New Delhi: As the 16th anniversary of 2007 Samjhauta Express bombing arrives, netizens are speaking up against Hindu nationalists for perpetrating the terrorist act condemning Indian government for sitting over multiple pieces of evidence, denying justice to victim families.
On 18 Feb 2007, an IED blast was carried out in the Samjhauta Express train at Panipat in Haryana. The train ran between New Delhi & Lahore. 68 people including 43 Pakistan citizens, 10 Indian citizens and 15 unidentified people were killed in the blast. 12 People including 10 Pakistanis and 2 Indians were also injured in the terrorist attack. Hindu extremists had conducted an attack on Samjhauta Express in 2007 and blamed Muslim groups for this attack. Later on, NIA arrested RSS activist Kamal Chauhan (explosive specialist) who planted bomb in the train. Further investigations had revealed that this Hindu activist had been involved in Ajmer Dargah Blast, Hyderabad’s Meeca Masjid and Malegaon.
Initially, Muslims and specifically Pakistan was blamed in all these incidents but later on, Hindu chauvinists confessed their involvement in these acts of terror. Swami Aseemanand had been described as the mastermind for planning the attack.
There were eight accused in the case but only four faced the trial, whereas, Sawami Aseemanand alias Naba Kumar Sarkar had been granted bail by the Punjab and Haryana High Courts in 2015. Kamal Chauhan, Rajinder Chaudhary and Lokesh Sharma were in judicial custody in Central Jail Ambala.
Amit Chouhan (Ramesh Venkat Malhakar), Ramchandra Kalsangra and Sandeep Dange have been declared as offenders in the case. Samjhauta Express bombing was part of a string of similar attacks in 2006 and 2007 where the targets were ostensibly Muslims and investigations by NIA pointed to the role of Hindu groups. According to NIA probe report, Aseemanand and associates “developed vengeance” against the whole Muslim community, adding advocated the theory called ’bomb ka badla bomb’.
Col Prohit himself had confessed during the investigation of Samjhauta Express tragedy for giving training to Hindu terrorists to initiate an armed conflict between India and Pakistan. This statement clearly reflects the sick mentality of Indian Army and her overt and covert support to extremists and moreover infiltration of Hindutva elements into Indian Army and intelligence agencies.
Pakistan had urged India to share the findings of the investigation which conducted for Samjhauta Express blast, after it was disclosed that Hindu extremist outfits were behind the terrorist activities in February 2007. In a nutshell, Samjhauta Express incident was a staged to put Pakistan onto the mat and label it out as the Epicenter of terror in South Asia.
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