A day after the Varanasi blast, a blame game began between the Centre and the Uttar Pradesh government. While the Centre indicated that UP had “ignored prior intelligence inputs”, UP cabinet secretary Shashank Shekhar said the “Centre cannot pass the blame to the state and wash its hands of (the issue).” The BJP also jumped into the fray, accusing the Centre of adopting a “casual approach in dealing with terrorism”.
Intelligence officials in Delhi also accused the UP administration of going soft on the terror issue due to “political considerations”. An official said: “Due to political reasons, the UP government is reluctant to conduct raids in certain pockets. This hampers our efforts to tackle suspected terror modules.” The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, took stock of the situation and Union home minister P. Chidambaram briefed the CCS on the incident.
The US, meanwhile, offered India help in investigating the Varanasi blast. American ambassador to India Timothy Roemer made the offer in a meeting with national security adviser Shivshankar Menon. “The US offers whatever assistance the Indian government would be willing to accept in this difficult occasion,” Mr Roemer told journalists after the meeting.
The Centre on Wednesday said that it had in February this year shared “specific intelligence inputs with the UP police, including information that the Indian Mujahideen (IM) could target that particular ghat at Varanasi and a German bakery there”. The government feels the “terror threat is still alive” and it apprehends more terror strikes by IM. Sources said several prominent temples, the National Defence Academy, Delhi’s popular Paharganj market and some Chabad houses are targets for the terror group. Sources disclosed that IM operative Shahzad Ahmed, alias Pappu, lodged in Delhi’s Tihar jail in connection with the 2008 Delhi blasts and the Batla House encounter, had told interrogators that the IM was planning strikes at the German bakery and the Dashashwamedh ghat in Varanasi. Shehzad was apprehended on February 2 by a joint UP Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) and Delhi police team from his native village in Uttar Pradesh’s Azamgarh district. “Shahzad’s interrogation details had been shared with the UP police, asking it to beef up security at Dashashwamedh ghat and other religious places. We cannot specify a time frame for the alerts. The police forces are expected to maintain vigil,” an intelligence official said.
As for the IM operatives wanted by the government, a senior government official maintained that most of them were based in Pakistan and West Asia. The top IM men wanted by the government agencies include IM founder Dr Shahnawaz, the Bhatkal brothers Iqbal and Riyaz, and Abdul Subbhan Qureshi, alias Tauqeer. Sources said that Tauqeer, wanted in connection with the Ahmedabad, Delhi and Jaipur serial blasts, could be the brain behind the terror email sent to certain news channels after the Varanasi bombing. Sources disclosed that Tauqeer, a computer engineer, has been assigned the task of regrouping IM members in UP.
A red corner notice has already been issued against the Bhatkal brothers while around 20 IM terrorists are on the wanted list. Some IM sympathisers active in India are reportedly providing logistical support to the banned outfit.
Meanwhile, the email trail has gone cold after the police were able to detect the Wi-Fi network from where the email had been sent by IM claiming responsibility for the blast. “The email was traced to Mumbai but since the terror outfit had hacked into a Wi-Fi network to send the email, it’s difficult to trace it further,” a source said. The Wi-Fi network of an executive of a telecom firm had been hacked to send the terror email. The government is warning all citizens to secure their Wi-Fi networks.
Earlier on Wednesday, the deputy head of the German embassy, Christian-Matthias Schlaga, met home secretary G.K. Pillai to express Germany’s deepest condolences over the Varanasi blast. Schlaga condemned the horrific act and said Germany was with India in this hour of need. “France most firmly condemns yesterday’s terrorist blast in Varanasi, which claimed one life and injured several tens of people (sic),” a French embassy spokesperson said.