NEW DELHI, 1 November 2005 — Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf yesterday weekend bomb blasts were probably linked to foreign elements and Indian officials said Pakistan could have been involved.
Manmohan made the comments when Musharraf called him to offer his condolences for the death of 59 people, killed on Saturday when bombs exploded at two busy Delhi markets, a statement said. A third bomb went off near a bus and wounded several people.
“The prime minister told the president of Pakistan that the country was outraged at these heinous acts of terrorism,” the Foreign Ministry statement said.
“Violence against defenseless civilians can never be justified the prime minister said, and terrorism would never weaken India’s resolve, or our commitment to the country’s unity and territorial integrity,” it said.
“The prime minister again drew the president’s attention to Pakistan’s commitment to ending cross-border terrorism and said that we continue to be disturbed and dismayed at indications of the external linkages of terrorist groups with the Oct. 29 bombing, and said India expects Pakistan to act against terrorism directed at India.”
Pakistan swiftly rejected Manmohan’s comments that there were indications the weekend blasts in the Indian capital had links with militant groups in Pakistan.
“Unless they share the evidence with us, it remains a mere claim which we cannot accept,” Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam told AFP.
Although Manmohan referred to “external linkages” he did not name Pakistan, but Indian Foreign Ministry officials said he was referring to Pakistan.
Saturday’s bombings came as residents of the Indian capital shopped for sweets and gifts ahead of Diwali, the biggest Hindu festival of the year that falls on Tuesday, and Eid Al-Fitr, the biggest festival on the Muslim calendar later this week.
An obscure Kashmiri militant group, Islami Inqilabi Mahaz (Islamic Revolutionary Group), claimed responsibility for the attacks. Indian security officials had said they were yet to verify the claim.
But they and analysts said the group was probably a front for a larger group, the outlawed Lashkar-e-Taiba (Force of the Pure), which is among several militant groups fighting Indian rule in Kashmir.
But the group denied yesterday it was involved in weekend bomb attacks. A spokesman for Lashkar leader Maulana Abdul Wahid said the group was not involved in the attacks and had no links to Islami Inqilabi Mahaz (Islamic Revolutionary Front), which said on Sunday it was responsible for the blasts.
“We are fighting Indian occupation forces in the occupied Kashmir but we are not involved in attacking civilians in any part of India,” the spokesman, who did not want to be named, told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location. “We have nothing to do with this group.”
But the group denied yesterday it was involved in weekend bomb attacks. A spokesman for Lashkar leader Maulana Abdul Wahid said the group was not involved in the attacks and had no links to Islami Inqilabi Mahaz (Islamic Revolutionary Front), which said on Sunday it was responsible for the blasts.
“We are fighting Indian occupation forces in the occupied Kashmir but we are not involved in attacking civilians in any part of India,” the spokesman, who did not want to be named, told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location. “We have nothing to do with this group.”
Lashkar-e-Taiba was outlawed by Pakistan shortly after its fighters were accused of taking part in an attack on India’s parliament in New Delhi - an act that brought South Asia’s nuclear rivals to the brink of a fourth war.
Police in Delhi yesterday stepped up what they called one of the biggest ever manhunts in the Indian capital, which was cloaked in tight security after a weekend attack claimed by militants.
As another victim succumbed to his injuries from Saturday’s coordinated explosions, bringing the death toll to 62, investigators said they hoped mobile phone records could lead to a breakthrough in the case.
The city overnight brought in 2,600 security personnel to bolster New Delhi’s 71,000-member police force and invited out-of-town forensic experts to help speed up investigations, a senior police official said.
“We are using all our resources, which includes spotters, informers and even known hoodlums, to crack this case as early as possible,” she told AFP.
Three nearly simultaneous blasts tore through a bus and crowded markets on Saturday in an attack claimed by the Islamic Inqilabi Mahaz, believed to have ties to a leading militant group fighting Indian rule in Kashmir.
The carnage cast a pall on the capital ahead of today’s holiday of Diwali, the festival of lights. Some markets were emptier than usual as nervous residents stayed away after the blasts, which also injured 210 people.
A police commissioner who asked not to be named said detectives were sifting through millions of mobile telephone call records, trying to uncover who carried out the attacks.
“We are going through calls originating from 18 cellular towers at the three blast sites because we believe the attacks were coordinated with the help of mobile phones,” the commissioner said.
Police were questioning more than two dozen people in connection with the attacks, which have drawn worldwide condemnation.
Shahid Raza Burney adds: Maharasthra government declared high alert throughout the state, with more emphasis of security in important cities including Bombay and Pune in the wake of Delhi blasts.
Police and intelligence agencies were instructed to monitor sensitive areas in Pune. Instructions were also given to police officers to prepare for any untoward situation. The list of hospitals within the jurisdiction of Pune’s 20 odd police stations has been prepared.
As per the feedback from federal intelligence agencies about involvement of terrorists in the Delhi attack, the Pune police have put Muslim localities of Guruwar Peth, Ganj Peth, Mangalwar Peth, Bhawani Peth, Nana Peth, Kondhwa, Syed Nagar, Pune Cantonment and Warje under tight surveillance and round the clock monitoring of the movement of people in these areas.
With the major Hindu festival Diwali on Nov. 1, the One Day International cricket match between Sri Lanka and India on Nov. 3 and the Eid Al-Fitr on Nov. 4, the police have swung into action and placed the city on high alert.
Leaving no things to chance after the Delhi blasts, the police have put railway stations, bus stands, shopping malls, temples and defense installations under surveillance.
