Ajmer blast investigation in media: 2007 and 2010

Investigation by the Rajasthan Anti-Terrorism Squad has brought to light new, and supposedly real, faces behind the deadly attacks in the Ajmer shrine in 2007. And the CBI says that the Ajmer and Hyderabad Mecca Masjid blasts are linked, done by the same forces.

So what about all the news stories published in the media about the so-called Islamic terrorists like the HuJI behind those bomb blasts? What about all the articles published by the media based on the revelations of ‘intelligence officers’ and ‘official sources’?

Three people were killed and 17 others injured when a bomb exploded in the Ajmer Dargah Sharif on October 11, 2007. As always, the police, government and media began to hunt for the involvement of the so-called ‘Islamic terrorists’ with Pakistani and Bangladeshi connections. That the blast took place in a Muslim shrine, killing and injuring Muslims in the holy month of Ramadan was not a matter at all. The Harkat-ul Jehad e Islami based in Karachi became the prime suspect immediately.

On October 13, Praveen Swami wrote in ‘The Hindu’ on why the ‘Islamic terrorist groups’ should attack a Muslim shrine. Certain media doubted the HuJI while some speculated that the HuJI had organized the blast in association with other terrorist groups. Shahid Bilal was the man reported to be the key operative behind the attack. The Rajasthan police also suspected Syed Salim, a victim of the blast and former resident of Hyderabad, to be a part of the HuJI network and claimed that he must have triggered the bomb, but the Andhra police rejected the theory stating Salim had no record of any terror link. The report by Shishir Gupta in the Indian Express on October 15 added – ‘Official sources said that nothing concrete has emerged so far in the probe and any link of the HUJI or its operative Shahid Bilal to this case is still to be established.

The police picked up many clergymen and madrasa teachers during the investigation. One person named Bashir was arrested by the UP police. He is reported to have given clues about Moulvi Abdul Hafiz Shamim who also ran a madrasa besides being the moulvi in a local masjid. Moulvi was reportedly tortured in police custody for 18 days and then set free for lack of evidence. Khushbur Rahman, a teacher in a Rajasthani madrasa, was arrested on October 25 from his home in Jharkhand and released on November 6 on want of evidence. Moulvi Imran Ali was picked up as per the clues given by Khushbur Rahman.

The reports of 2007 stated clearly that the Ajmer and Mecca Masjid blasts were linked, though not in the way it is said now. The way the two blasts were organized looked similar. In both cases one bomb was left unexploded. ‘Investigators feel the Mecca Masjid attack and the Ajmer blast were carried out by the same group — HuJI Bangladesh — due to similarities in the modus operandi. Both used a mobile phone trigger and unexploded devices were found after both strikes’.

‘The police have stumbled upon evidence indicating that the Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) used in Mecca Masjid and Ajmer blasts were fabricated in Hyderabad .. ... Bangladeshi HuJI activist Abu Hamja prepared eight IEDs in Hyderabad in May first week and the explosive material was smuggled into the city from Bangladesh by an alleged LeT operative Shaik Abdul Nayeem of Maharashtra, sources said on Friday. While two IEDs were used in Mecca Masjid, four were sent to Ajmer. One bomb at the mosque failed to detonate.’.

And more importantly, SIM cards of mobile phones were used to trigger the bomb in both cases; the seller of the SIM cards was traced to Jharkhand. A report of the IANS said -"The central intelligence team was in Jamtara and they interrogated Sahid, the owner of Sargam Telecom. Sahid had sold the SIM card used in the Ajmer blast to someone called Babulal Yadav without asking for valid documents," a police official told IANS 

The report also states that the name and address given by the man who bought the SIM card were false. The fake name on the ID card was traced to Babulal Yadav of Jharkhand while the photo was that of Tarak Nath Pramanik, a yoga instructor in Noida. The report continues about the police interrogation of Sahid and the alleged connections that the Pakistan’s ISI has in Jharkhand. A report carried by the Indian Express states that the government contacted Pakistan on the matter: ‘India is learnt to have referred to Harkat-ul-Jihadi-Islami (HuJI) and its commander Shahid Bilal, who is alleged to have masterminded nearly all the recent terror strikes in the country’

The then Home minister Shivraj Patil also made the following statement after visiting the blast site at Ajmer “I am fully aware of the progress of the investigations and how far it has reached. The investigation is going as far as our borders,”.

From O. Najiya's outstanding report in Two Circles. More Here.

The root of right-wing terror lies in Malegaon’s Bada Qabristan

The recent arrests in Ajmer blasts of October 11, 2007 flies in the face of then Home Minister Shivraj Patil who had publicly blamed Harkat-ul-Jihad-e-Islami (HUJI) of Bangladesh without taking any laundry break! The standard statement of Home Minister is not issued in individual capacity but a reflection of official stand of the government. So who fed the words in the mouth of Home Minister? It is clear now that he was misled by a section of intelligentsia. This episode speaks volumes about the power of intelligence agencies: it has the potential to mislead any government.

The notorious right-wing trend of targeting Muslims began with Malegaon September 8, 2006 blasts. It was a pioneer project whose first experiment was performed in Malegaon’s Bada Qabristan. Emboldened by false arrests and biased investigation, these elements swore to repeat ‘Malegaon syndrome’. The syndrome first travelled South in the form of Mecca Masjid blast on May 18, 2007. Here again, they met with success. The syndrome raised its ugly head in North in the form of Ajmer blast on October 11, 2007. It returned to Malegaon once again on September 29, 2008 to complete a full circle. It was grit, determination and honesty of Hemant Karkare that exposed the face of right-wing terror. Malegaon 2006 blast occurred on Friday on the day of Shabe-Barat. Mecca Masjid blast took place on Friday again. Ajmer blast was triggered on Thursday; the day people throng Ajmer Sharif dargah. Malegaon 2008 blast went off in the holy month of Ramadan at Bhikku chowk where Muslims gather in large numbers after tarawih prayers. All this falls under one pattern.  Therefore, it will not be incorrect to assume that Hyderabad and Ajmer blasts were exact replica of Malegaon.

