Front Page   

'Clue points to Pak. Nationality'

By Neena Vyas

NEW DELHI SEPT. 26. Unlike in the terrorist attack on Parliament House on December 13 last, the `fidayeen' (suicide squad) which entered the Akshardham temple in Gandhinagar on Tuesday carried no mobile telephones, and this may make the task of establishing their identities — names and addresses — that much more difficult. But a "clue'' points strongly towards their Pakistani nationality.

The Deputy Prime Minister, L. K. Advani, shared this information with his colleagues in the Bharatiya Janata Party at the emergency meeting of the national executive committee here today. He briefed them on the Akshardham attack, giving a first-hand account as he had rushed to Gandhinagar within hours of the terrorists entering the temple complex.

Mr. Advani said that after the December 13 attack, police had established the identities of the terrorists by tracing their telephone calls on the mobile phones that they were carrying. The terrorists killed in the temple siege, however, did not carry them — possibly their "masters'' had learnt a lesson.

However, Mr. Advani reportedly added, police were "quite sure" of the Pakistani identity of the terrorists as they had unwittingly provided a "clue'' in the ``note'' recovered from them. The ``note'' said that the attack was being carried out as a "revenge" for the killing of Muslims during the Gujarat riots, but while referring to Gujarat it said "Gujarat Hind.''

There is a town called Gujrat in the Punjab province of Pakistan, and, therefore, in Pakistan it is common to distinguish the Indian Gujarat by adding `Hind' (for Hindustan) just as the Indian Hyderabad is described as `Hyderabad Deccan' to differentiate it from the Hyderabad city in Pakistan.

On the basis of this "clue,'' Mr. Advani said that the terrorists were certainly not Gujaratis or Indians.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Front Page

News: Front Page | National | Southern States | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary |

Stories in this Section

• U.S. pressure on Pak. not working: Vajpayee
• War still an option, says I.D. Swami
• Mixed response to bandh call
• 'Clue points to Pak. Nationality'
• France not for unilateral action against Iraq
• No increase in MSP for paddy
• Punjab CM courts arrest
• SC reserves judgment
• ULFA leader sentenced
• 14 injured in grenade blast
• Runway blocked

Copyright © 2002, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu