On the eve of Foreign Secretary-level
talks in Thimphu, Pakistan
on Saturday came out with a provocative statement saying that India's
handling of the Samjhauta Express train bombing case showed that it lacked
"courage to unearth culpability of Hindu extremists". It appears
that the Pakistanis are not too keen to see any improvement in ties that
might lead to resumption of the talks that were stalled following the
Mumbai carnage. Or this might be to check India
from making too many demands on the progress or lack of it in the Mumbai
blast trial that is taking place in Pakistan. But what are the
facts on the ground?
Around midnight on February 18, 2007, bombs were set off on the
Delhi-Lahore Samjhauta Express, a twice-a-week service. This happened a day
before Mr. Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri was to arrive in India for
talks. The incident occurred near Panipat in Haryana, 80 km north of Delhi. 68 persons
were killed, 42 of them Pakistani civilians, besides some Indian citizens,
and army jawans guarding the train.
The case was under investigation with the Haryana police who could
not make any headway after their probe led to a tailor in Indore who had prepared the cover of the
suitcase in which the bombs were planted. After over three years, the
probe was handed over to the National Investigation Agency in the middle of
2010 by the Central government. At that time, there were reports that the
Hindu right-wing groups that were involved in the Malegaon
and Ajmer
blasts were also involved in the Samjhauta Express blast. The Americans had
in the meanwhile, in early 2009, identified a Pakistani, Asif Kasmani, of
the Lashkar-e-Taiba, as involved in the Samjhauta Express blast, and moved
the UN to declare him as an international terrorist. Americans generally do
not make such claims easily. Did they have some clue, or evidence that the
Indian investigators missed? The investigators had therefore to move
carefully and look at unimpeachable evidence to come to any conclusion
about the actual perpetrators.
But did India,
or the Indian police, lack any courage in unearthing the culpability of
extreme Hindu outfits in such terrorist acts? The Anti-Terrorist Squad of
Maharashtra led the way in unearthing the complicity of Hindu right wing
groups in the Malegaon
blast of September 2008, and filed charge sheets against 11 accused,
including a serving Army colonel and a Sadhvi, in January 2009. Their
investigations continued even after that; and the Maharashtra ATS have made
more arrests in the case. The harshest sections of law, including the
dreaded Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act, were applied against
the accused in this case. The Anti-Terrorist Squad of Rajasthan filed a
charge sheet against a Hindu right wing group for the Ajmer blasts in October 2010. Does this
show any lack of courage in dealing under law with the extreme right wing
groups?
The Samjhauta Express case has also been broken open, this time by the
National Investigation Agency, with the arrest of a Hindu ‘God’ man, and a
recording of his confession by a magistrate. The NIA has proclaimed
substantial rewards for information that have led to the arrest of three
absconding accused. These investigations have compelled the Madhya Pradesh
police, where the right wing BJP is in power, to go after the killers of
one Sunil Joshi, a Hindu right wing activist, who had allegedly played an
active role in all the three blasts and was allegedly killed by his own
colleagues as he knew too much. This investigation had been closed as
untraced, but was revived in the wake of the arrests made in the blast
cases. The National Investigation Agency, the Central Bureau of
Investigation and the ATS Units form Maharashtra
and Rajasthan have been working closely to break open the blast cases. The
investigators have to carefully collect all available evidence to bring the
charges successfully against the perpetrators of these crimes. The
investigation cannot be based solely on confessions, but will also have to
look for independent evidence to corroborate material particulars. It is
too early to share the result of the Samjhauta Express case with Pakistan, and the Indian Home Minister is on
record that as soon as this becomes possible, India
will be happy to share the details with Pakistan.
On the other hand, the trial in the 26/11 case is moving at snail’s pace in
Pakistan.
Hafiz Saeed, the main architect of the Mumbai attacks, is moving freely,
and a couple of days back, was threatening war with India if we fail to vacate Kashmir.
Our request for voice samples of some of the accused for purpose of
comparison in the 26/11 case is still pending. So who is scared of
unearthing the culpability of right wing terrorists, India or Pakistan?
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