[Reader-list] Hindutva terror probe haunts Pune investigation

Sat Feb 20 20:28:39 IST 2010

Dear Shuddha,

Yes you are right that religious prefixes are applied to terrorism, but why?
You think yourself the answer after putting the hand on your heart. I don't
want to reveal anything on it.

Trial by media is always condemnable, but media does not give any verdict or
conclusion. Media point out loop holes carried out on investigation under
pressure for eg. Ruchika and other such cases where powerful man's political
pressure averted and convicted. Please read the report of young man arrest
of Batla house in the link:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Shahzad-shot-at-inspector-was-
to-go-to-Pak/articleshow/5543778.cms where police arrested for remand and he
himself confessed the thing earlier. If you oppose even remand against
suspect then no crime/terrorism cases can be solved. So, you are wrong in
this stand. Well you oppose Hindutva/Hinduism but keep mum on
Islamism/Christianism. Hope, you must oppose that also. Narco Analysis is
part of investigation and is not counted as proof and not the sole criteria
for conviction. It leads the way to further investigation and help to gather
proofs. 

I don't know what Praveen Swami has written for Kashmir. But, there is no
dispute on J&K as its belong to India, why you have doubts on it is
questionable thought of yours. Even POK is also belong to India, but, we,
India as a sorry state tolerating it for so many years.

As you say there is not at all prevalent fashion of identifying terrorism
with Islam or Muslims. If we restrict to this topic for India only then also
it is proved that Islamic groups with the support of pak ISI/army involved
for terrorist atrocities in India. Do you have any doubts? So, I ask this
question to all readers.

Thanks

Bipin

From: Shuddhabrata Sengupta [mailto:shuddha at sarai.net] 

Sent: Saturday, February 20, 2010 2:59 PM

To: Bipin

Cc: 'Javed'; sarai-list

Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Hindutva terror probe haunts Pune investigation

Dear Bipin, 

I agree, Praveen Swami is no authority, and I agree, that it is unfortunate
that religious prefixes (hindu or muslim) are applied to terrorism, after
all, they are usually not applied to other crimes, we do not hear of hindu
or muslim bank robberies, for instance.

 I for instance, have always condemned the trial by media of people like
Sadhvi Pragya, on the same grounds as I have condemned the same when it
happened to of any of the young men arrested in the wake of the so called
Batla House encounter. I think that no one should be allowed to pronounce
any person guilty until they have had access to a free and fair trial. I
hold this to be true even in the case of people I do not agree with
politically. I totally oppose Hindutva, and I think Sadhvi Pragya's brand of
politics is dangerous, but, at the same time, I believe she, like everyone
else has the right to a free and a fair trial, and that she (or anyone else)
should not have to be subjected to invasive and brutal procedures like
'Narco Analysis' without consent. 

I expect everyone on this list to share my concern for the fate of
undertrial prisoners in India, regardless of political sympathies. And I
hope that the latest episode in Pune does not lead to yet another round of
the violation of rights of people, regardless of whether they are Hindu or
Muslim, regardless of whether they are affiliated to Abhinav Bharat or SIMI,
through instances of preventive detention under draconian laws. The only
decent way forward is through a proper criminal investigation, not through
picking up young people from their homes in the dead of night, and making
them 'confess' using third degree methods, as is usually done in the wake of
a terrorist atrocity. 

Let me come back to Mr. Swami. Whenever Mr. Swami offers his take and his
analysis, say on Kashmir, usually, some people on this list, whose
sympathies lie with the Indian state's position on Kashmir, have always
offered us the same (Swami's outpourings) as pearls of wisdom. To be fair,
we should be as open to be sceptical of what Praveen Swami writes about when
he writes about Kashmir, as we are when he writes about the possible
Hindutva links to terrorism in Pune. 

I agree with you, that one should not succumb to the "fashion of blaming
'Hindus'  " for any and every terrorist attack,  and I sincerely hope that
you too will restrain yourself from being carried away by the even more
overwhelmingly prevalent fashion of identifiying terrorism with Islam or
Muslims. 

best

Shuddha

On 19-Feb-10, at 11:38 AM, Bipin wrote:

Please apologize me for sending bellow content again, but it's my humble
duty to send it. Mr. Praveen Swami is no authority. Investigation is going
on and all the clue leads to pak based terrorists group with the help of
local support. The intention is clear, by this false reporting they want to
divert/mislead the investigative agencies. Such a people are also counted as
sleeper cell.

It's a fashion now to blame Hindu on any terrorist attack by such fanatics.
Samjauta express attack was pointed on Hindu by similar fanatics but they
proved wrong. It's bitter situation that such mindset increasing in India
and with such mindset country cannot freed from terrorism unless we act
strictly with iron hand. But, congress not showing any such will and do not
want to come out from vote-bank politics of the minor appeasement to fight
the terrorism.

-----Original Message-----

From: reader-list-bounces at sarai.net [mailto:reader-list-bounces at sarai.net]
On Behalf Of Javed

Sent: Friday, February 19, 2010 9:28 AM

To: sarai list

Subject: [Reader-list] Hindutva terror probe haunts Pune investigation

Freinds, my apologies for flooding your mailboxes on this subject

again and again. But if Praveen Swami says something, we better take

it seriously.

