SOUTH ASIA
RSS Leader Linked To Ajmer Shrine Blast
Senior Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leader Indresh Kumar took part in a secret meeting of right-wing fundamentalists in October 2005 in Jaipur at which plans to carry out bomb blasts at the Ajmer dargah, Hyderabad’s Mecca Masjid and Malegaon were chalked out, the Rajasthan police’s anti-terrorist squad (ATS) has said in its Ajmer blast chargesheet.
The RSS and the BJP called the chargesheet a “Congress-inspired” bid to revive the issue of “saffron terror” during the ongoing Bihar polls and blunt attacks on the UPA government ahead of the winter session of Parliament next month. Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot responded that the RSS should “accept the truth”.
The blast at the dargah of Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti on October 11, 2007 had killed three persons and injured more than a dozen.
Indresh Kumar (62), who was based in Rajasthan from 2001 to 2004, has also been involved with the work of the Rashtriya Muslim Manch, an RSS affiliate that calls itself a “nationalist organisation” of Muslims.
In its 806-page chargesheet filed in the court of the additional chief judicial magistrate in Ajmer on Friday, the ATS has said that Swami Aseemanand, based in Dangs district of Gujarat, and Sunil Joshi, who was murdered in 2007, were the brains behind the Ajmer blast, which was allegedly carried out to avenge attacks on Hindu religious places.
However, neither Indresh nor Aseemanand are named among the accused in the case.
Aseemanand and Joshi allegedly held a secret meeting in Jaipur on October 31, 2005 with five others, including Indresh and Sadhvi Pragya Thakur, an accused in the Malegaon blast case.
The sadhvi and 10 others are accused of plotting and carrying out blasts in Malegaon, Maharashtra on September 29, 2008 in which six persons were killed.
The responsibility for carrying out the blasts at the Ajmer shrine, the Mecca Masjid and Malegaon was fixed at the meeting, ATS has stated in the chargesheet.
At the meeting, Indresh suggested they work in tandem with other religious organisations so that no one would suspect anything and they could successfully carry out the attacks, the chargesheet says.
Indresh rubbished the chargesheet. “Why was I not made an accused in the case when the ATS mentions my role in it?” he asked. “This hints at a political conspiracy backed by the Congress government.”
Congress spokesperson Manish Tiwari said the chargesheet was a manifestation of the RSS’ attempts at “trying to undermine and upset the pluralistic ethos of India and disturb communal amity”.
“His (Indresh’s) name has only been mentioned in the document in connection with holding a meeting,” RSS spokesperson Ram Madhav said. “It is far from the truth. It will be challenged in court.”
Devendra Gupta, Lokesh Sharma, Chandrashekhar Leve, Sandeep Dange and Ramji Kalsangra are the five main accused in the blast case. Devendra, Lokesh and Leve are lodged in a Hyderabad jail. Dange and Kalsangra are still at large.
The blast at the Dargah of Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti took place in October 2007 in which one person was killed.
Who is Indresh Kumar?
Was a member of the All India Executive of the RSS in 2007. From 2002-04, he was based in Jaipur. Later he shifted to Varanasi
Where the meeting was held?
The meeting was held in Room No 26 of the guest house of the Gujarati Samaj near MI Road on October 31, 2005
Who all were present?
Those present at the meeting were Indresh Kumar, Pragya Thakur, Sunil Joshi, Ramji Kalsangra, Devendra Gupta, Lokesh Gupta and Sandeep Dange
What responsibility was given to whom?
-Sunil Joshi was to carry out bomb blasts
-Lokesh Sharma and Ramji Kalsangra were to procure weapons and explosives and do recce of possible locations
-Devendra Gupta was tasked with procuring mobiles and SIM cards with fake identity cards
-Sandeep Dange and Sunil Joshi were to collect funds
-HT
SOUTH ASIA
Pakistani Anti-graft body wants travel ban on Nawaz Sharif, kin
Pakistan’s anti-corruption watchdog has asked authorities to place ousted premier Nawaz Sharif, his daughter and son-in-law on the Exit Control List to prevent them from leaving the country.
