following statement says it all
“All kinds of people work here — Hindus, Muslims and Christians,” said Ali Asghar, 24, a student whose father works in a bank near the jewelry market. “This is not about religion.”
http://www.washtimes.com/world/20030826-120208-9701r.htm
very sad indeed. :(
Sad incident. The lowlifes that financed this should be beheaded and left to rot.
Condolences to our Indian members. Hopefully this sort of BS is in it's last throes and people in that region will learn to stop inflicting misery on themselves for such petty reasons.
BREAK THROUGH AT LAST…
Mumbai police did a good job in arresting the suspects. This is a nice article in Rediff. Read it …
I was in my office at the Crime Branch [at the Mumbai police headquarters near Crawford Market, south Mumbai] when I heard of the twin blasts [on August 25].
It was shocking. My second thought was that now, once again, the police will be severely criticized. Though we have arrested 23 people in past bomb blast cases and charge-sheeted them, people will point fingers at us. Once more it will be trying times. The investigation of previous cases and our intelligence work had all been erased by these blasts.
The first thing I did was alert all 12 units of the Crime Branch, three crime intelligence units, and one anti-extortion cell in Mumbai to talk to their informants and get some clues as to who did it, how and why? Next we alerted our local police stations to be prepared for communal riots.
Simultaneously I sent teams to both spots. One expected only a few deaths. But the control room told me in a few minutes that 38 had died. We understood that the challenge had arrived. It was going to be either us or them.
That same day, at 7.30pm, I called all the unit leaders and senior officers to my office from all over Mumbai. Since communal riots had not broken out, they could come.
Taxi driver [Shivnarayan Vasudev] Pande provided many clues to begin the investigation. We already knew that in the BEST bus blast on route number 340, the bomb was planted by a woman in a burkha and carrying a small child. Pande’s description was similar to that given by the BEST bus driver.
I spoke to Pande. What he had seen we understood well. How the criminals were walking, their looks, etc. By midnight our artist had made the sketches. Strict instructions were issued not to release the sketches to the public or the press.
At the evening meeting, all our officers showed exemplary readiness to fight it out. “Hamari bhi izzat ka sawal hai [Our honour is at stake]” was the mood. We will be called useless if we don’t do something. There was hardly any need to motivate them because they understood the gravity of the situation.
On day two we were looking for eyewitnesses to come forward. In Chimanpada area we were looking for the combination of four members of a family – husband, wife, 18-year-old daughter and three-year-old daughter. We could not publicise the sketches because we did not want the family to change their get-up.
That day, on August 26, our boys came with a heap of information. Very important, but not relevant to this case. The second day almost passed without a real lead.
Pata lagao… aur pata lagao [find out more] was our demand.
On day three, my officer called me from Andheri and said they had one eyewitness who claimed to have seen a couple similar to the sketch. He knew a guy who was with this couple. The first ray of hope had emerged.
Every hour we were kept informed. My officer kept telling me, “Sir, he looks reliable.”
In such circumstances people do try to settle scores by fixing their enemies. We thought it would be a fiasco if that man planted someone on us.
On the morning of August 28, at a secret hideout without revealing my identity, I personally met the informant. That was when I became confident that we were on the right track.
The man knew Arshad [Shafique Ansari] and his home. We kept watch on the place round the clock.
He also led us to Hanif and Fahmida. Our patience was tested here. When our men went to Hanif’s home they found a huge crowd there. A neighbour had died. We decided to hold back and not arrest the couple. It was a risk. Woh bhag gaya to?! [What if they escaped?]
We were relieved on Sunday when we got it right.
Once more this case has highlighted the fact that the anonymity that a city like Mumbai affords people gives protection to criminals. Somebody who is least expected to be involved in crime could be a ruthless operator. We are trying to tell Mumbaikars to keep watch on their neighbourhoods. Be alert and share information. Imagine what Hanif and Fahmida’s neighbours must be thinking today. A lady with whom they shared things and watched television together was a criminal who planted bombs in buses and taxis!
I would also like to tell people that there are many differences between now and the 1993 bomb blasts. Then, such people were involved who already had criminal records or an underworld connection. Most of them were uneducated. Many accused told us that “bhai ne kaha, so kiya [the boss told us, so we did it]”. They did it for small amounts of money. They had no ideological commitment for their act.
