Indian Army officer arrested over bomb attack
The Indian Army has been shocked by the arrest of a senior Military Intelligence officer on suspicion of involvement in a bomb attack by Hindu extremists in western India in September.
Colonel Srikant Prasad Purohit is the first serving officer in India's Army — seen as a bastion of secularism since the country's independence in 1947 — to be arrested on terrorism charges.
His detention is prompting calls for a ban on Hindu nationalist groups accused of stirring political violence, including recent attacks on Christians in eastern India, before national elections next year.
It may also force Indian authorities to investigate whether Hindu radicals were behind other recent bomb attacks, many of which have been blamed on Islamic extremists backed by Pakistan's intelligence service.
The Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) of the surrounding state of Maharashtra is now questioning him at its headquarters in Bombay, according to Dinesh Agarwal, an ATS spokesman.
Inspector Agarwal denied Indian media reports that Colonel Purohit had confessed to masterminding the explosions, and that the ATS wanted to question other serving military officers.
"The investigation is progressing," he told The Times. "Questioning other serving officers is not on the cards now."
However, he confirmed that the ATS had arrested eight other civilians, including a retired army major, Ramesh Upadhyay, on suspicion of involvement.
Investigators say that Colonel Purohit and Major Upadhyay were both members of Abhinav Bharat (New India), a Hindu nationalist organisation founded in the western city of Pune in June 2006.
Abhinav Bharat's President is Himani Savarkar, the niece of the Hindu radical who assassinated Mahatma Gandhi, the Indian independence leader, in 1948.
She accuses India's ruling coalition — led by the Congress Party — of trying to smear Hindu nationalists and has offered legal aid to all the arrested members of Abhinav Bharat.
The Times
Okay, but if we consider 1984 (Golden Temple case)and 2002 (Godhra) also similar to this. None of them found guilty so far; may be Indira's assasination was the reaction from Sikh. IM or SIMI's reaction to Godhra.
INDIA being the most peaceful, tolerant nation and rich in multicultural social democratic nation; this is not acceptable. High time to stop these communal and regional riots and politics.
All guilty should be punished and Intelligence should be extra alert and due diligent to stop proactively such terror attacks rather do investigation or perform post-mortems.
The point here is, how the army of the Democratic country is being infiltrated by Communal peoples. This should not be allowed, in the near future, else the country will gain mistrust for the security and police forces from its peoples.
----------------
|Re@ltor Q@t@r |
----------------
I wouldnt agree with that(first of this kind when the Protector has become the Killer of innocent), Victor! There have been governments in the past that have indulged in criminal negligence that points towards collusion in dealing with rioters. 1984 and 2002, for examples?
This case in India is first of this kind when the Protector has become the Killer of innocent (Terrorist)
Very interesting case, let wait and wathc what will be the court judgement against Him once he found guilty (we need to wait for another 5 years).
"Jab Kanoon ke RAKSHAK hi BHAKSHAK ban jaye...."
God bless India and all of us
Victor: Remember he was trained in Military Intelligence...for a guy like him, this kinda thinking would be second nature, I guess! There was another story that he blackmailed the same group that made bombs for SIMI to make bombs for him!! Some thinking, I should say!
Look at the recent post on this article......Purohit has used the RDX captured from terrrorist groups in J&K and used against muslims in AJMER and in SAMJHOTA Express....Really smart moves.
He took 54 men to terror camps
By: Ketan Ranga Date: 2008-11-13
Mumbai:
The camps were held within the Sinhagad Fort and at Akansha Resorts. Rakesh Dhawade (inset) also received training
Rakesh Dhawade (35), who was arrested on November 3, for his alleged involvement in the September 29 Malegaon blast case, is believed to have organised the travel and accommodation of 54 people to a terrorism training camp in Pune in 2003.
According to the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), the camps were held inside Sinhagad Fort and at Akansha Resorts near the fort. Some of these 54 people may have been involved in the Malegaon and Nanded blasts.
CBI sources say that the men were trained in karate, the use of lathis, guns and the manufacture of pipe bombs by a person called Mithun Chakraborty.
The man is believed to be one of the army men suspected to be involved in the Malegaon blast, which saw six dead and 101 injured, while two bomb makers died at Nanded.
Dhawade, a resident of Pune, now in judicial custody, is accused of procuring arms and ammunition in the Malegaon case and may have received training at the same camps.
The ATS is also investigating whether he provided arms for the training and the role he played in the 2006 Nanded blasts.
