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The Ajmer bomb blasts took place on
11th October 2007; these took place inside the holy Shrine of Khwaja
Moinuddin Chisti, killing two people. In the wake of this the
central Home minister, in his standard statement said that this is
the handiwork of HUJI and Lashkar-e-Tayyaba type groups who are
indulging in these activities and this is aimed to disrupt the
communal harmony in the country. Three years down the line now a RSS
functionary Devendra Gupta and his associates have been accused of
triggering this blast and have been arrested. To cap it all there
seems to be the connection between this Ajmer blast and the blast
which took place in Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad, which took place a
few months ago of this Ajmer blast (May 2007).
There is also the news that the Rajasthan police despite evidence
delayed the investigation of Ajmer blasts as the leads of
investigation pointed towards the involvement of Hindu right wing
terror gangs. One also hears that since Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur
was arrested in connection with Malegaon blasts, her links led to
Swami Asimanand of Dangs, who is the major RSS combine figure of the
area. He is absconding since then. And now apart from Maharashtra
police Rajasthan police is also looking for him.
Strange things have happened in connection with the investigation of
blasts during last few years. The thesis guiding the police
investigation for a long time was that terror groups are being
promoted by Pakistan and they want to create communal disharmony,
that they are putting bombs in places of Muslim worship. It is due
to this and the inherent biases of our investigation agencies that
for so long and despite clear involvement of terror groups inspired
and connected with ideology of RSS were not touched. It was after
Hemant Karkare discovered the irrefutable evidence of Sadhvi’s motor
cycle used in Maelgaon blasts and her connections with all others,
Lt Col. Prasad Shrikant Purohit, Swami Dayanand Pande, Retd. Major
Upadhaya etc., that the nexus was discovered. After the tragic
killing of Hemant Karkare again the investigation has put on the
slow track. In the face of such strong evidences now some of the
investigation authorities are forced to wake up to the threat of
terrorism done by these groups.
There has been a pattern of these terror attacks done by the likes
of Sadhvi, those connected with RSS ideology or remotely connected
with organizations floated by the ones’ trained in RSS ideology.
This raises lot of questions about the professional competence of
our investigation agencies. The blasts took place in the places
where predominantly Muslims congregate, blasts took place at times
when their numbers was maximum in the places of prayer. The
observation was that after the blasts, blinded by the inherent
biases, the investigation agencies made it a routine to arrest some
Muslim youth. The names of HUJI, Lashkar, and SIMI have been dished
out and lapped up by media which has shaped the public opinion.
The problems which we witnessed in this are two fold. One, the
innocents were tortured and their lives and careers were ruined by
this crass attitude and second the real culprits carried on merrily
one after the other, knowing full well that they will be protected
because of their religion and because of their organization, which
makes maximum noises against terrorism itself.
The pattern began with Nanded in 2006, when two Bajrang Dal workers
died while making bombs, in the same city later a Shiv Sena Shaka
member died in the go-down storing biscuits, two Bajrag Dal Workers
died in Kanpur in 2008 and many such incidents kept going on. The
tide in a way turned when the irrefutable evidence of Sadhvi Pragya
Singh Thakurs' motor cycle being used in Malegaon blast was
detected. The immaculate investigation done by Mahrashtra ATS led to
the detection of the involvement of other such affiliates (meaning
all those organization who subscribe to ideology of Hindu Nation,
Hindutva and whose core team is trained in this ideology). Sadhvis'
photo was also seen with the BJP President Rajnath Singh. Surely
after the arrest of the real culprits starting from the Sadhvi, the
frequency of terror attacks has come down. In Thane on 4th June
2008, two Hindu Jagran Samiti workers were arrested for planting the
bombs in the basement of Gadkari Rangayatan, due to which 7 people
got injured. The same group was involved in the blasts in Vashi,
Panvel also. This group was also involved in the bomb blast in Goa,
recently on the occasion of Narak Chaturdashi. This group idolizes
Savarkar (Hindu Mahasabha) and Hedgewar (RSS) and indoctrinates its
members into hating Christians and Muslims.
Similarly on 24th August 2008 two Bajrang Dal activists died in
Kanpur, while making bombs. The Kanpur zone IGP S.N. Singh stated
that their investigations have revealed that this group was planning
massive explosions all over the state. Indian Express, 23 Oct 2008
reports that those involved in the bomb blast in Malegaon and Modasa
(Sept 2008) had links with Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad
Similarly in Tenkasi, Tamil Nadu pipe bomb attack on RSS office
(Jan.2008) was projected to have been done by Jehadi Muslims. The
investigation revealed many a Hindu names and later the
investigations was frozen. In an alleged Fidayin attack was claimed
that in the attack on RSS office in Nagpur (June 1, 2006) three of
them were killed in the police encounter, as per the police version.
Citizens Inquiry report, headed by Justice Kolse Patil doubted the
police version in a serious way; the clarifications did not come
through from the authorities.
Pained by this attitude of the State and investigating authorities a
Citizens tribunal was held in Hyderabad August 2008, the tribunal
concluded that, “This fight against terrorism, victims emphasized,
has veered more around witch hunting of Muslims rather than curbing
terrorism, thus robbing people of their liberty and freedom and
making them more insecure than ever before. The real culprits, they
said, often roam freely whereas the poor and gullible Muslims are
picked up and thrown into jails at whims and fancies of the powers
that be. Victims after victims, who have undergone harassment and
torture without any evidence permissible in the court of law against
them, deposed before the tribunal — comprising country’s eminent
personalities including former judges, lawyers and renowned social
activists – and narrated their tales of woes to the shock and
anguish of hundreds of audience.”
One of the major hurdles which have obstructed the truth coming out
is that the investigation of the blasts cases is not easy and a lot
depends on the investigation authorities’ attitude and bias. In
these cases media generally laps up whatever is dished out by police
and not much of independent voice comes up. Those doubting the
police version are dubbed as anti national and media keeps itself at
safe distance from those who care to pick the holes in theory put
out by police. Usual norm of journalism should be to doubt the state
version also and not to dismiss those who have alternative version.
In cases of terror attacks this norm is kept aside. It is because of
this that so far the investigations do not get the corrective
direction, and many a times are totally fallacious, as the truth
coming out from Ajmer case and other similar cases show us. One
hopes that professionalism prevails over biases and independent
voices are not stifled in such matters if we want to reach the
truth, if we want to ensure that such attacks do not repeat
themselves.
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