Indian, Pakistani commanders meet after Kashmir truce breach

Srinagar/New Delhi, May 14 (IANS) Indian and Pakistani commanders staged a flag meeting at the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir Wednesday evening following violation of a truce that has been in force since 2003, an official said.
'The meeting was held following pressure exerted by the Indian side. We had asked for a meeting in the morning but this was refused. They finally relented in the evening,' the official said in New Delhi. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh described as worrisome the truce violation that occurred when Pakistani troops opened fire in the Tangdhar sector Tuesday evening. 'It is worrisome. The issue is being taken up at the military level,' the prime minister told reporters on the sidelines of a defence investiture ceremony in New Delhi Wednesday. The incident, however, will not lead to any rescheduling of President Pratibha Patil's visit to the Tangdhar sector on May 23, officials in the national capital said. Pakistan, meanwhile, has denied there was any truce violation. 'There was no firing from our side,' a statement issued in Islamabad Wednesday night said. Senior officers of the two armies spoke on the hotline earlier Wednesday to resolve the imbroglio. The director general of military operations (DGMO), Lt. Gen. A.S. Sekhon, spoke on the hotline with his Pakistani counterpart Maj. Gen. A.S. Pasha at 3 p.m., an Indian Army officer said in New Delhi. According to the officer, this was the first time that firing along the LoC was being classified as a truce violation. 'In the past too, Pakistani troops have opened fire in support of infiltrators who were trying to sneak across. The fire was returned from our side. 'This time, there was no infiltration involved and our troops did not return fire. Therefore, we have classified it as a truce violation. We hope this will not recur,' the officer said. The DGMOs normally speak on the hotline once a week on Tuesdays. Indian Army spokesman Lt. Col. A.K. Mathur said in Srinagar: 'Pakistani troops resorted to unprovoked firing at our posts. They fired scores of rounds. However, we did not retaliate,' he added. There were no casualties on the Indian side.

Serial blasts; eight picked up for questioning

Wed, May 14 12:05 PM
Jaipur, May 14 (PTI) Eight persons were picked up for questioning for their suspected role in the serial blasts that rocked the city killing at least 60 people as authorities today clamped curfew in 15 areas as a precautionary measure. Those picked up for interrogation included a man who was injured in the explosions and a rickshaw puller as investigations pointed towards involvement of Bangladesh-based Harkat-ul-Jehadi Islami (HUJI) in the explosions, informed sources said.
The toll in last night's blasts has been unofficially put at 85. One live bomb placed on a handle bar of a bicycle and found near the blasted areas have been defused, police said, noting that all the explosions were triggered with the help of timers between two Hanuman temples in heavily crowded areas of the old city.
"We have collected sufficient evidence from the place of the blasts. These things are being analysed by our technical experts.
There was one explosive which we have defused," Superintendent of Police, Jaipur, Raghvendra Suhasa said. Preliminary examination of the blast site indicated the possibility of ammonium nitrate being used in the explosive devices which were filled with ball bearings and small iron pipes to act as splinters, the sources said.
The blasts showed that HUJI, which is being mainly run from Bangladesh, has managed to establish cells in the desert state, they said. Curfew, which came into force at 9 am, has been imposed in 15 police station areas as a precautionary measure.
It will remain in force till 6 pm. PTI.

Terror target: Mandir on Tuesday, Masjid on Friday

Wed, May 14 09:35 AM
Be it the attack in New Delhi that came before Id-Diwali, the Sankat Mochan temple in Varanasi or the blasts at the Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad or the explosion on Tuesday at the Hanuman Mandir in Jaipur, there's a chilling pattern to these acts of terror: target places of worship or 'religious' occasions that draw the maximum people.
The intention is not only to cause maximum loss of human lives but also to inflame communal passions and hope it escalates to a bloody showdown between communities.
Targets and dates have been carefully chosen. A close look at recent attacks reveals the sinister design: Hindu temples have been targeted on Tuesdays, an auspicious day for the devotees of Hanuman, while Muslims and their mosques have been attacked on Fridays.
Consider this:
* Sankat Mochan Temple, Varanasi March 7, 2006: Twin blasts in city left 28 dead, injured over 100. Blasts took place on Tuesday when the temple is packed with devotees.
* Jama Masjid, Delhi April 14, 2006: Low intensity blasts at India's most famous mosque left 14 injured. First blast took place as the faithful prepared for Friday prayers.
* Noorani Masjid, Malegaon September 8, 2006: Blasts on Friday coincided with the Shab-e-Barat. First bomb went off outside Masjid. Blasts at Mushaira Chowk and graveyard too. The toll: 38 killed, over 200 injured.
* Mecca Masjid, Hyderabad May 18, 2007: 14 persons killed, more than 50 injured in blasts and subsequent police firing in adjoining areas. Blasts took place during Friday prayers.
* Ajmer Sharif Dargah October 11, 2007: Terror struck the revered Sufi shrine of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti as thousands were breaking their Ramzan fast, a day before the Friday prayers. The bomb inside the complex killed two persons and injured another 28.

Neogel-90 used in Jaipur blasts: Central Security agencies

Wed, May 14 09:26 PM
New Delhi, May 14 (PTI) Central Security agencies today claimed that Neogel-90, an explosive used for commercial purposes, was used in the last evening's serial blasts in Jaipur despite Rajasthan Police's assertion that one kilogram RDX had been used to carry out the explosions. Senior officials of the Bomb Data Squad and Central Security agencies said the samples collected so far did not show any traces of deadly RDX but resembled to Neogel-90 Neogel-90, an ammonium nitrate-based material, were covered with copper plates and it is hazardous when it comes in contact with metals like copper.
Neogel-90 is usually used in the construction of roads. The use of Neogel-90 in terror attacks might be new to India though there were reports of two isolated seizures of similar explosives in the country and its neighbouring region -- one in Vadakkaenchery in Palakkad district in Kerala on February two, 2005 and another at Kantipur in Nepal in February 2006, when 475 kg was recovered.
Rajasthan Director General of Police A S Gill and Union Minister of State for Home Sriprakash Jaiswal were claiming that nearly one kilograms of RDX had been used in one of the blasts. However, analysts said this was not possible as the magnitude of damage by one KG of RDX would have been too high.
According to the sources, 90 per cent of the causalities in last night's blasts in Jaipur were caused by the puncturing of vital organs like the skull and heart by metal balls that were packed into the explosive devices. May 13, being the anniversary of Pokhran-II nuclear tests, there was a talk that militants could have chosen Jaipur as the target as Pokhran was located in this state.
On this day in 1998, India conducted its second test two days after shocking the world.