At least 67 people have died, and many sustained burn injuries in the fire triggered by bomb blasts in Delhi- Attari Samjhauta Express on February 18, near Deewana in Panipat in Haryana. The bi-weekly train means 'Understanding,' a symbol of friendship that connects New Delhi to Pakistan's city of Lahore. The attacks took place ahead of Pakistani Foreign Minister Khursheed Kasuri’s visit to New Delhi for talks with his Indian counterpart on Tuesday. Kasuri is scheduled to co-chair the India-Pak Joint Commission in New Delhi.
Following the high profile assassinations of Alexander Litvinenko, a former KGB (erstwhile Soviet Union’s secret service-Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti) agent in November 2006, the British investigators found that Litvinenko’s killers used polonium-210, a rare radioactive element worth over $10 million to poison him.
The Maoists (also known as Naxalites) in India are encouraged by the recent success of their Nepalese counterpart, who emerged as a legitimate power center after a decade of protracted people’s war. The effects are already visible in Bihar, the neighbouring Indian State. Despite convoluted security arrangements by the Bihar Police, the partial success of the Bandh (general strike) on Oct. 30, 2006, by the Maoists indicated that they were capable enough to strike at their will.
The recent Havana initiative by the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh depicts a marked shift in India’s Pakistan policy. Manmohan Singh at Havana had announced on the sidelines of the NAM (Non-Aligned Movement) summit that India and Pakistan are proposing to handle the threat of terrorism jointly. This novel concept of resuming formal peace negotiations with Pakistan (frozen after 11 July Mumbai train blasts) and setting up of a joint agency to tackle terrorism appears to be an ‘atypical’ step as compared to the earlier ‘cautious’ approach.
At least 37 people were killed and over a hundred injured in two powerful bomb explosions in the communal sensitive Malegaon town, located in the Nasik district of Maharashtra, on September 08. 2006. Many of those killed and injured were minors. The explosions occurred outside the Bada Kabristan (Large cemetery), a burial ground for Muslims where people gathered to offer prayers for their dead relatives on the occasion of Shab-e-Baraat (night of salvation). The second blast took place near Noorani mosque.