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New Delhi, Sept 25 (ANI): Police tightened security and deployed additional forces in Delhi on Wednesday to ward off strikes by militants after gunmen killed 28 people at a temple in Gujarat. Police officials said security has been beefed up at religiously sensitive places and patrolling intensified at all important temples in the capital. Delhi Police Commissioner R.K. Gupta told reporters that they have deployed additional forces in the communally sensitive regions. "In the wake of terrorist strike at Akshardham temple, Gandhinagar, yesterday, the Delhi police has taken a series of strong measures to strengthen the security in the city. The focus of arrangements has been on sensitive religious places where people congregate, like vital installations, high security and VVIP zone, railway stations, bus terminus, airports and busy markets," he added. The two gunmen, in their early 20s were killed by commandos of National Security Guards after a seven-hour long shootout in the Swaminarayan temple in Gandhinagar, capital of Gujarat. Officials said the name of a previously unknown group calling itself the Tehrik-e-Kasas (Movement of Revenge) was found written in the letters found in the pockets of the dead gunmen. Gupta said police in Delhi was checking out possible hideouts of militants and reinforcements had been deployed. "Additional police pickets have been placed. The command and control room of the Delhi Police has been fully sensitised and strengthened for adequate and prompt response and additional reinforcements deployed. Special cell of Delhi police is organising preventive screening of possible hideouts of terrorists in the city," Gupta said. Officials say they do not want a repeat of Hindu backlash witnessed in March this year after 59 Hindus were burnt alive in a train carriage by Muslims in Godhra in Gujarat. More than 1,000 Muslims have been killed in those riots all over Gujarat. Top political leaders including opposition Congress party president Sonia Gandhi and Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi and several religious leaders appealed for calm.(ANI) VHP protests temple attack in Gujarat
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New Delhi, Sept 25 (ANI): Hundreds of activists of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) on Wednesday took to the streets in New Delhi condemning the attack on a temple in Gujarat. Two young Muslim gunmen carrying AK-47 and grenades stormed Akshardham temple in Gandhinagar killing 28 people and three commandos. Hindu activists holding swords and knives shouted slogans against arch-rival Pakistan blaming it for the temple siege which started on Tuesday evening. India blamed Pakistan for the attack which it said was carried out by the gunmen apparently bent on avenging Muslim deaths in communal riots in Gujarat earlier this year. Islamabad denied any involvement in the temple raid. More than 70 people were wounded inside the temple, which security forces besieged overnight before commandos stormed the vast pink-sandstone complex. Officials said the name of a previously unknown group calling itself the Tehrik-e-Kasas (Movement of Revenge) was found written in letters recovered from the possession of the attackers. Hindu activists said Pakistan wants to instigate communal riots in the country and also urged the federal government to launch an attack on the terrorist camps across the border. "We want to give a message to this government that now we have had enough and it is time that we should launch an attack on Pakistan and not merely end these terrorists but those who are funding them, that is Pakistan. We should also attack those terrorist camps where these terrorists are undergoing training in Pakistan. If such factories of terror are not closed down, this terror is going to spread all over the country. Terrorists want to instigate communal riots and destabilise our country. Hindus do not want any tension with Muslims rather people of both communities are living in peace and are citizens of this country. But terrorists are trying to disrupt peace in our country, so we urge the federal government to launch an attack against these terrorist factories in Pakistan," said an activist. Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani linked the attack to a speech made by Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf to the United Nations General Assembly this month, in which he condemned Muslim deaths in Gujarat's communal violence this year. Musharraf had called on the world to condemn the "Hindu extremism" of Bharatiya Janata Party, whom he blamed for allowing the communal violence in Gujarat in February and March to spiral out of control. In February, a Muslim mob torched a train in Gujarat, burning 59 Hindus to death and triggering reprisals in which 1,000, mostly Muslims, died. Many survivors are still in relief camps. New Delhi frequently accuses Pakistan of sponsoring militant attacks in disputed Kashmir and elsewhere in India, a charge Islamabad denies. The nuclear-armed rivals mobilised close to a million men on their border after a December raid on India's parliament which New Delhi blamed on Pakistan-based militants, and the neighbours came to the brink of war in June over Kashmir. Tuesday's raid came just after polls closed in the second round of voting in the Jammu and Kashmir elections which run until mid-October.(ANI) Advani blames Pakistan for temple terror