Interestingly, the chargesheet filed by the CBI in the Nanded blast case against the 10 accused, states that they received arms training in Pune in 2003. The 10 accused were also part of 115 people who went to a training camp at the Bhonsala military school in Nagpur in 2000.
Dhawade's lawyer Dharmendra Chavan confirmed, "Yes, Dhawade has been accused of arranging for the travel of the 54 people, who participated in the training camp in Pune." He is the seventh arrested accused in the case.
Weapon lover
Ironically, Dhawade has illustrious gleanings. He is a member of the Royal Arms & Armour Society, Tower of London and Fellow, Victoria & Albert Museum, London and founder director of the Institute of Researach and development in Oriental Studies Arms and Armour.
He has a collection of 2,000 arms and weapons and was a consultant in weapons for The Rising, the film on Mangal Pandey that released in 2005
Well said NarainBabu. No where in the world you can find the entire govt being ruled by minority community as in India at present. The reason is the majority doesn't bother to. But still people come here and abuse the country, its customs and history.
Where their priorities lie?
We need people like OBAMA in India to bring the Change the current system from its origin. If we ourselve could not do it, atleast support RIGHT people rather than Living in the messy and chaotic environment.
It is high time to take strong Initiative and give command to fresh blood and generation NEXT......
HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT GOVERNMETN ALSO IS HINDU? IS THERE NOT ANY MUSLIMS MINISTERS PRESENTLY IN INDIA?FROM MALABAR MOST OF THE MINISTERS ARE MUSLIMS EVEN THOUGH MINORITIES? WHO WAS THE FORMER PRESIDENT? WAS HE A HINDU? DID ANY OTHER MUSLIMS COUNTRIES GOT HINDU MINISTERS? WHAT ABOUT IN KASHMIR? THERE TOO HINDU MINISTERS?
DID ANY SO CALLED MUSLIMS COUNTRIES ALLOWING ANY HINDU MINISTERS? WHEN YOU PEOPLE ARE COMING OUT FROM INDIA YOU ARE TARNISHING THE NAME OF THE COUNTRY AND ITS PEOPLE. WHICH PLACE YOU WILL GET FULL FREEDOM RATHER THAN INDIA? ARE YOU GETTING THE SAME FREEDOM IN QATAR OR OTHER GULF MUSLIM COUNRIES?
YOU PEOPLE ARE STAYING IN INDIA AND SALUTING PAKISTAN? IS THIS PATRIOTISOM. ONLY ONE COMMUNITY IN INDIA NOT TEACHING ABOUT THEIR RELIGION IN SCHOOL.THAT IS HINDUS. BECAUSE THEY ARE ONLY GIVING EDUCATION TO THEIR CHILDREN.
MORE THAN THAT IF OTHER RELIGIONS ARE NOT COMFORTABLE TO STAY IN INDIA WHY THEN YOU ARE NOT MOVING BACK TO PAKISTAN. AT THE TIME OF PARTITION IN PAKISTAN THERE WAS 21% HINDUS. DO YOU KNOW WHAT IS THE PERCENTAGE OF HINDUS IN PAKISTAN NOW. ONLY 7%. WHERE ARE THOSE HINDUS?WHAT ABOUT IN BANGLADESH. THERE TOO WAS HINDUS WHILE PARTITION TIME. BUT WHAT IS THE PERCENTAGE THERE.
ALL THE FIVE TIMES IN INDIA FROM MADRASAS, LOUD VOICE IS COMING THROUGH LOUD SPEAKER SAYING THAT THERE IS ONLY ONE GOD THAT IS ALLAH. WE AGREE THERE IS ONLY ONE GOD. BUT ALL HAVE THEIR OWN BELIEVES. NO GOD HAD TOLD TO FIGHT EACH OTHER BECAUSE OF RELIGION. ALL RELIGIONS ARE TEACHING GOOD THINGS ONLY. ALL THE FIVE TIMES WITH A LOUD VOICE THROUGH SPEAKER YOU ARE PRAYING IN INDIA. IS THERE ANYBODY TO OPPOSE? ON THE CONTRARY IF ANY OTHER MUSLIMS COUNTRIES WILL ALLOW ANY HINDU'S TO OFFER PRAYER THROUGH LOUD SPEAKER. NO NEVER. BUT STILL YOU PEOPLE ARE BLAIMING OTHER COMMUNITIES.
