The New Nation - Internet Edition

Hasanuzzaman Khan

Indian media seems to have launched a canard against Bangladesh implicating an organisation already outlawed in Bangladesh claiming its involvement in the terrorist attack in Jaipur.

In August last year a similar story was spread when there were blasts in Hyderabad in the Deccan killing 38 people. But India which is a home to a number of militant groups ranging from Maoist rebels to secessionists in its north east can not escape the responsibility. A few days back fourteen secessionists were killed in Nagaland following Indian Army action. The Naga rebels have been fighting a secessionist war for half a century.

A Bangladesh security expert said, the organisation that India had named behind the Jaipur bombings is a non-entity in Bangladesh. It has been marginalised following a security crackdown and its leaders and activists had been imprisoned. The Bangladesh officials in Dhaka urged the Indian media not to jump to any conclusion and point finger at any foreign forces for explosions in Jaipur that killed 61 people. There were both Hindus and Muslims among the dead. Bangladesh officials said, no one should point finger at Bangladesh for any suspected terrorist attack in other countries. The terrorists have no boundaries and now it is a global phenomenon. The media should not jump to conclusion before thorough investigations are concluded.

Hours after the explosions the observers say, the India-based terrorists wanted to undermine a peace process initiated between India and Pakistan. Indian foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee is due to visit Islamabad to review the peace process between Pakistan and India since the civilian government took over in Pakistan. A strong quarter in India including BJP and Hindu Mahasabha are opposed to any peace deal with Pakistan. The observers noted that blasts occurred just days after gun battle in Kashmir erupted between the Indian Army and the militants.

Jaipur is predominantly a Hindu city and has a strong Muslim minority. Recent years have seen rise of inter-faith tension in Gujarat, a neighbouring state where 2000 Muslims were massacred by Hindu mobs in 2002.

Rajasthan of which Jaipur is the capital includes the Ajmeer Sharif, the spiritual capital of all faiths of the sub-continent. Rajasthan is presently ruled by Hindu extremist BJP which also controls neighbouring Gujarat.

Indian police said, they are looking for Indian suspects and have released several sketches of people who could have been the bombers.

An email to local media sent by an Indian organisation claimed the responsibility for the attack. Similar claims were made minutes before a blast in utter Pradesh last year. Indian police said, they were taking the email 'very seriously' although some police officials and BJP Chief Minister of the state have questioned the authenticity of the email.

In the past few years bomb blasts in Indian cities killed hundreds of people. The deadliest was in July 2006 when seven bombs on Mombai's rail network killed more than 180 people. After serial explosions in Jaipur. India has again blamed foreign hand perhaps a euphemism for neighbouring countries.

A US state department report has put India at the top of the list of countries afflicted by terrorism. India has more than 2300 terrorism related deaths. Separatists like ULFA and Maoist rebels in India use serial bombings at regular intervals.

India official said, the Pak intelligence ISI might have been behind the blast. New Pak government promised to hand over Dawood, the mastermind behind Mumbai bombings in 1993 to the India govt. Other forces in Pakistan, however, may not allow this deal to materialise.