After the Mumbai Bomb Blasts, which CNN calls Terror on Tracks, the authorities were not sure about the perpetrators. Initially it was said to be Dawood Ibrahim. Then the suspects were LeT and SIMI. Some suggested that it could be angry Muslims seeking revenge for the Gujarat riots. Most of these were speculation, based on common sense and pattern analysis.
Now based on investigations, the Anti-Terror Squad has released the photos of two suspects,Sayyad Zabiuddin and Zulfeqar Fayyaz. There is no information about their nationalities or affiliation. The Home Ministry has concluded that SIMI has provided logical support for the blasts . According to Mulayam Singh Yadav, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh it would be improper to call SIMI a terrorist organization since his Muslim vote bank is more precious than the life of 200 people who died and hundreds of others who have been wounded. SIMI, though a banned organization has been flourishing without any issues under various secular Governments in Kerala too showing how much resolve the elected officials have in protecting the life of Indian Citizens.
In a news conference in Delhi, a Simi leader, Shahid Badr Falahi, described the attacks as deplorable and said his organisation had no part in them. If SIMI is a banned organization and if they have been found to provide support for the blasts, what is a SIMI leader doing in public, giving news conferences in Delhi?
Police rounded up 350 people for questioning in Mumbai. Meanwhile Zaibuddin Ansari, Lashkar-e-Toiba module leader, suspected to be the link between LeT and SIMI is being searched for by Anti-Terrorists Squad of Mumbai Police and central intelligence agencies. Police also suspect Rahil, a Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative who was behind the October 2005, pre-Diwali bomb blasts. Nepal Police has arrested two Pakistanis, Aftar Moiddin Siddiqui and Gulam Hussain Cheema in Kathmandu and are investigating if they have any connection to the Mumbai blasts. In India, a man on a train in Hyderabad – identified as Abdullah – was arrested in connection with the bombings.
Meanwhile Police from Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan have reached Bangalore following reports that the terrorists behind the blasts could have reached the city to hide. When Prime Minister Rajeev Gandhi was assassinated, his murderers also found it convenient to hide in Bangalore.
