we stand with your On 2/6/11, Ghulam Muhammed <[email protected]> wrote: > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Razi Raziuddin <[email protected]> > Date: Sat, Feb 5, 2011 at 8:18 PM > Subject: [nrindians] Swami's confession > > > > > [image: Frontline] > *Volume 28 - Issue 03 :: Jan. 29-Feb. 11, 2011* > > *TERRORISM* > > *Swami's confession* > > VENKITESH RAMAKRISHNAN > > *Swami Aseemanand's confessions on the involvement of Hindutva outfits in > terror attacks leave investigating agencies red-faced.* > > THE HINDU ARCHIVES > > *Swami Aseemanand, a file photograph. He was originally arrested in > connection with the 2006 Malegaon blasts but his reported confessions of > December 18, 2010, point to his involvement in as many as five terror > attacks.* > > WHATEVER the final verdict on the reported confessions made recently by > Swami Aseemanand, leader of Abhinav Bharat, a Hindutva extremist > organisation, the fact is that they have raised vital questions about > terrorist activity in India. The most important of these relates to the > process that security agencies adopt for investigating terrorist attacks and > the projections they make as part of it. > > The confessions also suggest that a widespread network of Hindutva terror > groups has advanced its extremist activities systematically over the past > six to seven years with help from many leaders in mainstream Hindutva > organisations as also groups within these organisations that are a part of > the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS)-led Sangh Parivar. > > Another important question relates to the responsibility of the government > and the larger judicial establishment towards persons found to have been > implicated wrongly and arrested in many terror-related cases that have taken > a dramatic about-turn as a result of new revelations such as the one made by > Swami Aseemanand. This also raises the question as to how the government and > other institutions plan to redress the wrong done to these innocent persons. > > On the central question raised by Swami Aseemanand's confessions, that is, > of the process of investigation into a terror attack, administrative and > political authorities claim that the multidimensional investigations carried > out by a clutch of agencies, including the Central Bureau of Investigation > (CBI), working together or separately, are done secretly and confidentially. > > However, it has been the practice in the immediate aftermath of almost every > attack to blame “jehadi groups” working within the country or their > so-called cohorts based in different parts of the world, including > neighbouring countries. The experience has been that investigating agencies > and those who wield control over them in the security establishment or the > Home Ministry at the Centre or in the States help in the propagation of such > jehad-oriented stories. Aseemanand's reported confessions raise questions > about this practice as well as the line of investigation that has been > adopted in many cases over the past decade. > > Aseemanand was originally arrested in connection with the 2006 Malegaon > blasts but his reported confessions of December 18, 2010, point to his > involvement in as many as five terror attacks. According to the reported > confession, Aseemanand and his associates, who were members of Hindutva > terror outfits, were involved in the many terror attacks, including the bomb > blasts in the Samjhauta Express (February 2007) and those at Hyderabad Mecca > Masjid (May 2007) and Ajmer dargah (October 2007). The associates apparently > included Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, Lokesh Sharma, Lt Col Prasad Shrikant > Purohit, Retired Major Ramesh Upadhyay, Swami Dayanand Pandey (all of whom > were arrested during the course of the investigations) and Sandeep Dange, > who is absconding, and Sunil Joshi, who was apparently killed by a few of > his own associates. The name of Indresh Kumar, a member of the RSS national > executive, also finds mention in the recorded confession. > > According to it, these Hindutva activists had joined hands to carry out > attacks at Muslim places of worship or in areas with a significant > population of Muslims. A common feature of the terror strikes was that a > large number of the victims were Muslims. The deadliest attack by this group > was on the Samjhauta Express on the night of February 18-19, 2007, in which > 68 persons were killed. > > Significantly, in all the terror attacks referred to in Aseemanand's > confessions, the line of investigation by different agencies focussed only > on “jehadi terror groups” and their national and international associates > such as the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), the Lakshar–e-Taiba > (LeT) and the Harkat-ul-Jehad-e-Islami (HuJI). > > The Samjhauta Express blasts, for instance, were described as a macabre > attack by the LeT. This line of investigation and the projections made on > that basis found such widespread currency that this was highlighted even in > international forums such as the United Nations. The U.N.'s listing of the > LeT as a terror outfit in its international watch list made a specific > mention of the Samjhauta Express blasts. Similarly, it was widely propagated > that the Mecca Masjid blasts were planned and executed by the HuJI. Hundreds > of people from different parts of the country were arrested in these cases > as part of the investigation, which has now been exposed as fallacious, and > kept either in custody or in jail for long periods of time. > > For example, as many as 60 persons were arrested immediately after the Mecca > Masjid blasts following the HuJI attack theory. The line of investigation > advanced at that time by the Hyderabad police and broadly supported by > Central investigating agencies was as follows: Shahid Bilal, a resident of > Moosrambagh in the old city of Hyderabad had carried out these blasts in > order to create communal tension. There were two first information reports > (FIRs) in this case, one dealing with the blasts and the other dealing with > the recovery of unexploded explosives. > > Charges ranging from involvement in seditious activity to conspiracy were > brought against all the 60. The viewing of recordings of the demolition of > the Babri Masjid was held to be an act that spurred the suspects into > indulging in terrorist acts. > > The investigation into the Samjhauta Express blasts has also been nothing > short of a roller coaster ride. The attack on the train named after the Urdu > and Hindi word for accord or compromise was perceived as an attack on the > efforts to strengthen India-Pakistan cooperation. The train connects New > Delhi to Lahore and passes through the India-Pakistan border in Punjab at > Attari. > > On the basis of the perception that the blasts were perpetrated by those who > wanted to scuttle or at least impair India-Pakistan cooperation, both the > Indian and Pakistan governments condemned the attack. A day after the > bombings, Indian investigating agencies said it was a suitcase bomb attack > carried out by five people associated with the LeT. The agencies even > released sketches of two suspects. Later, some people who allegedly sold the > suitcases to the alleged attackers were arrested from Indore. But that was > about all in terms of concrete progress. > > R.V. MOORTHY > > *THE DEADLIEST ATTACK by Aseemanand and his associates, according to his > confession, was on the Samjhauta Express in February 2007, in which 68 > persons were killed. Here, an NSG commando inspects a bombed out coach of > the train near Panipat station, 80 km from New Delhi.