India: Karnataka burns over Burqa, 2 dead, Islamic World News, NewAgeIslam.com

Islamic World News

India: Karnataka burns over Burqa, 2 dead

Two persons were killed and over two dozen injured after violence broke out in three districts of Karnataka during rallies taken out to protest an article containing remarks against certain Islamic practices published in a vernacular daily on Monday.

The protests snowballed into communal clashes with people hurling stones at each other and setting afire nearly a dozen shops and over 50 vehicles in Shimoga and Hassan in central Karnataka and Belgaum district in North-Western part of the state.

Curfew was imposed in Shimoga district, around 280 km from here. Prohibitory orders under Section 144 were clamped in Hassan and Belgaum district.

Prohibitory orders were also put in place in Bangalore as a precautionary measure till 10 pm on Friday.

Shimoga Deputy Commissioner Pankaj Kumar Pandey told Hindustan Times that situation worsened when a mob, protesting the translation of Taslima Nasreen's views on Burkha system published in a vernacular daily, gathered at Waqf Board office and started pelting stones.

They also clashed with members of other community, most of whom were planning to celebrate the festival of Holi.

Police resorted to mild lathicharge to disperse the angry mob, which set afire 27 vehicles, including jeeps, auto-rickshaws, trucks, buses and motorcycles.

Two persons were killed in violence. Nearly a dozen sustained injuries and were rushed to the hospital, Pandey said.

http://newageislam.com/india--karnataka-burns-over-burqa,-2-dead/islamic-world-news/d/2526

Indian intelligence gropes in the dark, Islam,Terrorism and Jihad, NewAgeIslam.com

Islam,Terrorism and Jihad

Indian intelligence gropes in the dark

By Subir Bhaumik, BBC News, Calcutta

The intelligence agencies have no leads so far

"We are making the same mistakes that Western intelligence agencies made by pinning too much hope on technology. That's important, but there's no substitute for a good agent in the right place," Mr Nandi says.

While Western intelligence agencies like the CIA and MI-6 are trying to augment human intelligence capabilities after a string of failures such as the 9/11 attacks in the US, Indian intelligence is not learning from their mistakes.

Intelligence officials say that Pakistan and Bangladesh-based Islamic militant groups have increasingly made their Indian units autonomous - in recruitment, training, funding and operations - so that nothing can be traced back to the patron nations.

"The serial bombings in Jaipur, Bangalore and Ahmedabad prove that Pakistan's ISI has successfully Indianised the jihad by creating Indian equivalents of Lashkar-e-Toiba or Huji," says B Raman, another former spymaster specialising in Islamic militant groups.

http://newageislam.com/indian-intelligence-gropes-in-the-dark/islam,terrorism-and-jihad/d/466

SIMI, LeT may be behind Bangalore blasts - Intelligence Bureau, Islam,Terrorism and Jihad, NewAgeISlam.com

Islam,Terrorism and Jihad

SIMI, LeT may be behind Bangalore blasts - Intelligence Bureau

25 July 2008

Bangalore Police Commissioner Shanker Bidri, while talking to Times Now, confirmed that the explosions appear to be act of the people who wanted to terrorise the capital of Karnataka. He also said that all these bombs were of low-intensity and were triggered by timers.

Soon after the serial explosions, the police ordered closure of all schools, colleges, cinema halls and commercial complexes.

As per the latest reports, the SIMI and LeT operatives have been arrested and they are being interrogated. The police sources said that these terror attacks bear the hallmarks of Bangladesh outfit HuJI.

At least two people have been killed and 20 people wounded in a series of blasts in Bangalore. Seven blasts have been reported so far.

http://newageislam.com/simi,-let-may-be-behind-bangalore-blasts---intelligence-bureau/islam,terrorism-and-jihad/d/309

The serial bombings in Ahmedabad and Bangalore demonstrate just how dangerous the terrorist threat to India’s major cities continues to be

Islam,Terrorism and Jihad

The serial bombings in Ahmedabad and Bangalore demonstrate just how dangerous the terrorist threat to India’s major cities continues to be

An Editorial in the Hindu, New Delhi

28 July 2008

The serial bombings in Ahmedabad and Bangalore, which have taken a toll of over 50 lives and injured more than 150 people, form part of a sequence of attacks that have demonstrated just how dangerous the terrorist threat to India’s major cities continues to be. Even by the macabre standards we have been compelled to become accustomed to, the character of the violence is horrifying: after all, it takes a special kind of savagery to bomb a hospital. Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil has promised a ‘comprehensive plan’ to deal with the challenge — but did not spell out what action was contemplated nor why the Union Government has taken five years to decide it must have one. Sadly, pronouncements like this have followed each terrorist attack in recent years, as part of a ritualistic set of actions intended to reassure people that the government is working to make their lives more secure. Police deployment in public places is enhanced; random checks on traffic are stepped up; metal-detectors are installed in shopping complexes. But the truth is that not a single urban terrorist has been arrested in street checks; nor have searches at shopping complexes led to the detection of even one bomb. Measures like these cannot meet the terrorist threat. Cities, as any security professional knows, cannot be turned into fortresses.

http://newageislam.com/the-serial-bombings-in-ahmedabad-and-bangalore-demonstrate-just-how-dangerous-the-terrorist-threat-to-india%E2%80%99s-major-cities-continues-to-be/islam,terrorism-and-jihad/d/329