Daily Times

On the midnight of February 18 and 19, 2007, India-Pakistan Samjhauta Express train was bombed in which 68 Pakistani nationals were killed. A Hindu extremist and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leader, Swami Aseemanand, confessed that he was involved in several bombings incidents. He also claimed to have been a part of the incident.

Hindutva ideology (Hindu nationalism) prevails in every field at the cost of other minority groups. It is even secretly supported by Indian defence forces.

This could be judged from the incident, when on April 6, 2008, in the house of Bajrang Dal fundamentalists in Nanded, a bomb went off.

The investigation proved that these militants were found in the bomb-making and attack on a mosque in Parbhani in 2003. Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), Maharashtra, arrested a serving Lt Col Srikant Purohit, along with other army officials; indicating that they were helping in training the Hindu terrorists; providing them with the military-grade explosive RDX, used in the Malegaon bombings and terrorist attacks in other Indian cities.

ATS further disclosed that Lt Col Purohit confessed that in 2007, he was involved in the bombing of Samjhota express, which burnt alive 68 Pakistanis.

India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) was convinced that Hindu right-wing leader, Sadhu Swami Aseemanand, was directly involved in the Samjhauta Express blast. Sources in the NIA further pointed out that besides Lt Col Purohit, other Indian army officials were also behind that train-bombing. In this regard, a court in Panchkula, Haryana, has recorded Aseemanand’s statement, which confirmed the NIA inquiry.

Hindutva ideology (Hindu nationalism) prevails in every field at the cost of other minority groups

His statement in the Samjhota Express blast case was recorded under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code before a magistrate. His earlier admission was recorded in the Mecca Masjid case, which was being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). He stuck to his confession that Hindutva radicals were behind the bomb attack on the Samjhauta Express. Aseemanand, Aka Naba and Kumar Sarkar, named absconding Hindutva militants, Ramji Kaisangra and Sandeep Dange, as the key plotters in that terror attack.

NIA sources also disclosed that the confession in connection with the Samjhauta Express blast practically ruled out the involvement of other groups.

In the Samjhauta Express case, the probe team has found that the bomb used in the train was kept in a suitcase, which was bought from a shop of Indore’s Kothari Market. The suitcase had cloth covers stitched by an Indian local tailor. Afterwards, the NIA was trying to get details of those who had bought the suitcase and covers.

It is notable that Dr J C Batra, a senior advocate at the Supreme Court of India, was asked to give an opinion on Aseemanand’s confession. He appeared very defensive and, as usual, started accusing Pakistan’s primary intelligence agency ISI, calling out its so-called history for such activities and alleging that even this could be an ISI plot. He further said that Swami’s statement did not have much legal value as circumstantial evidence was also needed while adding that the RSS was being wrongly implicated and there could be others involved. In this respect, a Pakistani parliamentarian, Mian Abdul Sattar, and a parliamentary secretary for planning and development, who was accompanying him, later stated that he was told by J C Batra that the Indian Army was involved in this case and there “are efforts to shield it from getting exposed.”

Aseemanand also confessed in the court that several RSS preachers and Sang activists were directly involved in planning, financing and executing Malegaon, Samjhauta Express, Ajmer and Mecca Masjid blasts. He stated that various leaders of Hindu communal organisations, including Bajrang Dal, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Abhinav Bharat, Jai Vande Matram and Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram, were also behind these blasts.

It is mentionable that in various tapes, Lt Col Purohit said, “We are all on the same plane, Hindu Rashtra (Nation).” He even claimed that Gen J J Singh was “with us,” (Former Singh was Army Chief till September 2007). Significantly, Purohit mentioned, “one of our own captain had visited Israel,” and demanded “continuous supply of arms, training, an office with a saffron flag in Tel Aviv, political asylum and support for our cause of a Hindu Nation in the UN.”

The Israelis, he added, gave “a very positive response.”

Exposing the nexus between Bhartia Janta Party (BJP) and the RSS, the then Indian Home Minister, Sushil Kumar Shinde, disclosed on January 20, 2013, that organised training camps, run by the fundamentalist parties–RSS and BJP–were promoting Hindu terrorism. He also explained that these extremist parties were behind the Samjhauta Express, Meccca Masjid and Malegaon blasts. He added, “We will have to think about it (Saffron terrorism) seriously…Hindu extremist parties BJP and RSS were involved many times in Hindu Muslim violence in India, especially Gujarat and Babri masjid incident.”

The then India’s External Affairs Minister, Salman Khurshid, endorsed Shinde’s statement; saying that it was based on facts. Meanwhile, Indian Home Secretary, R K Singh, revealed that during the investigation, the government had found ten names of the Hindu extremists, associated with RSS, who were involved in these terror attacks, including Ajmer Sharif.

On July 19, 2013, Indian ex-investigating officer, Satish Verma, disclosed that terror attacks in Mumbai on November 26, 2008, and assault on Indian Parliament on January 12, 2001, were carried out by the Indian government to strengthen anti-terrorism laws.

While India has always accused Pakistan’s ISI of these acts of terrorism, it is quite silent over Hindutva terror, which has obtained a new face under the fundamentalist Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. Indian RAW, high officials and fundamentalist parties have a co-relationship.

Despite the confessions of Aseemanand, instead of taking action against the culprits of the Samjhauta Express explosion, the Supreme Court of India accepted his bail after the covert interference of the Modi-led authorities, who changed the investigations to weaken the case.

The writer writes on international affairs and is the author of the book, “US vs Islamic Militants, Invisible Balance of Power: Dangerous Shift in International Relations.”