[Assam] Terrorism in Varanasi

Thu Mar 9 12:03:30 PST 2006

One should not forget the role of the government - particularly at the
local level  - and ruling political parties inciting ethnic violence or
allowing violence to grow. Whether one looked at the Delhi riots of
1984, or Bombay, or Gujarat or most other riots in India - the ruling
party and the government machinery have played active roles. UP is today
ruled by Mulayam Singh Yadav - and whatever his other problems - his
government would not tolerate orchestrated public violence against
Muslims. Even the Hindu fundamentalists know this and were afraid - they
would rather move at the political level and preserve dividends for the
next elections. 

Santanu   

________________________________

From: assam-bounces at assamnet.org [mailto:assam-bounces at assamnet.org] On
Behalf Of Malabika Brahma
Sent: Thursday, March 09, 2006 1:45 PM
To: Dilip/Dil Deka; ASSAMNET
Subject: Re: [Assam] Terrorism in Varanasi

Nice to see some rationalism amongst the commoners. What is needed now
is the much needed rationalism amongst the policy makers, though that is
a lot more to ask for at the moment.

Why ?

An average commoner in India is not a criminal but going by the profile
of the members of the Parliament in India the same can not be said.

Utpal

Dilip/Dil Deka <dilipdeka at yahoo.com> wrote:

	It had the potential to ignite UP but it didn't. Is it because
Indians have learned to differentiate between terrorism and Hindu-Muslim
conflict? Is it now evident to the average Hindu in India that the
average Muslim in India also hates terrorism just as much?

	It is a group of small groups of people that is keeping
terrorism alive throughout the world. The common theme is that they
erroneously believe that they can keep their self-centered causes alive
by creating commotion among the general population. Otherwise why would
there be bomb explosion in a temple, church mosque or a school? 

	It appears to me that the bombs in Varanasi could have been
planted by any terrorist group, whether Muslim, Hindu or any other
religion. It is a relief that the Muslims in Varanasi are not paying the
price.

	Dilip

	==========================================================

	Indian City Shaken by Temple Bombings 

<http://view.atdmt.com/ORG/view/nwyrkfxs0040000007org/direct/01/> 

	By SOMINI SENGUPTA
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/somini_sen
gupta/index.html?inline=nyt-per> 

	Published: March 9, 2006

	VARANASI, India
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritorie
s/india/index.html?inline=nyt-geo> , March 8 - Their hushed voices were
drowned out by the howls of demonstrators. Just a stone's throw away lay
the gory wreckage of Tuesday's temple blast. 

	Skip to next paragraph
<http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/09/international/asia/09india.html?_r=1&
th&emc=th&oref=slogin#secondParagraph>  

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height=600,scrollbars=yes,toolbars=no,resizable=yes')> 

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ernational/09cnd-india.ready.html',%20'09cnd_india_ready',%20'width=720,
height=600,scrollbars=yes,toolbars=no,resizable=yes')> 

	Prakash Singh/AFP -- Getty Images

	Indian security forces stand guard today outside the Kashi
Vishwanath temple in Varanasi. 

	Multimedia
<http://www.nytimes.com/pages/multimedia/index.html?8dpc> 
	Photographer's Journal
<javascript:pop_me_up2('http://www.nytimes.com/packages/khtml/2005/12/03
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/weekinreview/20051204_GANGES_AUDIOSS.html','Interactive_Feature','width
=680,height=550,scrollbars=yes,toolbars=no,resizable=yes');> 
	Holy City on the Ganges
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/weekinreview/20051204_GANGES_AUDIOSS.html','Interactive_Feature','width
=680,height=550,scrollbars=yes,toolbars=no,resizable=yes');> 
	New York Times staff photographer Tyler Hicks visited the holy
city on the western bank of the Ganges. 

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ernational/09india.1.ready.html',%20'09india_1_ready',%0d%0a%20'width=65
3,height=460,scrollbars=yes,toolbars=no,resizable=yes')> 

<javascript:pop_me_up2('http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2006/03/08/int
ernational/09india.1.ready.html',%20'09india_1_ready',%20'width=653,heig
ht=460,scrollbars=yes,toolbars=no,resizable=yes')> 

	Rajesh Kumar Singh/Associated Press

	Victims of two explosions that killed at least 14 people on
Tuesday in Varanasi, India, were cremated Wednesday. Chhote Lal
Biskarma, above, lost his son in one of the blasts. Security measures
were increased throughout India in response to the bombings in Varanasi,
a city holy to Hindus. 

	Enlarge This Image
<javascript:pop_me_up2('http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2006/03/09/int
ernational/09india.2.ready.html',%20'09india_2_ready',%20'width=653,heig
ht=460,scrollbars=yes,toolbars=no,resizable=yes')> 

<javascript:pop_me_up2('http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2006/03/09/int
ernational/09india.2.ready.html',%20'09india_2_ready',%20'width=653,heig
ht=460,scrollbars=yes,toolbars=no,resizable=yes')> 

	Prakash Singh/Agence France-Presse {mdash} Getty Images

	The Sankat Mochan temple in Varanasi, dedicated to a Hindu
deity, was damaged Tuesday by an explosion. 