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) sent a formal request to the ministry of interior. The interior ministry officials confirmed that the NAB wrote that names of Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Capt (retd) Muhammad Safdar should be put on the Exit Control List (ECL), which listed individuals not allowed to leave Pakistan.
The NAB argued that as the trial of the three nears its conclusion, it is feared that they would leave the country.
Earlier, a similar request to place name of finance minister Ishaq Dar on ECL was not accepted, allowing him to go to London and never return.
Sharif, 68, and his family this week filed an application with the accountability court seeking a fortnight’s exemption from personal appearance from February 19 onwards to let them go to London to see Sharif’s ailing wife. Three cases were filed against Sharif and his family last year, including Avenfield properties, Azizia & Hill Metal Establishment, and Flagship Investments.
Maryam and Safdar are accused only in Avenfield properties case. The NAB had filed two supplementary references against Sharif, his sons Hasan and Hussain regarding Al-Azizia Steel Mills & Hill Metal Establishment and Flagship Investment cases.
SOUTH ASIA
Pakistan “breaches obligations’ on nuclear arms reduction, UN court told
The Hague: Pakistan is violating its “obligations” to the international community by failing to reduce its nuclear arsenal, the Marshall Islands told the UN’s highest court on Tuesday.
The small Pacific Island nation is this week launching three unusual cases against India, Pakistan and Britain before the International Court of Justice.
Majuro wants to put a new spotlight on the global nuclear threat, its lawyers said yesterday, by using its own experience with massive US-led nuclear tests in the 1940s and 1950s.
“Pakistan is in breach of its obligations owed to the international community as a whole,” when it comes to reducing its nuclear stockpile, said Nicholas Grief, one of the island nation’s lawyers.
DeBrum warned that even a “limited nuclear war” involving the two countries would “threaten the existence” of his island nation people.
Pakistan and India have fought three wars since independence from Britain in 1947, two of them over the disputed Himalayan territory of Kashmir.
In 1998, the rival neighbours both demonstrated nuclear weapons capability.
The ICJ’s judges are holding hearings for the next week and a half to decide whether it is competent to hear the lawsuits brought against India and Pakistan — neither of which have signed the 1968 nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
A third hearing against Britain — which has signed the NPT — scheduled to start on Wednesday will be devoted to “preliminary objections” raised by London.
The Marshalls initially sought to bring a case against nine countries it said possessed nuclear arms: Britain, China, France, India, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia and the United States.
Israel has never admitted to having nuclear weapons.
But the Hague-based ICJ, set up in 1945 to rule in disputes between states, has only admitted three cases against Britain, India and Pakistan, because they have accepted the ICJ’s compulsory jurisdiction.
Pakistan’s lawyers did not attend Tuesday’s hearings.
It did however file a counter-claim against Majuro’s allegations saying “the court has no jurisdiction to deal with the application” and insisting that the case is “not admissible”, said ICJ President Ronny Abraham.
SOUTH ASIA
Bangladesh to drop Islam as official religion following attacks on Hindus
New Delhi: Bangladesh is likely to drop Islam as its official religion following a series of attacks on people from other faiths in the country. The country’s Supreme Court is hearing a plea challenging the status of the official religion of the country to Islam.
Bangladesh, which was declared a secular country after its formation in 1971, was declared an Islamic country following a constitutional amendment in 1988.
According to a report in the Daily Mail, the plea has challenged the declaration of Islam as the national religion of the country.
The move is being supported by leaders from the minority communities like Hindus, Christians and Muslim minority Shiites.
Bangladesh has 90 per cent of Muslims, 8 per cent Hindus and remaining constitutes Christians and Muslim minority Shiites.
In last month, a Hindu priest was hacked to death following an attack on a temple in Panchgarh district. Two others were seriously injured in the attack. There have been several lethal attacks on writers and bloggers.
According to a report in the Independent, Islamist groups Jumatul Mujahedeen Bangladesh and Ansarullah Bangla Team are believed to have carried out at least seven attacks on foreign and minority people in Bangladesh in the past year.