YOU PEOPLE ARE SPEAKING AND TARNISHING OTHER RELIGION AFTER COMING TO GULF COUNTRIES. WHY THEN YOU ARE NOT RAISING THE SAME QUESTION WITHIN INDIA ITSELF.? I HAVE SEEN MANY WHO HAD NEVER BEEN IN MOSQUE WHEN THEY WERE IN INDIA AND AFTER COMING HERE FIRST THEY ARE SEARCHING THE MOSQUE TO PRAY. BECAUSE THEY WANT TO SHOW OTHERS THAT THEY ARE TOO MUCH RELGIOUS AND PERFECT IN ALL MEANS. EVERYTHING IS IN YOUR ACTION. NOT PREACHING.
EVEN STILL MAJORITY OF THE HINDUS ARE NOT BOTHERED OF CASTE OR CREED. IF YOU GO AND SEE IN MUMBAI MOST OF THE PEOPLE ARE FRIENDLY WITH THEIR NEIGHBOURS IRRESPECTIVE OF CASTE OR CREED AND THEY ARE HELPING EACH OTHER.
ALSO I WANT TO ASK THAT HOW MANY MUSLIMS ARE SERVING THE COUNTRY IN THE BOARDER. CAN YOU NAME FEW. HOW MANY ARE IN CIVIL SERVICE. THOSE WHO ARE IN THE BOARDER ARE MOSTLY CHRISTIANS AND HINDUS. 97% OF THE MUSLIMS ARE COMING TO GULF. THEN WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT HINDU GOVERNMENT.
i will change it for your convenient.
Its the same old story everywhere..
Politicians / religious leaders manipulate the people to further their own agendas.
Narainbabu: Could you please type without caps lock on?
Abt ur arguments I hav heard em before and am not quite sure what to say abt it...lets jus say that our national identity lies in "UNITY IN DIVERSITY" and that we need all the groups to be at peace with each other to make progress.
I strongly support some of your comments; India is the only nation in the World, where muslims generally been treated with highest respect, dignity and security.
The only issue is in our political system where these Bastard spineless politicians, who are taking undue advantage as creating vote bank and Religious strife politics (divide & rule) to come into Power to run the Government; this should be banned to use Religion for political benefits.
Revenge is the mother of all problems, which should be well understood and be compensated through state driven empathiese campaign to those who suffered.
Rather creating militarising zones. this will go into big debate. Either you talk about Kashmir, North East, Punjab, Orissa or Andhra; the scenario is same. NGO's and Government organisation should work in the right direction.
Being you talked about Mumbai; Life was really great till Babri Masjid demolition happened in 1992 and subsequent riots in Jan 1993; which followed with retaliation by Muslims in March 1993. Then the series of communal riots begin till today.
This will continue unless some strong laws should be implemented in India to stop playing religion cards for political gains.
JaiHind and Aamchi Mumbai
Winn, all religions except just a few stress on the fact of conversion. So they are bound to face opposition and violence. Conversion should not be forced when you know the people whom you are converting have no clue about what you talking but are just hungry for food and water for themselves and their children.
That is like giving water to a thirsty person in the middle of the desert only if he converts to some religion or follows your wish..
And compormise of armed forces is everywhere, in the US it is called CIA,FBI etc..or done in iraq, afganistan, vietnam etc..
in india there was always an Indian uprising..but never a hindu..now looks the others have pushed too far..
litte.. "Winn, so does it mean you can bribe everybody with food and water to convert to a religion instead of explaining about its greatness?!!"
The answer is No...i was talking from the perspective of the converted, not the converters. Also their own brethren who seem to be blissfully ignorant about their plight till they hear about the conversions.
But Gautier has a point when he says about the uprisals...they are a recent phenomena as far as I know...and that too from a community that has been quite passive or even welcoming to invaders/outsiders...
Also, compromise on the neutrality of the armed forces and police is quite scary!
well as one of the great scholars said
"For evil to survive and spread there has to be no big effort, the good has just to keep quiet"
that's what dem buggers deserve,whatsay?
This is a "Cat-astrophe"..
yes ur 100 % right
What you say "may" be correct, but it does not justify violence or any form of terrorism.
the basic point of this article to me is that the members of "armed forces" of a nation need to be neutral and not take sides, no matter how much they want to.
The whole nation survives on their neutrality and allegiance to their flag.
I don't agree with that food is the only attraction; it also get along with love, affection and support to these down thrown ignored people /community, you called them either Dalit, harijans or whatsoever. If Govenment or NGO's could provide them with the basic human needs and they will definitely join the main stream.
Read this good article by Francois Gautier, a French based journalist.