	Enlarge This Image
<javascript:pop_me_up2('http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2006/03/09/int
ernational/09india.3.ready.html',%0d%0a%20'09india_3_ready',%20'width=72
0,height=600,scrollbars=yes,toolbars=no,resizable=yes')> 

<javascript:pop_me_up2('http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2006/03/09/int
ernational/09india.3.ready.html',%20'09india_3_ready',%20'width=720,heig
ht=600,scrollbars=yes,toolbars=no,resizable=yes')> 

	Mahan Vatsyayana/Agence France-Presse - Getty Images

	Security was tightened at the New Delhi railway station and all
across India Wednesday after the bombings in the holy city of Varanasi. 

	But inside a small square chamber on the compound of the Sankat
Mochan temple on Wednesday afternoon sat four men facing their monkey
god and carrying out a job they had been paid to do: chanting the name
of a Hindu god as a prayer for a stranger who was sick. 

	"Om Sri Ram, jai Ram, jai jai Ram," the men muttered through the
din and sensation. An interruption of the incantation could not be
allowed.

	Modern terror more than interrupted the rhythm of this
400-year-old institution, as it did, in smaller ways, the rhythm of
daily life in this 2,500-year-old city. A pair of homemade bombs on
Tuesday evening tore through the Sankat Mochan temple and the nearby
city railway station, killing at least 14 and injuring more than 100.

	Law enforcement authorities on Wednesday said explosives had
been stuffed inside a pressure cooker and left inside an inconspicuous
bag at each site. The police found a similar unexploded device at a busy
city market. The bomb at the train station left a wide shallow crater at
the terminal; shrapnel pockmarked the ceiling above. The police said
they did not know who was responsible. 

	The other bomb was set off at dusk in the courtyard of the
Sankat Mochan temple, dedicated to the Hindu monkey deity, Hanuman, as
thousands of worshipers gathered for the evening oil-lamp prayers.
Tuesday is the most auspicious day at the Hanuman temple, and dozens of
couples had come to be blessed in marriage.

	The blast forced all services to be suspended for four hours.
"For us what could be a more shattering experience?" the temple's head
priest and administrator, Veer Bhadra Mishra, 68, wondered aloud on
Wednesday. Hindus believe the temple compound, surrounded by woods, is
Hanuman's home.

	Clashes between Hindus and Muslims did not come to pass, as
feared, despite protest marches called by Hindu radicals and their
politician allies. Varanasi, also known as Benares, was free of violence
Wednesday. 

	But the city was also missing its usual chaotic, vibrant and
intense character. With a strike called by a number of Hindu nationalist
groups, schools and businesses across the city were closed. Boatmen at
the Ganges River, a daily draw for pilgrims and tourists, complained
bitterly that business had dropped off. Varanasi's narrow, normally
impassable streets could be easily navigated. 

	Several Muslim shopkeepers said they had shuttered their
businesses as a gesture of respect for the dead and their families, and
they sat on the stoops of their shops chewing betel leaves, chatting,
watching the day pass. Riot police officers stood at street corners.

	Politicians quickly seized upon the Varanasi blasts, coming as
they did in India's most populous state, Uttar Pradesh, where elections
are expected to be held later this year.

	L. K. Advani, the leader of the opposition Hindu-nationalist
Bharatiya Janata Party, on Wednesday accused the government, led by the
Congress Party, of not being tough enough on terrorists and announced a
procession to denounce the blasts.

	Sonia Gandhi
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/g/sonia_gand
hi/index.html?inline=nyt-per> , leader of the Congress Party, wasted no
time in rushing to the city to commiserate with victims and their
families and review the damage. With Congress eager to reclaim Uttar
Pradesh from a local rival political party, Mrs. Gandhi pressed both the
state and federal governments to capture the culprits and mete out "very
strict punishment." The Congress Party's main rival, Uttar Pradesh's
chief minister, Mulayam Singh Yadav, called for unity.

	Meanwhile, state officials announced that the police in the town
of Lucknow, also in Uttar Pradesh, had shot and killed a wanted man
suspected of being a militant and for having links to Kashmir
insurgents. They offered no concrete evidence linking the dead suspect
to the Varanasi bombing. "We are collecting evidence," said Yashpal
Singh, the state police chief. "We do not have any solid proof to move
in a particular direction."

	At the normally bustling commercial strip called Bengali Tola,
the shopkeepers, most all of them Muslims, had closed their shops and
headed home Tuesday night as soon as the news of the blasts came. By the
end of the night, they said they had resolved to take the day off. There
was no telling, they said, what violence could flare up.

	"We want that you should write we also regret this very deeply,
we also feel the sorrow," said Muhammad Yusha, 45, who makes his living
as a polisher of Varanasi's famous silk saris.

	Never before, said a sari shop owner, Mumtaz Ahmed, 38, had he
seen virtually every Muslim-owned shop closed for the day. "This kind of
shutdown has never happened before," he said. "But nor has this kind of
attack."

	By midafternoon, Sankat Mochan was thick with visitors, but they
were by and large visiting politicians, gawkers, journalists from afar
and crowds of Hindu hard-liners who noisily denounced their political
opponents and waved flags. 

	A small stream of worshipers sat before the altar, mumbling
quiet prayers amid the bustle. "For a devotee there's no disturbance,"
Surender Singh, a timber merchant, said. "I'm doing my worship in God's
house." He said he could not be bothered with protests.

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