‘Hindutva terrorists had targetted Bhopal Muslim congregation, political pressures allowed them to walk free’
Madhya Pradesh blast probe was put on ice
Bhopal, November 20 (Pervez Bari): The members of a Hindu organization namely Abhinav Bharat (not the charitable trust by the same name) — the Hindutva terror group allegedly responsible for a string of recent bombings - had targetted a religious international annual congregation of Muslims in Bhopal, the capital of central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, as early as 2002 when they were preparing for a nationwide bombing campaign.
This has been revealed in a news story entitled "Politics helped Hindutva terrorists" published in The Hindu, a leading Indian English language daily, dated November 20, 2008, bylined Praveen Swami.
According to the news report authorities in Madhya Pradesh had evidence to this effect about Abhinav Bharat activities. However, government sources told the newspaper, political pressures allowed members of the terror cell, including two suspects now being investigated by the Maharashtra Police’s Anti-Terrorism Squad, to walk free.
In December 2002, police in Madhya Pradesh discovered an improvised explosive device, (IED), at Bhopal’s railway station. A second IED was found exactly a year later on Bhopal’s outskirts in LambaKhera neighborhood on the last day of the congregation when Muslims drawn from all over the world were retuning on the conclusion of "Dua" (Munajat). Both devices were made with commercial TNT cased in a four-inch tube-well pipe, linked to a detonator controlled both by a cell phone and a quartz alarm clock.
Investigators determined that both bombs were intended to attack delegates arriving in the city for the annual convention of the Tablighi Jamaat — an event that attracts about half a million people.
Madhya Pradesh police, the sources said, soon developed information linking the attempted bombings to local Hindutva activists, Ramnarayan Kalsangram and Sunil Joshi. Both men — now alleged by the Maharashtra Police ATS to have occupied command positions in Abhinav Bharat — were questioned, along with several other suspects linked to the Bajrang Dal’s activities.
Later, the then ruling Congress Chief Minister Digvijay Singh had announced that he had evidence of the involvement of Hindu nationalist groups such as the Bajrang Dal, an affiliate of Hindu fundamentalist organization Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, (RSS), in terrorism, the report stated.
It may be mentioned here that Singh had proposed to the Bharatiya Janata Party ruled National Democratic Alliance, (NDA) Union Government to put a ban on Bajrang Dal along with Student Islamic Movement of India, (SIMI), which was alleged to be involved in acts of terrorism. However, NDA Government imposed a ban on SIMI alone and let Bajrang Dal to go scot free. (pervezbari@eth.net)

Christian Rally Demands Justice, Security for Community in Orissa & Karnataka
Bhopal, November 20 (Pervez Bari): Christians of Chandigarh and surrounding districts of Punjab and Haryana rallied in their thousands in Chandigarh, the “City Beautiful”, on Thursday demanding security and justice for their community in Orissa and Karnataka, the worst hit in the fundamentalist violence through several months of the year 2008.
A Press statement released to the media said: “Over 50,000 Christian men, women and children of Kandhamal fear they will celebrate Christmas 2008 as refugees hiding for their lives in the forests of Kandhamal district in Orissa, in ill-kept refugee camps in the state or as internally displaced persons seeking safety and a livelihood in various cities of the country. They remain hounded by memories of Christmas 2007 which 1,000 of them spent in the forests after the first attacks,” speakers including National Integration Council member Dr. John Dayal, All India Christian Council National Secretary Dr. Sam Paul and Chandigarh-Shimla Catholic diocese administrator Fr. Thomas told the rally.
The statement stated that the Christian march and mass rally addressed a memorandum to the President of India through the Governors of Punjab and Haryana and the Chief Administrator of the Union Territory of Chandigarh. The memorandum cautioned that while the situation was comparatively peaceful in these two states and the Union territory, reports had started coming in of communal gangs terrorizing Home Churches and small congregations in small towns.
The situation in Orissa, Karnataka Tamil Nadu and Chhattisgarh, however, continued to be terrible despite assurances by Central and state governments. In Orissa and other states ruled by the Bharatiya Janata party, the police forces and the subordinate criminal justice apparatus had been heavily infiltrated by the communal ideology of the “Sangh Parivar”. The result was that the police was a mute bystander and often an active participant in attacks on Christian houses of worship and gatherings, and assaults on priests. This state of impunity must end.
There also have been many cases of sexual violence. Cases were often not registered, and tragically, it was the victim Christians who ended up facing the wrath of the government. A hate campaign continues unabated in the media and on the streets, targeting Christians and their faith, questioning their patriotism and stigmatizing their religious personnel.
The memorandum quoted figures compiled by the All India Christian Council which are as under:
* the states of Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Uttaranchal have been severely affected. In Orissa, over 4,500 houses have been burnt and 300 villages purged of all Christians in the worst case of “ethnic cleansing” in Independent India. Over 50,000 are homeless, ten thousand of them in government camps. The names of 60 dead and close to 90 men are still reported missing and may be dead in the forest. Independent probes have spoken of clandestine disposal of bodies. School children are without education, babies without infant food, and families without warm clothes in the cold hill tract.
The government must immediately crack down on hate campaigns and ensure justice. The Anti-Communal Violence Bill, which was initially rejected by civil society because it was lop-sided, must be immediately revised and brought into force, by an Ordinance if necessary after consulting all minority communities, the memorandum said.
The Centre must use Constitutional provisions to ensure that State governments implement guarantees of freedom of faith and protection of the homes, places of worship, and livelihood the religious minorities, the memorandum demanded.
At present, criminal gangs are roaming free. Central forces that have been sent to Orissa, for instance, have not been able to rescue those in the forests for want of effective coordination with the state machinery.
There is also little justice in the relief, rehabilitation and compensation procedures. The victims of Orissa have been given a pittance. Even the victims of December 2007 violence have not been able to build their houses. Churches, burnt down by communal forces, must be rebuilt at State expense. The governments and the aggressors cannot evade their culpability and responsibility. The Church cannot continue to rebuild places of worship only to see them demolished and burnt by criminal gangs of a particular ideology, the memorandum said.
The rally also affirmed the demand by the Catholic Bishops Conference of India, the National Council of Churches in India and the All India Christian Council that the Central Bureau of Investigation, (CBI), probe major cases, including that of the rape of a Catholic Nun in Kandhamal in August 2008.
Justice to the Christian community cannot be complete without accepting the just demands of the Dalit Christians for Scheduled Caste Status at par with their brethren in the Sikh, Buddhist and Hindu faiths, the memorandum said.
The sixty-year-old struggle for a fair deal, supported by several National Commissions, appeals to the basic tenets of equality and affirmative action enshrined in the Constitution of India, the memorandum added. (pervezbari@eth.net)