ISLAMABAD     -    As the 16th anniversary of 2007 Samjhauta Express bombing arrives on Saturday (today), 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 February 18, 2007, an improvised explosive device (IED) blast was carried out in the Samjhauta train, which ran between New Delhi and Lahore, at Panipat in Haryana. The incident had claimed 68 lives, including 43 Pakistani nationals, 10 Indian citizens, and 15 unidentified persons. About 12 others, including 10 Pakistanis and two Indians, were also injured in the attack.

Initially, a Muslim group was blamed for the incident, but later on, the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) arrested Kamal Chauhan of the Hindu extremist organization Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) in New Delhi. Chauhan was an explosives specialist, who had planted the bomb in that train. “Samjhauta Express blast done by Sanghis,” TrueJay, a Tweitterati wrote. The investigations revealed that the said Hindu activist and several other persons had been involved in the blasts at Ajmer Dargah, Hyderabad’s Makkah Masjid and Malegaon. The Hindu chauvinists also confessed their involvement in these acts of terror. The Head of Maharashtra Police Inspector General Hemant Karkare and several political commentators had called it “Hindutva Terror” or the “Saffron Terror”. Later, Hemant Karkare was targeted and killed during the 2008 Mumbai operation.

It was also reported that Swami Aseemanand, an RSS leader, was found guilty before a judicial magistrate for his involvement in the attacks on Samjhauta Express, and mosques in Malegaon in Maharashtra state and Andhra Pradesh’s state capital Hyderabad, besides a Muslim shrine in Ajmer in Rajasthan. Indian Army Col Prohit himself had confessed to have trained Hindu terrorists to initiate an armed conflict between Pakistan and India. The opposition leader in the Indian parliament Rahul Gandhi truly confirmed that the growth of Hindu extremists presented a greater threat to India than the Muslims. Pakistan had urged India to share findings of the investigation into the Samjhauta train blasts after it was disclosed that Hindu extremist outfits were behind the terrorist activities in February 2007.

Speaking to The Wire, Vikash Narain Rai, a former Haryana police officer who headed the Special Investigation Team (SIT) from 2007 to early 2010, said the police recovered an unexploded bomb from the train. It was found that all the parts of that ‘incendiary device’ were purchased by the people linked to the RSS and its associate groups. A special court on March 20, 2019 acquitted Swami Aseemanand and three others in the case. NIA special judge Jagdeep Singh also dismissed the plea of a Pakistani woman for examining eyewitnesses from her country. Pakistan believes that the systemic Indian decision to gradually exonerate and finally acquit the perpetrators is not just a reflection of India’s callousness towards the families of the deceased Pakistanis, but also reflective of the Indian state policy of promoting and protecting the Hindu terrorists. In fact, India had been using similar incidents to lay a basis for the false flag operations against Pakistan, which had also been proved in many other instances to deceive its public about the culprits and perpetrators.

Swami Aseemanand, the leader of RSS, and his fellow RSS activists were accused of their involvement in the Samjhota Express blast and many other such prominent attacks. Col. Prohit himself had confessed during the investigation of Samjhauta express tragedy for giving training to Hindu terrorists to initiate an armed conflict between Pakistan and India. This statement clearly reflects the sick mentality of Indian Army,” a netizen Iqra Fatima tweeted.

Samjhauta express bombings -2007, Ajmer Dargah Attack -2007, Malegaon blasts -2008. These are few of instances nincompoop, not mentioning the lynching of Muslims on a daily basis and gross human rights abuses in Kashmir,” a Twitter handle Incognito said.