"Is there such a thing as ‘Hindu terrorism’, as the arrest of Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur for the recent Malegaon blasts may tend to prove? Well, I guess I was asked to write this column because I am one of that rare breed of foreign correspondents—a lover of Hindus! A born Frenchman, Catholic-educated and non-Hindu, I do hope I’ll be given some credit for my opinions, which are not the product of my parents’ ideas, my education or my atavism, but garnered from 25 years of reporting in South Asia (for Le Journal de Geneve and Le Figaro).
In the early 1980s, when I started freelancing in south India, doing photo features on kalaripayattu, the Ayyappa festival, or the Ayyanars, I slowly realised that the genius of this country lies in its Hindu ethos, in the true spirituality behind Hinduism.
The average Hindu you meet in a million villages possesses this simple, innate spirituality and accepts your diversity, whether you are Christian or Muslim, Jain or Arab, French or Chinese.
It is this Hinduness that makes the Indian Christian different from, say, a French Christian, or the Indian Muslim unlike a Saudi Muslim.
I also learnt that Hindus not only believed that the divine could manifest itself at different times, under different names, using different scriptures (not to mention the wonderful avatar concept, the perfect answer to 21st century religious strife) but that they had also given refuge to persecuted minorities from across the world - Syrian Christians, Parsis, Jews, Armenians, and today, Tibetans.
In 3,500 years of existence, Hindus have never militarily invaded another country, never tried to impose their religion on others by force or induced conversions.
You cannot find anybody less fundamentalist than a Hindu in the world and it saddens me when I see the Indian and western press equating terrorist groups like SIMI, which blow up innocent civilians, with ordinary, angry Hindus who burn churches without killing anybody.
We know also that most of these communal incidents often involve persons from the same groups—often Dalits and tribals—some of who have converted to Christianity and others not.
However reprehensible the destruction of Babri Masjid, no Muslim was killed in the process; compare this to the ‘vengeance’ bombings of 1993 in Bombay, which wiped out hundreds of innocents, mostly Hindus. Yet the Babri Masjid destruction is often described by journalists as the more horrible act of the two.
We also remember how Sharad Pawar, when he was chief minister of Maharashtra in 1993, lied about a bomb that was supposed to have gone off in a Muslim locality of Bombay.
I have never been politically correct, but have always written what I have discovered while reporting. Let me then be straightforward about this so-called Hindu terror. Hindus, since the first Arab invasions, have been at the receiving end of terrorism, whether it was by Timur, who killed 1,00,000 Hindus in a single day in 1399, or by the Portuguese Inquisition which crucified Brahmins in Goa.
Today, Hindus are still being targeted: there were one million Hindus in the Kashmir valley in 1900; only a few hundred remain, the rest having fled in terror. Blasts after blasts have killed hundreds of innocent Hindus all over India in the last four years. Hindus, the overwhelming majority community of this country, are being made fun of, are despised, are deprived of the most basic facilities for one of their most sacred pilgrimages in Amarnath while their government heavily sponsors the Haj.
They see their brothers and sisters converted to Christianity through inducements and financial traps, see a harmless 84-year-old swami and a sadhvi brutally murdered. Their gods are blasphemed.
So sometimes, enough is enough.At some point, after years or even centuries of submitting like sheep to slaughter, Hindus—whom the Mahatma once gently called cowards—erupt in uncontrolled fury. And it hurts badly. It happened in Gujarat. It happened in Jammu, then in Kandhamal, Mangalore, and Malegaon. It may happen again elsewhere.
What should be understood is that this is a spontaneous revolution on the ground, by ordinary Hindus, without any planning from the political leadership.
Therefore, the BJP, instead of acting embarrassed, should not disown those who choose other means to let their anguished voices be heard.
There are about a billion Hindus, one in every six persons on this planet. They form one of the most successful, law-abiding and integrated communities in the world today. Can you call them terrorists? (The writer is the editor-in-chief of the Paris-based La Revue de l’Inde.)
http://www.honestreports.co.cc/
"Missionaries" have always had a twofold agenda.. To help people and also to try and convert..
Winn, so does it mean you can bribe everybody with food and water to convert to a religion instead of explaining about its greatness?!!
doing social work is different from conversions..
for example there a lot of churches in India who have a huge number of nuns who do amazing social service ..on the lines of mother Teresa in remote areas..were they accused of conversion..never..
because they were not politicaly motivated to create vote banks based on religion..
Litte..: I wonder Why shouldnt a hungry man accept a faith that promises him food n shelter? People who oppose conversions should take a look at why the poor tribals convert. If they want to stop the conversions they should help these ppl to integrate into the mainstream instead of maintaining them as pariahs.
