Blasts leads point to HuJI

Blasts leads point to HuJI Statesman News Service NEW DELHI, May 14: With leads in investigations into yesterday’s devastating serial terror blasts in Jaipur increasingly pointing to the suspected involvement of the Bangladesh-based terrorist group, Harkat-ul-Jehadi Islamia (HuJI) ~ which is said to carry out similar strikes sometimes in tandem with the Pakistan-based terror outfits like Lashkar-e-Toiyaba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) elsewhere in India ~, the Centre today said the Jaipur attack betrayed a “deep-rooted and very well-planned conspiracy” to disturb the country’s communal harmony, indicating the hands of a “neighbouring” country. Without specifying any country however, the Union minister of state for home, Mr Sriprakash Jaiswal told a news conference here that it could be any of the neighbouring countries ~ Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal and Myanmar ~ that had been gripped by internal turmoil. Mr Jaiswal, who earlier visited the Jaipur blasts sites, refused to specify the organisation involved in the attack, saying investigations are on. “I will not like to name the dangerous outfits.” To a specific query whether HuJI was behind it, he remained evasive, merely saying that those involved would be “thoroughly exposed” very soon. Significantly, the minister said there could be a link between the Jaipur blast and those that had occurred earlier in places such as Varanasi, Faizabad, Ajmer and Hyderabad. In most such terror strikes, including Malegaon, there had been tell-tale signs of HuJI’s footprints. In several of these strikes, like Jaipur, explosive ammonium nitrate laced with the deadly RDX, fitted with shrapnels or ball-bearings to maximise casualties and attached to timers, had been planted on bicycles. The modus operandi also involved carrying out strikes in or around premises of temples on Tuesdays, like in Jaipur and Varanasi, and of mosques on Fridays or its eve, like in Hyderabad and Malegaon, with an evident awareness that these days especially attract more devotees of these faiths there.BJP leader Mr LK Advani and chief minister Ms Vasundhara Raje today reiterated Bharatiya Janata Party's demand to revive the draconian law of POTA which according to them was the only viable option to combat the menace of terrorism. As per official figures, 63 persons lost their lives and 217 were injured. The deceased include seven women, eight children and two policemen. Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has sanctioned Rs one lakh as ex-gratia for the families of those killed in the serial from the PM National Relief Fund. Those injured in the blasts will get Rs 50,000. The government has also announced compensation of Rs 5 lakh each to the families of the deceased and one lakh rupees to the injured victims "Out of the 63 who died in the blast, 11 were from outside Jaipur. Special medical teams have been summoned to Jaipur from Udaipur, Jodhpur and Ajmer. Seventeen dead bodies are yet to be identified,” according to Mr Rajendra Singh Rathore, minister for parliamentary affairs.Meanwhile the district administration has decided not to relax curfew imposed at various places including Galta gate, Ramganj, Subhash Chowk and Kotwali in the city. Areas under 13 police stations inside the city will be under curfew from 9 am to 4 pm.

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