Monday, October 15, 2007

'Don't Be Hasty in Blaming Muslim Groups for Ajmer Blast'

The Hindu - Chennai, India
Sunday, October 14, 2007

New York (PTI): The Indian Muslim Council-USA has condemned the Ajmer Dargah bomb blast, but cautioned authorities against drawing "hasty conclusions" in blaming any particular group for the attack.

"Paradoxically, the law enforcement authorities that were clueless till these blasts happened didn't take much time after the blasts to pinpoint the blame on specific Muslim outfits in an attempt to hide their intelligence failure," the group's President Rasheed Ahmed said.

Intelligence sources had said that Harkat-ul-Jehadi Islami outfit of Bangladesh was suspected to be behind the blast at the sufi shrine of Khwaja Mohiuddin Chisti.
Pilgrims of Bangladeshi origin were also questioned by security agencies.

"We hope that the police will do a full and honest investigation and nail down the actual culprits behind this heinous crime, rather than scapegoat poor and innocent civilians and extract fake confessions," said Ahmed.

IMC-USA also urged the National Human Rights Commission to intervene immediately in the investigations to ensure that due process of the law is followed and the true culprits are brought to book.

The NRIs for Secular and Harmonious India also condemned the bomb blast at the "holiest interfaith shrine".

All Indian communities putting up a united fight is the only answer to terrorism, its spokesperson Najma Sultana said.

"We are hopeful the government will hunt down the goons and punish them," she said.

1 comment:

Alexander Keefe said...

I wrote on my blog in reference to this event--allegations of L-e-T involvement are pretty much a de facto response these days to terrorist attacks in India, especially on religious sites. Evidence for their actual involvement seems to surface very rarely, and in those cases when someone is finally, eventually apprehended--there is often no Kashmiri connection at all. Perhaps this helps to explain why we now read that Bangladeshi pilgrims in Ajmer are being picked up for questioning. I think of the instant accusations of the L-e-T as a kind of place-holder, a way of containing and focusing public outrage and of controlling the placement of the event in a narrative of "state versus communal forces" that safely sets aside the uncomfortable possibility of non-Muslim "communal forces" being responsible. In the process, a rich internal debate now taking place in South Asian Muslim circles as to the propriety of tawassul is reduced to a tired confrontation between tolerant multi-religious secularism versus Islamist intransigence.
Finally, FYI, there were also a number of letters to the editor in Sunday's edition of The Hindu on this rush to blame.

Monday, October 15, 2007

'Don't Be Hasty in Blaming Muslim Groups for Ajmer Blast'
The Hindu - Chennai, India
Sunday, October 14, 2007

New York (PTI): The Indian Muslim Council-USA has condemned the Ajmer Dargah bomb blast, but cautioned authorities against drawing "hasty conclusions" in blaming any particular group for the attack.

"Paradoxically, the law enforcement authorities that were clueless till these blasts happened didn't take much time after the blasts to pinpoint the blame on specific Muslim outfits in an attempt to hide their intelligence failure," the group's President Rasheed Ahmed said.

Intelligence sources had said that Harkat-ul-Jehadi Islami outfit of Bangladesh was suspected to be behind the blast at the sufi shrine of Khwaja Mohiuddin Chisti.
Pilgrims of Bangladeshi origin were also questioned by security agencies.

"We hope that the police will do a full and honest investigation and nail down the actual culprits behind this heinous crime, rather than scapegoat poor and innocent civilians and extract fake confessions," said Ahmed.

IMC-USA also urged the National Human Rights Commission to intervene immediately in the investigations to ensure that due process of the law is followed and the true culprits are brought to book.

The NRIs for Secular and Harmonious India also condemned the bomb blast at the "holiest interfaith shrine".

All Indian communities putting up a united fight is the only answer to terrorism, its spokesperson Najma Sultana said.

"We are hopeful the government will hunt down the goons and punish them," she said.

1 comment:

Alexander Keefe said...

I wrote on my blog in reference to this event--allegations of L-e-T involvement are pretty much a de facto response these days to terrorist attacks in India, especially on religious sites. Evidence for their actual involvement seems to surface very rarely, and in those cases when someone is finally, eventually apprehended--there is often no Kashmiri connection at all. Perhaps this helps to explain why we now read that Bangladeshi pilgrims in Ajmer are being picked up for questioning. I think of the instant accusations of the L-e-T as a kind of place-holder, a way of containing and focusing public outrage and of controlling the placement of the event in a narrative of "state versus communal forces" that safely sets aside the uncomfortable possibility of non-Muslim "communal forces" being responsible. In the process, a rich internal debate now taking place in South Asian Muslim circles as to the propriety of tawassul is reduced to a tired confrontation between tolerant multi-religious secularism versus Islamist intransigence.
Finally, FYI, there were also a number of letters to the editor in Sunday's edition of The Hindu on this rush to blame.