But these actions seem to be a very recent trend...n a quite disturbing one too...a majority turning extremist is a very daunting prospect.
http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/time100/article/0,28804,1595326_1615513_1614685,00.html
a great informative link
and Sonia Gandhi being declared as the 6th most powerfull lady who is behind the current coalition is a christian..and lot of controversy if she still is an Italian or an Indian..so you see Indians are very accommodative and adjusting..
one of my friends was telling "we let the brits rule us for 200 odd years now we are letting hate take the country apart.."
I would still like to remind all friends here that india is the only country to have had a Muslim President (Dr.A.P.J Abdul Kalam, the previous President), a Sikh Prime Minister (Dr.Manmohan Singh) -, Christian Defence Minister (A.K.Antony) ruling the country with a 80% majority Hindu's and nobody having a problem with it....
Very well said, this need to be closely monitored and stopped. your quote "people who have actually lost lives of their close ones might disagree" unquote.
Revenge is the mother of all problems, which should be well understood and be compensated through state driven empathiese campaign to those who suffered.
Rather creating militarising zones. this will go into big debate. Either you talk about Kashmir, North East, Punjab, Orissa or Andhra; the scenario is same. NGO's and Government organisation should work in the right direction
Well, the govenment is Hindu and they follow the majority as well.
For the govt. they dont see right and wrong, now when ATS is doing its job well, so the VHP and BJP organisations are trying to intervene them...
Nothing good can happen in India if they wanna dominate Muslims and other religions.
Terrorist has no religion. faith he is just a terrorist..
-----------------
HE WHO DARES WINS
you guys should watch how propaganda material is made. it is an amazing brainwash. if you are not careful about your neutral stance it is very easy to slip into it....
i was part of an NGO long time back in the hill regions of north Karnataka. we could actually see these villages being infused with anti-govt material from naxalites(not any specific religion)..some facts, mostly stories which have been stretched, lot of fiery words. it was an interesting human psychology observation. I was there for about 6 to 8 months on and off. I could see how they were fed day after day and how entire villages took up arms against the govt..i now hear after being bulleted by govt forces they got some sense into them. and started going about their business. the actual people who did brainwash them never got caught..
some of the Hindu’s want to believe that if they do revenge attacks on Muslim locations life will be even. but alas they are only giving more material to the Muslim fundamentalists..
there are however certain points that need to be set right through dialogue. not killing innocent people..
Conversion is a major issue and reason for anti-Christian riots. the churches convert tribal people with the promise of food and shelter. which i think is very wrong. they do that with not just tribal’s but also villagers. the converted people go on about their lives without knowing they are supposed to pray a different god..
anyway. I go on to write a book on all this but the fact is there are so many reasons to differentiate, bully, harass, intimidate, murder as revenge, be inhuman to others but there is only reason not to do all that..
live life and let others live peacefully..
but a lot of people who have actually lost lives of their close ones might disagree.. If i had lost someone dear to me. I might also want to get back at the perpetrators or their representatives ..
Your personality definite get challenged, when its about an individual who stood against a particular society/community; we disapprove terrorism in any form but against the government driven attrocities on innocent human beings irrespective of any religion, caste or creed. Trust you understand now.
This was very well in the knowledge of our politician; but raised and alerted just before election time to woo muslims vote bank. In my country these are cards, which they open at right time to rule at the central government.
Good for you!
NEITHER I AM NOT A HINDU OR MUSLIM OR CHRISTIAN OR BUDDHIST I AM ONLY A HUMAN AND RESPECT HUMANITY
"Everything in this book may be wrong." Illusions: The Adventures of The Reluctant Messiah by Richard Bach
What the postings do show is that you as a Hindu, don't want to blame your side, but will always blame the Muslims.
the Muslims on the other hand will; always blame the Hindus.
The sad thing is that with this attitude, attrocities will continue to be committed and the people of the country will suffer.
what about the muslim who recently killed in kashmir from malalbar. that too hindus? what about the bomb blast in mumbai in the yar 1992? killing more han 2000 people that too hindus. hindus may be started acting reversely because they have tolerated much that is why? so do not politicalise this site
just shows you cant escape all the time.
I saw this news all over in Indian TV channels Yesterday :)
all Ban Spoon Feeding not Me
See the real face now. Muslims were always blamed when a bomb is blasted. The authorities doesn't need to wait a second to confirm the culprits behind that. They simply blamed Muslim community and detained several youths, tortured them and demolish their houses etc. but the reality coming out now. Most of the bombings in India was the act of radical hindu groups.