After More Bomb Blasts, India Pledges to Fight Terror
By Patrick Goodenough
CNSNews.com International Editor
August 27, 2007
(CNSNews.com) - Reeling from yet another bombing, the Indian
government has vowed -- again -- to eliminate terrorism, which some
officials believe emanates from neighboring Pakistan or Bangladesh.
But
Home Minister Shivraj Patil conceded the magnitude of the job facing
the government in the world's second-most populous nation: "Our country
is so big that even if we have the information that something is
planned, we do not know where or when," said Patil, whose portfolio
includes national security.
At least 42 people were killed and
50 more injured in two explosions in Hyderabad on Saturday, one in a
park and the other at a popular restaurant. Police found and defused an
unconfirmed number of unexploded devices elsewhere in the city,
according to Indian media reports.
The bombings in the city, an
important information technology hub in southeast India's Andhra
Pradesh state with a 40 percent Muslim population, were the latest in a
series of deadly attacks in India, most recently the bombing of a
mosque in Hyderabad last May. Government officials also blamed that
attack on foreign elements.
Citing U.S. National
Counter-Terrorism Center figures, the Times of India reported Monday
that 3,674 people were killed in terror attacks in India between
January 2004 and March of this year -- considerably more than in any
other country apart from Iraq.
The chief minister of Andhra
Pradesh state, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, told a press conference that
Saturday's attack could be the work of terrorists from Pakistan or
Bangladesh. As of Monday, however, police had yet to report any clear
leads in their investigation. The governments of Pakistan and
Bangladesh both denied the charge.
Hindu-majority India and
mostly Muslim Pakistan are historic foes but have been enjoying
improved ties over the past few years, although a long running dispute
over Kashmir -- divided between them and claimed by both -- remains
unresolved. The infiltration of Islamic radicals across their common
border into Indian territory remains an irritant in relations.
The
government of Pakistan has itself been grappling with stepped-up
violence in its tribal areas near the border with Afghanistan.
"Many
in India's strategic community ... have little doubt that General
[Pervez] Musharraf's domestic travails have strengthened pro-jihad
hawks in Pakistan -- a trend reflected in the unusually high level of
infiltration across the Line of Control [in Kashmir] this summer," said
The Hindu newspaper.
In Washington, State Department spokesman
Tom Casey condemned the attacks, and said "India has shown great
resolve and courage in the face of extremist threats."
Comments