* > > Things started to unfold differently in November 2008 when the interrogation > of Lt Col Purohit revealed that there could be a Hindutva terror dimension > to the attack. This aspect gained momentum in October 2010 when the charge > sheet prepared by the Rajasthan anti-terrorism squad stated that a meeting > of Hindutva bomb makers in February 2006 discussed the Samjhauta Express as > a potential target for attack. In yet another development, WikiLeaks linked > David Headley, the suspected brain behind the Mumbai attacks of November 26, > 2008, to the bombing. Aseemanand's confessions have come as the latest twist > in this series of events. > > The Sangh Parivar as a whole, and specifically the RSS and its political arm > the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), have pointed to the changing facets in the > investigations to claim that the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance > (UPA) government at the Centre is using various agencies to prop up a > “misnomer” called “Hindu terror”. According to an editorial in Organiser, > the journal of the RSS, Aseemanand's confessions are nothing but the > concoctions of the investigating agencies to suit the political needs of the > Congress. > > The editorial stated: “So far there has been no instance of any Hindu > organisation boasting credit for a terror strike anywhere in the world. So > far no outfit has claimed to work underground to advance a Hindu agenda > through arbitrary force, undemocratic means or through intimidation. > Normally gangs resort to such methods when they are in a miserable minority > and have no hope of achieving their goal through democratic, constitutional > methods. Or when they are not confident of the support they enjoy in > society. In any case, even home-grown terrorism cannot sustain without > technical and logistic support and funds from outside the country. By > general consensus there is no religion or colour for terrorism. But the > jihadi outfits do not make any secret of the religious agenda they want to > enforce. By all these parameters Hindu terror is a misnomer.” > > It also wondered why “only the persons named in alleged Hindu radicalism > seem to be making ‘confessions'” and why “we have not heard of a [Ajmal] > Kasab, [Mohammad] Afzal [a.k.a Afzal Guru] or Geelani or such other jihadi > terrorists making any confession”. The Sangh Parivar leaders, including BJP > president Nitin Gadkari, have made bold to absolve RSS national executive > committee member Indresh Kumar of all culpability and have appeared along > with him in several public functions. > > Notwithstanding such protestations, there is enough evidence to show that > Hindutva terror groups have time and again received overt or covert support > from mainstream Hindutva organisations. Not only the cases cited by > Aseemanand but also a number of untoward happenings in Maharashtra > underscore this point. Independent civil society investigations into the > blast in the house of an RSS worker in Nanded, which resulted in the death > of two Sangh Parivar activists, and the attacks later in Pabhani, Beed and > Jalna have underscored the collusion between leaders and activists of > mainstream Hindutva organisations and peripheral Hindutva terror units. > > Incidentally, Aseemanand himself came into prominence within the Hindutva > fold when he organised a massive Hindutva-oriented conference in the > tribal-dominated Dangs district of Gujarat in 2006. That conference, where > plans were made for the coming decades, was perceived by Sangh Parivar > observers as a milestone event. Aseemanand worked closely with the BJP's > Hindutva icon, Chief Minister Narendra Modi, and his ministerial colleagues > in convening the conference. A similar meeting is being organised in 2011, > obviously without the presence of Aseemanand, but of course with the > blessings of Narendra Modi. Clearly, these connections and the push they > give to fringe Hindutva groups cannot be wished away. > > According to the Lucknow-based political observer Indra Bhushan Singh, who > is also a senior lawyer in the Lucknow High Court, the trajectory of > terrorism of different hues can be distilled and identified properly only if > such organisational activity, too, is monitored properly. > > He said: “Only such scrutiny will lead to correct investigations and correct > conclusions. Unfortunately, our investigating agencies seem to be > perennially in reaction mode and not in a proactive mode. That is why we > have spectacles such as the investigation into the 2006 Varanasi blasts, > where a man was arrested and even convicted but a couple of years later new > accused were discovered and paraded from different parts of the country. > Clearly, this is an issue involving basic human rights and demands serious > attention and concrete action from different sections of society, including > lawmakers. “ > > Indra Bhushan Singh's contention has special relevance in the context of > Aseemanand's confessions and the effect it will have on people linked to the > several attacks he has mentioned. However, given the track record of the > investigating agencies and their political bosses, it may be too much to > expect concrete measures to correct the flip-flop methods that drive terror > investigations. > > -- > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~----~----~----~ > Getting out of this group is easy. Just send an email to > [email protected] > -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~-----~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~----~----~----~ > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "humanrights movement" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/humanrights-movement?hl=en. > >
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