayed their flowers. Soon a bomb exploded in the premises of the Kotwali police station across the road.

Ram Babu, an eyewitness, said, “It was the sound of something heavy dropping with a thud. When we turned back we saw the injured in the parking lot outside the police station.”
Homemaker S Dangayach, 42, witnessed the heart-rending death of two children. “I saw several people running in panic. I was unable to run... I was saved by the grace of God,” she told HT at Sawai Mansingh Hospital. At the Kotwali police station, three policemen were injured. Smashed helmets were scattered all over the place along with the mangled remains of vehicles.
Police evacuated the entire walled city within an hour of the blasts. Vehicles were prohibited from going in and people were asked to walk instead. Security officials said the cellphone network was jammed to prevent the spread of rumours.

Minutes after the evacuation, riot control vehicles, columns of rapid action force and special task force were deployed at different crossings inside the walled city, turning it into a fortress.

Screams, silence as families collect bodies of Jaipur blast victims
3 hours ago
JAIPUR, India (AFP) — A shock of thick black hair was all that peeped out from under a white sheet that covered a small body Wednesday at a morgue in Jaipur after serial bomb blasts killed about 80 people.

Eight bombs went off within minutes of each other in crowded markets close to several Hindu temples in what police said was a terror attack on the city 260 kilometres (160 miles) west of India's capital.

The body on the stretcher belonged to 10-year-old Kanha Mahar, who had gone to a temple to the Hindu deity Hanuman on a traditional day to pray to the monkey god. He had huge gash in his head.

"We were looking for him all evening," said his uncle Jagdish Kumar Gathera, who found him at the hospital, unable to breathe.
The doctors ordered drugs but before they arrived the boy was dead.
Gathera and family looked on in shocked silence as Mahar's body was taken off a rusty gurney into an ambulance, leaving behind a pool of blood.

Volunteers of the right-wing Hindu organisation Rashtriya Swayamseval Sangh (RSS, National Volunteers Association), who were manning the short-staffed hospital mortuary said it was a scene that played through the night.

Bodies arrived quickly from one of half a dozen blast sites, family members had to search for loved ones and corpses were put into the morgue's deep-freeze for identification through the coming hot day.

With several of the bombs going off near temples, there were fears that Hindu-Muslim riots could break out, an ever-present worry in religiously divided India. Blue-fatigue clad paramilitary troops of India's Rapid Action Force and police fanned out across the city as a curfew was imposed from 9:00 am (0330 GMT).

The nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, which has links to the RSS and rules the western desert state of Rajasthan, of which Jaipur is the capital, called a strike Wednesday to protest against the bombings.
But in the hospital wards and at the morgue, both Hindus and Muslims, a strong minority in the city, were among the dead.

A man clad in a red shirt who arrived shortly after the Gatheras left, cried out in anguish when he saw his niece Arina Maruf, also 10, laid out on the gurney Mahar had just vacated.
The little girl's head was a tousle of matted curls caked with dried blood and her eyes were still open as the volunteers carefully covered her with a white sheet.
The centre of the attacks was the walled city's Johari bazaar, a strip of jewellers and clothes shops housed in the pink buildings with delicate filigree windows that are the hallmark of Jaipur, known as the Pink City.

Jaipur is popular with foreign tourists but there were few in the city in mid-May, the hot season in northern India when temperatures soar above 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit).
Shops were closed ahead of the curfew as curious bystanders milled around a blast site, staring at shards of glass, cracked windows of a car and scattered slippers.

At Jaipur cremation ground, Govind Khanagwal, his foot bandaged, sat by his father's corpse as volunteers took kindling to add to the funeral pyre and recalled the confusion.
"Everything was black. I ran up an alley behind the shop," Khanagwal, 22, said.
"I came back after a minute or two and he was lying there, his legs and arms were no longer attached to his body."
But he pledged to return to the destroyed stall run by his father that sold garlands for temple worshippers.

Another survivor vividly recalled the horror.
"I heard two explosions and I was wondering what happened. Then a bomb went off right in front of me," said Malchand Bagoria, who runs a fruit stall opposite one of the bomb sites.
"Then I saw a woman's body go flying through the air. There were so many bodies." Source: http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iW2rcYR1gBwL7f8wMNWm0vvTMJOQ