-------

Hindutva terror probe haunts Pune investigation

Praveen Swami

Investigators focus on jihadist groups, but some fear Hindutva group

may have carried out German Bakery bombing

PUNE: Back in November 2008, as Lieutenant-Colonel Prasad Shrikant

Purohit walked into a Nashik court to face trial for his alleged role

in the bombing of a Malegaon mosque, Hindutva activists showered the

rogue military officer with rose petals.

Last week's bombing of the German Bakery in Pune has brought the ugly

story of Abhinav Bharat - the Hindutva terrorist group Purohit helped

found - back from the obscurity to which it was consigned by the

Mumbai carnage, which took place just days after the trial in Nashik

began.

In private, Hindus sympathetic to the ultra-right have been saying the

bombings demonstrate the moral legitimacy of Purohit and his Hindutva

terror project. Even as the police detained more than two dozen young

Muslim men for questioning, some community leaders have been arguing

that the bakery attack could just have easily been carried out by a

Hindutva group.

Part of the reason for the controversy is that key suspects involved

in Abhinav Bharat's terror campaign have never been held. Jatin

Chatterjee - better known by his alias Swami Asimanand - is thought to

be hiding out in Gujarat's Adivasi tracts, where he runs a Hindu

proselytisation organisation. Ramnarayan Kalsangra, Abhinav Bharat's

key bomb-maker, is also a fugitive.

Founded in the summer of 2006, Abhinav Bharat was set up as an

educational trust with Himani Savarkar - daughter of Gopal Godse,

brother of Mahatma Gandhi's assassin - as its chairperson. But,

documents filed by Maharashtra prosecutors show, members of the group

were soon involved in discussing armed activity. In June 2007, Purohit

allegedly suggested that the time had come to target Muslims through

terrorist attacks - a plea others in Abhinav Bharat rejected.

But, the evidence gathered by the police suggests, many within the

group were determined to press ahead. At a meeting in April 2008, key

suspects including Madhya Pradesh-based Hindutva activist Pragnya

Singh Thakur and Jammu cleric Sudhakar Dwivedi, also known as

Amritananda Dev Tirtha, met Purohit to hammer out the Malegaon plot.

Explosives were later procured by Purohit, and handed over to

Kalsangra in early August 2008.

Abhinav Bharat's long-term aims, though, went far beyond targeting

Muslims: its members wanted to overthrow the Indian state and replace

it with a totalitarian, theocratic order. A draft constitution

prepared by Abhinav Bharat spoke of a single-party system, presided

over by a leader who "shall be followed at all levels without

questioning the authority." It called for the creation of an "academy

of indoctrinization [sic.]." The concluding comment was stark: "People

whose ideas are detrimental to Hindu Rashtra should be killed."

Purohit's plans to bring about a Hindutva state were often

fantastical. He claimed, the prosecutors say, to have secured an

appointment with Nepal's King Gyanendra in 2006 and 2007 to press for

his support for the planned Hindutva revolution. Nepal, he went on,

was willing to train Abhinav Bharat's cadre, and supply it with

assault rifles. Israel's government, he said, had agreed to grant

members of the group military support and, if needed, political

asylum.

Many believe that Abhinav Bharat carried out many attacks earlier

attributed to jihadist groups - notable among them, the bombing of the

Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad in May 2007, and a subsequent attack on the

famous shrine at Ajmer. Despite persistent questioning of Abhinav

Bharat cadre, though, the investigators have not been able to link the

group to the attacks.

Matters are complicated by the fact that some of the operations

attributed to Abhinav Bharat may not have had much to do with the

group - even though its leading luminaries claimed responsibility for

the attacks.

For example, Purohit allegedly claimed to confidants that the attack

was carried out by the Dewas-based Hindutva terrorist Sunil Joshi, who

was murdered in December 2007. But the United States Treasury

Department later imposed sanctions on Lashkar-e-Taiba activist Arif

Kasmani - a Karachi-based jihadist with close links to the Taliban and

al-Qaeda - for financing the attack.

In January this year, Pakistan's Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik

went further, admitting that "there were some Pakistan-based Islamists

who had been hired to carry out the Samjhauta Express attack."

Judging by recent Hindutva terror attacks, like last year's bombings

in Goa, it is unclear if they still have the capabilities to mount a

sophisticated attack of the kind seen in Pune. Few investigators

believe that the organisations - or other Hindutva cells - mounted the

operation. "Still", says one Maharashtra police official involved in

investigating both Hindutva and jihadist attacks, "you can't help

wondering - what if?"

Signs are the investigation into the bombing of the German Bakery will

take time. All that investigators have by way of suspects are three

men recorded holding brief meetings before the blast by a poor-quality

closed-circuit television camera. From the videotape, it is unclear if

the men had anything to do with the attack.

The longer the investigation takes, the more time conspiracy theories

and speculation will have to proliferate - likely deepening the

communal fissures the bombing is already opening up.

http://www.hindu.com/2010/02/19/stories/2010021961571000.htm

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Shuddhabrata Sengupta

The Sarai Programme at CSDS

Raqs Media Collective

shuddha at sarai.net

www.sarai.net

www.raqsmediacollective.net

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