Hyderabad Blasts: Are Muslims The Easy Scapegoats?

MIM supremo Asaduddin Owaisi said Muslims have been victimized in every terror attack, be it Malegaon or Mecca blasts. At least seven major terror strikes since 2006 in the country have been linked to the Indian Mujahideen, the banned terror outfit. And every time terror strikes India, intelligence agencies turn the spotlight on three faces – Yaseen, Riyaz and Iqbal Shahbandari, better known as the Bhatkal brothers.

Intelligence agencies consider the outfit’s leaders, Bhatkal brothers, as India’s most wanted terror suspects. They believe that the outfit now virtually works as a BPO unit for its handlers. As many as five states have arrested almost 93 Indian Mujahideen operatives after blasts, and each time, the outsourcing model of the outfit has outsmarted the police. But are groups like the Indian Mujahideen creating religious divide in India? Are Muslims being the scapegoats?

Talking to Rajdeep Sardesai, MIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi said Muslims have been victimized in every terror attack, be it Malegaon or Mecca blasts. Owaisi blamed the ‘communal mindset’ of the police for the ‘demonization of Muslims.’ ” “Just because 44 percent Muslims live in Hyderabad, you cannot blame us.  Every place in India is soft target because of the communal mindset of the police. Police is not doing their work.” “We know what IB did in Malegaon, Mecca blasts, and other terror attacks. We, Muslims, don’t believe in IM groups,” he said.

However, BJP leader Tarun Vijay did not agree with Owaisi. He said that terrorists may try to create a communal divide,  but they cannot succeed in India. “No body demonizes Mulisms. Muslims are part of the mainstream India just as Hindus, Sikhs or Chirsitians are.”

Police may send CCTV footage to Mumbai labs: With the footage obtained from a CCTV camera near the site of twin bomb blasts apparently not yielding any credible clues, the Andhra Pradesh police are now mulling to rope in advanced film processing labs in Mumbai in a bid to harvest the images of suspected bombers.

With the footage obtained from a CCTV camera near the site of twin bomb blasts apparently not yielding any credible clues, the Andhra Pradesh police are now mulling to rope in advanced film processing labs in Mumbai in a bid to harvest the images of suspected bombers.

16 persons were killed and 117 injured when two explosions, separated by minutes, rocked Dilsukh Nagar area in the city last Thursday. The footage, captured by a CCTV camera installed in vicinity of the blasts site, of three persons lurking nearby a bicycle, believed to be strapped with explosives, is not clear enough, sources said today.

“The footage sent to a film laboratory in the city failed to provide any headway (in the probe). The quality of the picture could not be improved. So the footage may be sent to some film labs which have advanced technology at their disposal”, an official told. Stepping up their investigations, the police have started collecting the call data transmitted through mobile
phone towers located in the vicinity of Dilshuknagar prior to the explosions.

According to sources, investigators are of the view that the blasts were not triggered by remote control but a timer device. “It is difficult to use remote control for triggering the second blast as the first explosion would have disturbed waves and frequency. It would have made the second explosion difficult. So the bombs might have been triggered by a timer”, sources said.

Intensifying the probe, police have collected guest registers of some hotels and lodges around the blasts area and are verifying credentials of the occupants. Police are yet to achieve a breakthrough even as 15 teams comprising officials from Hyderabad and Cyberabad police are carrying out investigations into the blasts, besides the National Investigation Agency.