Indian army officers waging bombing campaign against Muslims

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7710883.stm

Indian officer held over blasts

Police in India have arrested an army officer in connection with two bombings in Maharashtra state which killed at least eight people in September.

The blasts happened in the mainly Muslim towns of Malegaon and Modasa.

Police say Prasad Shrikant Purohit is accused of providing logistical support for Hindu militants to make bombs.

Correspondents say it may be the first time a serving Indian army officer has been arrested and accused of having links to Hindu militants.

At least nine other people - including a retired army major, Ramesh Upadhyay - have already been detained in the case.

Officers from the anti-terrorism squad in the western city of Mumbai (Bombay) questioned Lt-Col Purohit for several days before finally arresting him.

"He was arrested this morning and is being produced in court," Ajay Misar, a government lawyer acting in the case, told Reuters news agency.

Lt-Col Purohit appeared in court later on Wednesday and was remanded in custody.

The Press Trust of India reported that he was detained last week at the Army Education Corps Training College in the state of Madhya Pradesh.

There was no immediate response from the army.

Violent protests

At least five people were killed in the blast near a mosque in Malegaon, about 260km (160 miles) from Mumbai. A sixth died later of injuries sustained in the blast.

More than 100 people, including policemen, were also injured.

Two people were killed in the explosion in Modasa, a town in the neighbouring state of Gujarat.

India has been hit by a number of explosions in recent weeks, many of them blamed on local Muslim militants.

Two years ago, at least 37 people were killed and more than 125 others injured in bombings at a Muslim graveyard in Malegaon.

The government said at the time of the most recent blasts that its main concern was to stop religious violence from flaring up again.

Thackeray calls for Hindu bombs to target Muslims

http://arabnews.com/?page=4&section=0&article=111048&d=20&m=6&y=2008

Thackeray calls for Hindu bombs to target Muslims
Shahid Burney | Arab News

MUMBAI: Taking strong exceptions to the editorial written by Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray in the party’s mouthpiece Saamana on Wednesday in which Thackeray has called for raising “Hindu suicide squads” to counter the growing “Islamic terrorism” in India, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and Home Minister R.R. Patil yesterday said the home department would examine the contents of the editorial and if any derogatory matter was found in the editorial, strong necessary action would be taken.

The state Chief Minister, Vilasrao Deshmukh, also criticized Thackeray for the editorial and said that it was not just Muslims behind terrorism, but Hindus too were involved in it and cited the arrests of four Hindu militants involved in the recent twin blasts at auditoriums in Navi Mumbai and the adjoining Thane district. “The arrest in the case had blown a hole in the popular perception that Muslims are to be suspected for all such acts,” he said.

In a statement released to the media on Wednesday, Deshmukh said the arrests of the Hindu militants for the blasts in Navi Mumbai and Thane were enough to point fingers at the possibility of Hindu groups being involved in subversive activities. “Normally, when such incidents take place, the Muslim community is suspected. But the arrests of the four people belonging to a militant Hindu organization prove that such suspicions are baseless. Criminals do not belong to any religion,” Deshmukh said.

Thackeray’s remarks in the editorial immediately drew a nationwide condemnation even as the Maharashtra government assured to probe the matter. The Sena ally, Bharatiya Janata Party, also rapped Thackeray for the remark with party leader M. Venkiah Naidu asking Thackeray to keep restraint. In the editorial Thackeray pooh-poohed the Hindu militants arrested for planting bombs in Navi Mumbai and Thane auditoriums and said “At a time when Islamic terrorism is increasing in India, there is a need to form Hindu suicide squads to save the country and Hindus.”

Thackeray urged the Hindus to make “powerful and strong bombs,” that are superior to those made by “Islamic terrorists” and explode them in Muslim populated areas in Thane, Navi Mumbai, Aurangabad and other cities in Maharashtra, to what he called as “mini-Pakistans” in India.