LeT behind suicide attack in Kashmir: police chief

Police display weapons and ammunition, which they say were seized following the arrests of suspects linked to the suicide attack, during a press conference in Srinagar yesterday.

Agencies/Srinagar

Police in Jammu and Kashmir yesterday said they had arrested four people including a Pakistani member of militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) over an attack that killed five policemen.

Abdul Gani Mir, Kashmir’s top law enforcement officer, said investigators had concluded that the attack was planned by LeT, a Pakistan-based group blamed for mass killings in Mumbai in 2008.

“The arrested include Zubair alias Talha Zarar of Lashkar-e-Taiba who came from Multan (in Pakistan),” the inspector general of police told reporters.

Two heavily armed militants attacked a group of Central Reserve Police Force personnel in the compound of a police-run school last week, killing five of them and injuring 10 others including four civilians.

The Pakistani government rejected what it called “baseless accusations” but said India should officially share any concrete evidence.

“Such allegations and blame game will not benefit any country and will complicate the path of understanding. India should share with us any solid evidence,” foreign ministry spokesman Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry said.

In a call to local media after the assault, the deadliest attack on security forces in nearly five years, the Kashmir-based but pro-Pakistan militant group Hizbul Mujahideen claimed responsibility.

Mir said the militants had infiltrated from the Pakistani side of the heavily militarised border of Kashmir in January and February to “cause disturbance” in Srinagar.

Three others arrested include Pradeep Singh and two “former militants,” one of whom, Bashir Ahmad Mir, was released from prison in 2008.

“They provided logistical support for the attack,” Mir said at a press conference.

Armed rebels have fought Indian security forces in Kashmir since 1989 for the independence of the region or its merger with Pakistan. The conflict has left tens of thousands, mostly civilians, dead so far.

Federal Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde had earlier accused Pakistan of sending in the attackers but Pakistan’s foreign ministry denied the charge.

Meanwhile, the Kashmir assembly was in turmoil yesterday after Speaker Mubarak Gul rejected a resolution seeking the return of the body of parliament attack convict Afzal Guru to his family.

Independent legislator Rashid told reporters he was informed about the rejection of the resolution through a letter by the speaker.

“The letter said he was disallowing my resolution. This was quite late in the night,” said Rashid.

“It is unfortunate that the government is behaving like a puppet of New Delhi. Heavens would not have fallen had this resolution been put through to a democratic process of ... ballot system on March 30,” he said.

As the house assembled yesterday, Rashid raised slogans to protest what he called was a denial of his democratic right.

Some legislators of the Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) entered into a scuffle with him.

This led to more protests. Congress legislators too were on their feet.

It would be “difficult for us to be a part of this (coalition) government (with National Conference) if constitutional norms are thrown to winds”, said Public Health Engineering Minister Sham Lal Sharma.

The resolution sought the return of the body of Afzal Guru, who was hanged and buried in Delhi’s Tihar jail on February 9.

Rs1mn reward for info on Hyderabad blasts

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has announced a reward of Rs1mn for information leading to the arrest of the accused in the February 21 terror attack in Hyderabad. The NIA, which is probing the twin bomb blasts, has promised to keep the identity of the informant confidential. The NIA said the information may be provided on telephone numbers 040-2776 4488, 040-4005 8500 or e-mail ID dilsukhnagartwinblasts@gmail.com or through post. The blasts at the crowded Dilsukhnagar area killed 17 people and injured 116. On March 14, the NIA took over the probe from the state police. It constituted a Special Investigation Team from both the NIA and Andhra Pradesh police. Even a month after the blasts, the police have not achieved a breakthrough. Though the police claimed that images of a suspect who planted the bombs was captured on CCTV cameras, his identity could not be clearly established. The investigators have not released the picture of the suspect.