Hindu extremist link suspected
DEEWANA (AFP) - Sixty-seven people were burnt to death after blasts ignited a fireball on Pakistan-bound Samjhota Express in an attack condemned Monday as terrorism aimed at derailing the South Asian peace process and suspected by some Pakistani officials as a handiwork of Hindu extremists.
Pakistan said its foreign minister would continue to visit India as planned on Tuesday, despite the overnight blasts.
Explosives found in two suitcases directly pointed to sabotage, Indian Railways Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav told reporters.
Experts said explosives were used to ignite bottles of kerosene in the train, which was carrying more than 750 people when the blasts occurred near Deewana station, 100km north of New Delhi.
“The intention is clear - it is an effort to destabilise peace between India and Pakistan. Innocent people have been killed,” said Yadav.
Pakistani security officials said they suspected Hindu extremists in India were behind the latest blast, because it apparently targeted Muslims.
“We suspect it was committed by Hindu terrorists,” a senior official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
“We believe it has a communal agenda, anti-Muslim, because people travelling on these trains are either Pakistanis or Indian Muslims.”
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressed “anguish and grief” at the loss of lives.
“The culprits will be caught,” he vowed in a statement.
Indian Home Secretary V K Dugal agreed, saying: “This is an act of sabotage. This was done to create a type of wedge. We won’t allow this to come into the way of the peace process.”
Dugal blamed the high death toll on the early hour of the blasts, saying many people were asleep on the train. Most of the people who died were burnt to death.
Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters the peace process would not be knocked off course by the deadly blast.
No group had claimed responsibility for the attack, but one suspect was detained at the site, Railways Minister Yadav said.
Police had also launched a hunt for his associate, missing since the midnight blasts, the Minister said.
He said survivors, including an injured Pakistani national, told him when he visited Panipat that two alleged suspects were sitting in the carriage, “their faces hidden behind mufflers and looking suspicious.”
Dalal told AFP investigators were trying to establish the number of Pakistanis killed in the attack.
Survivors said the blasts unleashed a ball of fire. The carriages had doors for access to platforms, but not at each end. Passengers struggled to break through the barred windows and to open the doors of the moving train.
“There was a huge fire and I saw smoke coming out,” said Usman Ali, who was headed back to Pakistan. “When I came out of the coach, I saw that the doors of one (carriage) were closed and people could not escape.”
After the blaze, 11 of 16 carriages continued the journey while five, including the two wrecked coaches - littered with burnt bangles, shoes and clothes - remained at Deewana for investigators to examine.
“We now have an official count of 67 bodies recovered from the (blast) site,” said Haryana state police chief Rajiv Dalal.
A dozen unexploded bottles filled with kerosene had also been recovered, and two other bombs had been defused, said J S Mahanwal, the director of the state’s forensic laboratory.
He said the mix of kerosene, sulphur and nitrate believed used was different from similar attacks in the past, which had employed a plastic explosive known as RDX.
The new mix led to the fire, which charred bodies beyond recognition.
“It’s very difficult to say who the victims were,” said Dr Ved Gupta, the head of post-mortem operations at the hospital in Panipat, five kilometres from Deewana.
Distraught and grieving relatives blamed lax Indian railways security for the tragedy.
President Musharraf called for a full investigation by Indian authorities but vowed not to let the bloodshed undermine the peace effort between the neighbours.
“Such wanton acts of terrorism will only serve to further strengthen our resolve to attain the mutually desired objective of sustainable peace between the two countries,” he said, according to a government statement.
“We will not allow elements which want to sabotage the ongoing peace process to succeed in their nefarious designs.”
The following telephone lines have been established at Lahore Railway Station for information: 042-920110, 6362032, 6363841, 6363851, 6364715, 6364716, and 6364717.
Hardline Islamic groups in Pakistan condemned the train blast.
“It’s highly condemnable and India must punish those responsible,” said Liaquat Baloch, a central leader of Jamaat-i-Islami.
Our staff reporter from Islamabad adds: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said Pakistan condemns the incident of Samjotha Express in India that claimed over 60 innocent Pakistani lives and left an equal number of people injured.
“It is with deep sorrow that we heard about the tragic incident and hope that the results of the investigation to be conducted by Indian authorities will be shared with us and the culprits will be exposed,” he told reporters.
Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao strongly condemned blasts in Samjotha Express.
The APHC also condemned the bomb blast sand said that the incident came at a time when Pakistani Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri was scheduled to arrive in New Delhi for talks with his Indian counterpart, Pranab Mukherjee.
“There are lot of expectations from the talks as the relations between India and Pakistan have been on track,” he said. Mirwaiz called for continuation of the talks’ process so that those against it can be silenced.
Meanwhile, Indian PM Manmohan Singh has assured PM Shaukat Aziz that the India will readily share the findings of its inquiry into the tragic incident of Samjhauta Express.
“The Indian PM also assured to extend full cooperation in returning injured and extend visas to Pakistanis desirous of visiting India,” Manmohan Singh told Shaukat Aziz in a telephonic conversation.
In a statement issued by the PM Secretariat here, the Indian prime minister said India will also permit the Pakistan Air Force aircraft to fly into India for taking the injured back to Pakistan as soon as they are in a position to travel.
The Nation.
http://www.nation.com.pk/daily/feb-2007/20/index1.php