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to top Gandhinagar, Sept 25 (ANI): India on Wednesday implicitly accused Pakistan of planning an attack on a temple in Gujarat, citing a speech by Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf as evidence. On Tuesday, two gunmen opened fire and hurled grenades at the devotees in the Akshardham temple complex. The attack killed 28 and injured more than 70 people. Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani said that Musharraf had referred to Hindu-Muslim bloodshed in Gujarat earlier this year-- in which at least 1,000, mostly Muslims, died--during a speech to the United Nations this month. "Our enemies and their leaders have been unnecessarily mentioning Gujarat in their speeches," he told reporters. "In fact there was a speech a few days ago in which our enemy went to the United Nations (General Assembly) and spoke of Gujarat. This indicates that they had planned this for sometime. And this attack was to implement that plan." In Gujarat, the officials fear a communal flare-up after the siege ended. The death of three security men due to injuries on Wednesday, brought the toll to 33. The body of a New-Delhi-based senior bank official who was killed in the crossfire between commandoes and the militants was brought to the Indian capital on Wednesday. Srinivas Nayak, a senior director with Dena Bank who was on a business visit to Ahmedabad, had gone to the temple with his colleagues. He was killed in a grenade blast that followed. The tithered body parts of Naik were brought to the airport in a coffin where it was received by relatives and friends. Tuesday's raid came just after polls closed in the second round of voting in the Jammu and Kashmir. Police tightened security across the country in case of further attacks and to head off the risk of communal violence. And in Gujarat, the army was put on standby ready to be called in if violence erupted. Pakistan has condemned the attack, in which the two gunmen were shot dead after an overnight siege. It denied any involvement.(ANI)
Temple attack a well planned conspiracy: PM Go to top Gandhinagar, Sept 25 (ANI): Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Wednesday alleged that the attack on the Akshardham temple in Gandhinagar was a well thought out conspiracy. Vajpayee, who cut short his Male visit and flew directly to Gandhinagar, has also asked intelligence agencies to probe the massacre. "Terrorism will be wiped out", he added. Describing the attack as symptom of frustration, Vajpayee said that killing of women and children showed that terrorism thrives on violence. "What I have seen, I cannot forget. The temple is a holy place, which is barred for terrorists, but they have no discrimination. The blood spilt here should be a challenge for us to wipe out terrorism," said the Prime Minister. Vajpayee, who earlier met some of the injured victims at the hospital, said that the Centre would grant Rs 50,000 ex-gratia to each of them apart from the grant allocated by the state government. He also promised those injured that every effort would be made to tackle terrorism and bring the guilty to justice. Congress President Sonia Gandhi, who was also in Gandhinagar, condemned the terrorist attack. "Since yesterday, when we heard of the attack, our hearts were filled with sorrow. This morning when we came to know it was over, we felt relieved," said Sonia Gandhi who visited the temple, hours after commandos shot dead the two terrorists holed up in the complex. Charging the Centre with failing to contain terrorism, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav demanded the resignation of Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani in the wake of the terrorist attack. Slamming the Vajpayee government for its shameful failure in containing terrorism, he alleged that the coalition lacked the will to fight terrorism decisively.(ANI) Simputer to be launched in Singapore next month Go to top Bangalore, Sept 25 (ANI): Simputer, a hand-held computer, developed by a group of scientists from Indian Institute of Science here and Encore Software Limited, is all set for international launch next month in Singapore, a senior official said on Wednesday. Vinay L Deshpande, the chairmen of the "Simputer Trust" said that some 300 developers representing more than 35 countries are expected to attend the launch. He said that Simputer has already attracted international attention and hailed as a "technological marvel". Singapore has been selected as the launch site as it has a good image in the international market and there is hope that it will be a good marketing ground for the hand-held device, Despande added. (ANI)
C'wealth Finance Ministers discuss plans to reduce poverty
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to top London, Sept 25 (ANI): Finance Ministers from 52 Commonwealth countries have come together in London for their annual meeting ahead of the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. Their main aim, in the words of Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon, is to seek "practical ways to deal with problems faced by the world's poorest people". The meeting is being chaired by Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, and was formally opened by the Queen, as Head of the Commonwealth, on Tuesday evening. A special theme of the meeting is "Delivering the Monterrey Consensus" - the programme for growth and poverty reduction drawn up at the United Nations conference held at Monterrey, in Mexico, last March. The ministers aim to draw up an action plan on how best to achieve those objectives. The keynote address on this subject is being given by Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen, and World Bank President James Wolfensohn is also scheduled to address the meeting. The agenda also includes discussions on debt reduction of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPCs), the current world economic situation, new ways of attracting private investment and development challenges of small states. On the question of privatisation, the ministers have been presented with conflicting recommendations. On the one hand, the Commonwealth Business Council, whose membership embraces businesses throughout the Commonwealth, is urging greater involvement for the private sector and has suggested that a special expert body should be established to help governments arrange Private Sector Participation (PSP) projects. On the other hand, the Commonwealth Foundation, which represents civil society and people's organisations, wants the ministers to oppose the way the World Bank and IMF are encouraging privatisation, especially as it relates to essential services, and it wants a working group to consider ways of ensuring full participation of developing countries in the decision-making of the World Bank, the IMF and the World Trade Organisation. The ministers' discussions will be in closed session, but the decisions reached will be announced on Thursday. (ANI)
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