Now it is not so. Our investigation of the blasts that have taken place since December 2002 has revealed that out of 23 main accused, five are engineers, three are doctors, two are graduates, one is an MBA, and the rest are all SSC pass. None, I repeat none, did it for money. Except Saquib Nachen, hardly any of them had a criminal record. Many have SIMI connections, but none had even been involved in a stabbing case.
This is frightening. We can’t comment much on this. It is not our job. But the public and politicians must think and debate this.
This trend also makes intelligence gathering more difficult. Just imagine the state of mind of Fahmida, who is sitting in a taxi with a teenaged daughter and a three-year-old, and a time bomb. This shows the level of commitment and successful indoctrination. Her family was willingly getting into it and they chose Mumbai as their target. We are looking into such modules in our city. She and Hanif are mentally strong.
The public should think why a section of educated youth is getting into these activities. Even though they are educated, the thought of senseless deaths is not affecting some of them. The thought that why should I kill a poor man is not keeping them away.
Read the complete article at this link.
My Question is Where are the Masters of these Foot soldiers hiding ???
Will the perpetrators of this crime ever realise that they hurt everyone irrespective of their religion. Hindus, Muslims, christians and all.
After blasts, shopkeepers worry about future
Syed Firdaus Ashraf in Mumbai | September 02, 2003 10:41 IST
After they lost their friends and family members in the twin blasts in Mumbai, the shopkeepers of Nav Nidhan building at Zaveri Bazaar are worried about their financial stability.
The building has 32 shops, which includes commercial establishments. More than 500 people directly or indirectly depend for their survival on this building.
Complete coverage of the Mumbai blasts
“Nobody knows when this building will be repaired. The police barricaded this area and the contractors are coming and going. There is no one to tell us after a week what is the status? Whether we can operate from this place or not? There is nobody to answer these questions,” Gulzar Hussain says.
Gulzar’s shop – Ajooba Footwear – was the nearest to the blast site. His uncle Sadiq Ahmed Zariwala and cousin Mohammad Suhail were the first to die after the blast.
“Besides the footwear shop we have a gold embroidery shop in this building. Nearly 50 people from our family are dependant for their livelihood from this shop. If this does not reopen we won’t be able to survive,” Hussain says.
Kamal Kumar Tripathi, a sugarcane juice owner in front of the Nav Nirman building, is also worried about his livelihood, as he has not earned a paisa for more than a week.
“My shop is just outside this building and the taxi in which the bomb exploded was next to my shop. So the police have cordoned off my shop too. I cannot start my business. They tell me that I will have to wait till this building gets repaired. A poor man like me who lives on his daily earnings will not be able to survive if my business shuts for long,” Tripathi says.
Tripathi was lucky to survive as he had gone to urinate when the blast occurred.
“I am the sole earning member of my family and I have to support my two kids and a wife. This sugarcane juice shop is the only means of my livelihood. If they don’t allow me to open this shop soon then I will have to beg on the roads,” Tripathi adds.
Wasiq Khan, owner of a fruit juice shop, is also worried about how he will support his four children and a wife, who is not earning.
“I never imagined that I would face such problems in life. I have partially lost my hearing capacity after hearing the deafening sound of the bomb. The government has not given me any compensation so far. There were VIP visitors next day and after that nobody has come to see us so far. Now, this shop is my only source of income. If this does not reopen soon, I will be on roads,” Wasiq says.
“My brother Ajmal Khan who was seriously injured has also not got any compensation from the government. So we all are spending on the medicines and at the same time have no earnings. Moreover, I had taken a loan of Rs 400,000 to run my business. Now, I am wondering how I will survive,” Wasiq adds.
Interestingly all three members had taken no insurance and are now repenting their decision.
“We never expected this to happen in our area and therefore we didn’t take any insurance on our properties,” Hussain says.
When contacted, the owner of the Nav Nirman building, Heerachand Zaveri said, “I am talking to the government officials about the repair of the building but I cannot say when the repair work will be completed.”
Asked what is the minimum period it will take for the building to come in normal shape, Zaveri said, “The building is very old and the damage was severe. I feel if the reconstruction work goes smoothly it will take us a little more than a month to reconstruct the entire building.”