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NGOs demand independent inquiry into Ahmedabad blasts
* Groups claim bombs recovered in Surat traced to govt factory in Dholpur
* Say police only crack down on Muslims after every incident of terrorism
By Iftikhar Gilani
NEW DELHI: A group of Indian NGOs on Monday demanded an independent inquiry by a judicial commission into the recent bomb blasts in Ahmedabad and the discovery of a series of bombs in Surat, another city of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party- (BJP) led state of Gujarat.
The groups claim the bombs recovered in Surat had been traced to a government factory in Dholpur in Rajasthan, another BJP-ruled state, and the ammonium nitrate trail to Nagpur, where the ultra-nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) headquarters is located. Shabnam Hashmi, the chief of an NGO, Anhad, who organised the press conference, said all participating NGOs had condemned the terrorist attacks, but added that the mystery of how not a single bomb had exploded in Surat had warranted them to demand an inquiry.
Dr Asghar Ali, the chief of another NGO, the All-India Secular Forum, said the fact that police had used cranes to remove bombs planted on top of a tree and behind a hoarding made one wonder if the alleged terrorists had used similar cranes to plant the bombs there in the first place.
Crack down on Muslims:
Ali and Shabnam also expressed concern that police only cracked down on Muslims after every incident of terrorism, rounding up mostly the innocent and torturing them without solving the case.
They said it was not for the first time that bombs had been used to cause such large-scale destruction in Ahmedabad, adding that similar bombs had also been used in the 2002 riots to blow up mosques, Dargahs and Muslim residences. Who had made these bombs? Certainly not the Muslims who are being accused, they said.
Shabnam alleged that many people who came forward to depose before the public hearing conducted into the Gujarat massacre and other riots were being targeted by authorities to make them desist from raising voice against any further atrocities by police and security forces. She claimed that even some human rights activists had been targeted and put in jail.
In their joint statement, the NGOs asked, "Is it not too much of a coincidence that Surat bomb detonators have been traced to a government factory in Dholpur in Rajasthan, a BJP-ruled state, and the ammonium nitrate trail to Nagpur, where the RSS headquarters is situated?"
Moreover, they noted that it was not the Surat police or any crime detection agency, but locals who had found a total of 27 live bombs in Surat. They also demanded suspension of Ahmedabad's police commissioner, who had targeted journalists by registering sedition cases against them and had failed in preventing the terror attacks.
Digant Oza from the People's Movement of India, Lajja Shankar Hardenia, the editor of Secular Democracy, and Jyotsna Shukla from the Quomi Ekta Samiti also addressed the press conference.
Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan
* Groups claim bombs recovered in Surat traced to govt factory in Dholpur
* Say police only crack down on Muslims after every incident of terrorism
By Iftikhar Gilani
NEW DELHI: A group of Indian NGOs on Monday demanded an independent inquiry by a judicial commission into the recent bomb blasts in Ahmedabad and the discovery of a series of bombs in Surat, another city of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party- (BJP) led state of Gujarat.
The groups claim the bombs recovered in Surat had been traced to a government factory in Dholpur in Rajasthan, another BJP-ruled state, and the ammonium nitrate trail to Nagpur, where the ultra-nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) headquarters is located. Shabnam Hashmi, the chief of an NGO, Anhad, who organised the press conference, said all participating NGOs had condemned the terrorist attacks, but added that the mystery of how not a single bomb had exploded in Surat had warranted them to demand an inquiry.
Dr Asghar Ali, the chief of another NGO, the All-India Secular Forum, said the fact that police had used cranes to remove bombs planted on top of a tree and behind a hoarding made one wonder if the alleged terrorists had used similar cranes to plant the bombs there in the first place.
Crack down on Muslims:
Ali and Shabnam also expressed concern that police only cracked down on Muslims after every incident of terrorism, rounding up mostly the innocent and torturing them without solving the case.
They said it was not for the first time that bombs had been used to cause such large-scale destruction in Ahmedabad, adding that similar bombs had also been used in the 2002 riots to blow up mosques, Dargahs and Muslim residences. Who had made these bombs? Certainly not the Muslims who are being accused, they said.
Shabnam alleged that many people who came forward to depose before the public hearing conducted into the Gujarat massacre and other riots were being targeted by authorities to make them desist from raising voice against any further atrocities by police and security forces. She claimed that even some human rights activists had been targeted and put in jail.
In their joint statement, the NGOs asked, "Is it not too much of a coincidence that Surat bomb detonators have been traced to a government factory in Dholpur in Rajasthan, a BJP-ruled state, and the ammonium nitrate trail to Nagpur, where the RSS headquarters is situated?"
Moreover, they noted that it was not the Surat police or any crime detection agency, but locals who had found a total of 27 live bombs in Surat. They also demanded suspension of Ahmedabad's police commissioner, who had targeted journalists by registering sedition cases against them and had failed in preventing the terror attacks.
Digant Oza from the People's Movement of India, Lajja Shankar Hardenia, the editor of Secular Democracy, and Jyotsna Shukla from the Quomi Ekta Samiti also addressed the press conference.
Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan
