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India readies for festivals, police hunt bombers
(Reuters)
Updated: 2005-10-31 09:15 India prepared for uneasy
celebrations for the biggest festival of the Hindu year, marking the triumph of
good over evil, as police hunted for those behind three deadly blasts in the
capital.
Officials say they have several leads over the bombs that killed at least 59
people in Delhi on Saturday and are checking an obscure Kashmiri militant
group's claim of responsibility.
With many still trying to trace dead or missing relatives and friends on
Monday, the city of 14 million was slowly getting back on its feet on the eve of
Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, and a few days before the Muslim Eid
al-Fitr.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who visited survivors on Sunday and chaired an
emergency cabinet meeting, blamed the coordinated blasts on terrorists but would
not speculate who.
Analysts say the Inqilabi Mahaz (Islamic Revolutionary Group), which claimed
responsibility, is likely a front for the better known Pakistan-based
Lashkar-e-Taiba (Force of the Pure).
The blasts could be aimed at derailing the peace process between India and
Pakistan, which came close to war over Kashmir in 2002, and moves to open border
crossings in the Himalayan region to help victims of this month's earthquake,
they say.
"This is a Pakistani group and is a front organization of Lashkar," said Ajai
Sahni of New Delhi's Institute for Conflict Management. Such fronts are often
used to muddy the waters and deflect blame from their parent groups, he said.
"One way or the other, Lashkar is behind it."
Pakistani Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said militants would not
be allowed to disrupt the peace moves.
"The government of Pakistan and government of India and the whole world want
that both nations should be friendly and solve their problems peacefully and
amicably," he said on Sunday.
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