Bomb blast: Too early to say Varanasi was the work of Pak-based Jehadis

BRUSSELS - Investigating authorities looking into the December 8 bomb explosion in Varanasi, have not yet arrived at the conclusion that the attack was the handiwork of Pakistan-based terror groups.

A government official, speaking on background, said that “Dots had to be connected and till that time it was mere conjecture” to link the blasts with Jehadi groups in Pakistan.

The e-mail sent out by the Indian Mujahideen barely half-an-hour after the attack was in keeping with its modus operandi in the past, said the official.

“It was a ready to go e-mail, only the first line was different, and there too, the mail only used the words- the attack. There was no specification,” the official said.

Tracing the e-mail’s origins has not led to any location so far.

“We think we know where the leads go,” the official said.

Moreover the forensics was complicated because of the nature of the blast. There was a stampede soon after the blast, and it was difficult to sanitize the area and gather the evidence. Eyewitness accounts are also being collected.

“We haven’t finished connecting the dots,” said the official.

When asked about the claim made by the Mumbai police that the plot may have been hatched and planned in Pakistan, the official said that he would not jump to any conclusions as the investigation is still on.

However, he did say that the Indian Mujahideen, which had claimed responsibility for the act, did have its origins in the Lashkar-e-Taiba, which in turn is a Pakistan-basted terror outfit.

The Indian Mujahideen was formed to give the impression that Jehad is now a homegrown terror group, and not linked to Pakistan. But the investigations have reflected the deep links with the Lashkar-e-Taiba.

In fact, it is now well established that terror outfits in Pakistan like the LeT, the Jamaat-ud-Dawa, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Sipah-e-Sahaba, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, and Hizb-ul- Mujahideen, Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami, Brigade 313, and Harkat-ul-Ansar are all interlinked.

The official said that though the IM is not as active as it was two years ago, a rump of the organization still had the ability to strike at will.

On being asked whether there was any progress on talks with Pakistan, especially on the terror front, the official said that the neighbouring country was well aware of India’s core concern, and that was that, concrete steps needed to be taken to bring to justice the perpetrators of the 26/11 carnage, and action taken against terror groups operating against India.

The Indian External Affairs Minister, S.M. Krishna, has invited his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mohammad Qureshi to New Delhi for talks, but unless and until some specific measures were taken, not much can be achieved.

However India was talking to Pakistan at various levels, including at the Track -2 levels, the official said. By Smita Prakash(ANI)