Like Malegaon, dozens of innocent Muslims were rounded up and beaten in Hyderabad in order to weave a fictional narrative of terror. Senior journalist Seema Mustafa who interviewed all the accused has remarked that “In Hyderabad not a single policeman has been made to pay for the illegal detention and terrible torture of young Muslims detained for days and weeks for alleged involvement in terror attacks. All were finally released as no evidence substantiating the charges was found, but not before their lives were ruined with many of them still unable to pick up the pieces.”

All these years security agencies have been sniffing out the same old and ‘standard pattern’. The theorists of the old and standard pattern suggest that whatever happens in India (Prime Minister’s sneeze included!) is the ultimate outcome of the designs made on the other side of the border. And designs are implemented by the educated Muslim youths of the country. Isn’t it a unique case of remote-control governance? What more, deadly designs direct these youths to kill their co-religionists in mosques and dargahs!

Surprisingly, Malegaon 2006 blasts have not figured anywhere in the ongoing Ajmer and Hyderabad investigation. The root of right-wing terror lies in Malegaon’s Bada Qabristan. There is an urgent need to connect the dots and form a triangle of Malegaon, Hyderabad and Ajmer. Perhaps, the mystery will unfold in MCOCA court later this month when Malegaon case stands up for argument. 

From Mubasshir Mushtaq's Blog  :

To read the full article click The Missing Malegaon dot

They call you a 'terrorist' if you are a Muslim, and 'accused' if you are a Hindu

The Ajmer Dargah blast case has taken a new twist after the recent arrest of some persons belonging to some extremist organisations. Now the Rajasthan ATS is giving heed to the information obtained from the Malegaon blast accused. Sadbhav Manch Rajasthan, a united forum of public organisations and Association for Protection of Civil Rights (APCR) expressed their concern in a joint press conference held here, for the delay of about two and a half years on part of our investigating agencies, despite the fact that they already had clear indications from the Malegaon blast accused.
 

Mr. Sawai Singh, convener Sadbhav Manch Rajasthan, said “we advised the investigating agencies in the very beginning to keep all possibilities at hand and not to spare any one from the investigation.” He said that a central minister had given a very irresponsible statement when he visited Ajmer after the blast; he held some Muslim organisations responsible for the blast without any evidence. The statement set all investigations in one direction and a particular community was targeted in the name of investigation, he added. He said that during the BJP regime, the investigating officers only fulfilled the communal agenda of the government by pursuing a particular community.
 

Mr. Paikar Farooq, State convener of the APCR said that when our police could not find any evidence against the individuals arrested for the serial bomb blasts in Jaipur, they accused them of other charges. Even after two years, no charges could be framed in the court against them, he added. He insisted on reinvestigating the Jaipur blasts case in the illumination of latest revelations.
 

The organisations demanded reinvestigation of the Jaipur blasts case in the light of recent revelations. They also demanded stern action against the officers who mislead the whole investigation, also to keep all options open and all possibilities in mind.
 

Mr. Saleem, showing the news clippings to the media men, blamed that the media held different measures for different communities. When some Muslims were arrested in suspect, they straightway held them responsible for the blasts and bluntly marked them as terrorists, due to which, some of them were fired from their services and some being students had to compromise with their future, while this time they are using the term ‘accused’ for the arrested persons, simply because they belong to a different community.

From a report in Jamaat-e-Islami Hind's website.

To read more click here.

The cat is out of the bag!!!

Pragya Singh Thakur, third from left with MP chief minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan left
and BJP chief Rajnath Singh, foreground.

Manoj Joshi, veteran Journalist based in New Delhi has dwelled in detail about the emerging truths, shady deals, holy alliances - everything concerned with the bomb blasts in India. It can be claimed that finally the cat is out of the bag. But, still what really matters is that who is to bell the cat? And that is the trillion dollar question. Excerpts from his article:

The arrival of Hindutva terrorism in India — via the Malegaon and Modasa blasts arrests — has been anticipated for some time now.
Between 2003 and 2006, there have been several unexplained and unsolved bombings targeting Muslims in many small towns of Maharashtra.

A blast took place at Parbhani’s Mohammadiya Mosque on Friday November 21, 2003, a blast at the Meraj-ul-uloom madarsa at Purna took place again on a Friday, August 27, 2004. On the same day, the Qadiriya mosque at Jalna was also the target of a bomb blast.

On September 8, 2006, again a Friday, a bomb was planted near a graveyard in Malegaon on the day of Shab-e-Barat, when Muslims congregate to commemorate their departed. There were bigger strikes, too, which were not of the normal pattern because they targeted Muslims — the May 2007 blast at Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad, the twin blasts at New Delhi’s Jama Masjid in April 2006, the blast at the Ajmer Sharif shrine in October 2007 and the Samjhauta Express attack of February 2007.

The Kanpur blasts were more recent. Two men, Rajiv Mishra and Bhupinder Singh, were killed in what was an accidental blast at the Kalyanpur area of the city in August this year. Apparently they had been making bombs and had been associated with the Bajrang Dal, Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. The police recovered some hand grenades, explosives and timers that the two were using.

To read the complete story, click here.

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