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April 5, 2006
India: Muslim Cleric Arrested For Varanasi Blasts
We reported on March 7 this year of the triple blasts which took place at the Hindu holy city of Varanasi, in Uttar Pradesh, northern India. 18 people were killed in these explosions, one of which took place in a Hindu temple. A group calling itself Lashkar-e-Qahad (Army of Fury) claimed responsibility, and on March 10, eight people were arrested at Hardoi, 100 kilometers from Lucknow. Those people were subsequently released without charge.
Today, Reuters India reports that six suspected Islamists, including one Muslim cleric, have been arrested, according to a news conference held in Lucknow.
Police told reporters that the Islamic cleric, called Waiullah, was an Indian who commanded a local group from the Bangladeshi Islamist organisation, Harkatul Jihad-al Islami. He gave support and shelter to three Bangladeshis who carried out the bombings in Varanasi.
S.K. Bhagat, a senior policeman, said: "Waliullah is the mastermind who got his contacts in Bangladesh to send three militants for carrying out the Varanasi blasts."
The other five Islamists are not thought to have been involved with the blasts, but Waliullah who was present at the conference said: "I sent these five men to Bangladesh from where my contact Asadullah sent them over to Pakistan to attend the 28-day ISI training camp." ISI is Pakistan's Inter-Services Agency.
Waliullah had a rural mosque in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Of the five men that he sent to the militant training camp, four came from Uttar Pradesh, and one from West Bengal. Plastic explosives, grenades and weaponry, including an AK-47 rifle were found in the men's possession. The cleric claimed he had been inspired by video cassettes made by Islamists.
Harkatul Jihad is a Bangladeshi-organised Islamist group, with links to Jama'atul Muhahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and also JMJB. Though it had been operating openly for five years in Bangladesh, the government there only outlowed the organisation on October 17 last year. The Bangladeshi leader of this group, Mufti Mohammad Abdul Hannan, was arrested on October 1.
We wrote earlier of Harkatul Jihad's operations in Bangladesh. Founded in 1984, the group announced itself publicly at a press conerence in 1992. The group have repeatedly threatened to kill the opposition leader, Sheikh Hasina of the Awami League. Hannan had gone into hiding after a bomb was discovered at a rally she was due to attend in July 2000.
Harkatul Jihad has been operating in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. In late December last year, an Indian science professor was shot dead and four others wounded at the Indian Institute of Science. Three men were arrested at that time, suspected of intending to attack information technology centers in Hyderabad and Bangalore. One of those arrested was a member of Harkatul Jihad-e-Islami.
The authorities in New Delhi accuse both Pakistan and Bangladesh of harbouring militants who are against India.
Keywords: Harkatul Jihad-al Islami, Harkatul Jihad-e-Islami.
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at April 5, 2006 9:18 AM
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