NEW DELHI, 23 February 2007 — The hunt for the bombers spread to several north Indian states yesterday as investigators said they were pursuing new clues and had detained two people for questioning. The Sunday midnight blasts on the Samjhauta Express — which connects New Delhi to the Pakistani city of Lahore — sparked a fire, which killed 68 people about an hour after the train had left the Indian capital.
Although no group has admitted responsibility, New Delhi suspects the attack was the work of Muslim extremists opposed to a peace process between India and Pakistan. While two bombs placed in suitcases exploded on two coaches of the train, two others failed to go off and investigators have been pursuing leads offered by them.
“We have formed some teams to go to Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi and Punjab,” said R.C. Mishra, a top police officer in Haryana state, where the attack took place, referring to neighboring states. “We have some specific information but have to wait for the investigation process to get over,” he said, adding that police were also verifying passengers’ passports.
Police in the western desert state of Rajasthan said they had detained two people, including a 44-year-old woman, for questioning in the border district of Bikaner but it was not yet clear if the people had any links to the attack.
Separately, investigators in New Delhi said a Hindi newspaper wrapped around explosives in one of the defused bombs was an edition published from Aligarh, a town with a large Muslim population in Uttar Pradesh. “This may give some clues to police to carry forward their investigation,” a senior officer told Reuters.
Delhi police said on Wednesday they were investigating a suspicious phone call made to Pakistani Kashmir just after the bombs exploded, indicating the possibility of a Kashmiri separatist hand in the attack. But militant groups have strongly denied any role and instead blamed Indian agencies and hard-line Hindu groups.
Indian police questioned a dozen people yesterday as a top Foreign Ministry official said New Delhi hopes Pakistan will help find and punish those responsible for the bombing of a train between the two countries that killed 68 people.
Police are searching for two men who jumped off the Samjhauta Express shortly before a pair of bombs detonated Sunday night, sparking a fire that engulfed two coaches and killed 68 people as the train headed through northern India for Pakistan.
Investigators were questioning a dozen people rounded up in New Delhi and in the states of Rajasthan, Punjab, and Uttar Pradesh, said Bharti Arora, a police official.
Defeating terrorists’ intentions to put a brake into Indo-Pak peace process, Samjhauta Express resumed its journey to Indo-Pak border late on Wednesday night. The authorities stepped up security checks at Old Delhi Railway Station, with Railway Minister Lalu Prasad himself turning up to review arrangements.
“Two RPF (Railway Protection Force) personnel and one TT (ticket checker) will be present in each coach. Luggage identification by the passengers will be required. General class has been discontinued and bogeys interconnected so that in case of a blast, passengers can move to a safer bogey,” Lalu Prasad told reporters.
There was heavy deployment of police personnel before the train’s departure. All luggage was screened using X-ray machines.
Describing this security as that prevails at airports, a railway spokesman Rajiv Saxena said: “We are having security like they have at the airports. Even I am not allowed on the platform.”
Emphasizing that blasts had not hurt bookings for Samjhauta Express, railway authorities said that they had added two extra coaches to meet the rush of 700 passengers making the journey.
Before boarding the train, the passengers asserted that terrorists’ attempt is not going to derail the ongoing Indo-Pak peace process. Favoring stronger Indo-Pak relation, passenger Rubina said: “We want harmony. There should be no need for a passport for traveling between India and Pakistan, they should be one.”
An elderly lady, Ameena Bano said that those responsible for the train blasts would not achieve their goals. “They want to hurt the improving relations between Pakistan and India, but they will not succeed,” she said.
“Those who carried out these attacks do not want Pakistanis and Indians to meet. But people must travel and meet and show we are not scared, even of death,” said Haji Habibul Rehman, a cloth-store owner from Pakistan. He was earlier scheduled to travel on the ill-fated train, but canceled the trip because of a delayed medical appointment. “A doctor’s appointment saved us,” he said.
Meanwhile, visiting Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri called on former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee at his residence yesterday. Former External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha and former National Security Adviser Brajesh Mishra were also present at the meeting.
Later, briefing media persons on the meeting, Sinha said that Vajpayee expressed his support to the peace process. Vajpayee, however, was against the peace process being rushed through. He reminded Kasuri of Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf’s commitment that Pakistan would dismantle terror camps there. On this, Kasuri said that Pakistan was also a “victim of terrorist activities” with frequent attacks taking place there.
During their meeting, Kasuri complimented Vajpayee for having initiated the peace process. Acknowledging this, Vajpayee said the step had been taken after taking the people and the Parliament into confidence.
While speaking to some television channels, in a separate meeting, Kasuri expressed the hope that ahead of the Indo-Pak March 6 meeting of Joint Anti-Terrorism Mechanism, New Delhi would share information about outcome of its probe into blasts. “That will be two weeks (from the blasts) and hopefully information will be shared before so that they can make a meaningful contribution (in fight against terror),” Kasuri said.
