Samjhauta Express train was bombed in which 68 Paki­stani nationals were killed. A Hindu extremist Sadhu Swami Aseemanand, a leader of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) had con­fessed that he was in­volved in the incident.

In fact, ideology of Hindutva (Hindu na­tionalism) prevails in ev­ery field at the cost of other minority groups. It is even sup­ported by Indian defense forc­es secretly. This could be judged from the incident, when on April 6, 2008 in the house of Bajrang Dal fundamentalists in Nanded, a bomb went off. The investigation proved that these militants were found in the bomb-making and attack on a mosque in Parbhani in 2003. Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) of the Maharashtra arrest­ed a serving Lt. Col. Srikant Puro­hit along with other army officials, indicating that they were helping in training the Hindu terrorists, providing them with the military-grade explosive RDX, used in the Malegaon bombings and terrorist attacks in other Indian cities. ATS further disclosed that Lt. Col. Pu­rohit confessed that in 2007, he was involved in bombing of Sam­jhauta Express.

India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) was convinced that Swami Aseemanand, was direct­ly involved in the Samjhauta Ex­press blast. Sources in NIA further pointed out that besides Lt. Col. Purohit, other Indian army offi­cials were also behind that train-bombing. In this regard, a court in Panchkula, Haryana had re­corded Aseemanand’s statement which confirmed the NIA inquiry. Aseemanand’s statement in the Samjhauta Express case was re­corded under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code before a magistrate. His earlier admission was recorded in the Mecca Mas­jid case, which was being probed by the Central Bureau of Investi­gation (CBI). Sadhu Aseemanand stuck to his confession that Hin­dutva radicals were behind the bomb attack on the Samjhau­ta Express—Aseemanand, Aka Naba and Kumar Sarkar, named absconding Hindutva militants—Ramji Kaisangra and Sandeep Dange as the key plotters in that terror attack. Sources of the NIA also revealed that the confession in connection with the Samjhauta Express blast practically rules out the involvement of other groups.

In the Samjhauta Express case, the probe team had found that the bomb used in the train was kept in a suitcase that was bought from a shop of Indore’s Kothari Mar­ket. The suitcase had cloth covers stitched by an Indian local tailor. Afterwards, the NIA was trying to get details of those who bought the suitcase and covers.

Notably, Dr. J C Batra, who is a senior advocate at the Supreme Court of India, was asked to give opinion on Aseemanand’s con­fession. He appeared very defen­sive and as usual started accusing Pakistan’s its primary intelligence agency ISI—its so-called history for such activities, alleging that even this could be an ISI plot. He further said that Swami’s state­ment does not have much legal value as circumstantial evidence is also needed, while adding that RSS is being wrongly implicat­ed and there could be others in­volved who are not being ex­posed. In this respect, a Pakistani parliamentarian, Mr. Mian Ab­dul Sattar, parliamentary secre­tary for planning and develop­ment, who was accompanying him, later stated that that he was told by Mr JC Batra that the Indi­an Army was involved in this case and there “are efforts to shield it from getting exposed”. Swami As­eemanand also confessed in the court that several RSS preachers and Sang activists were direct­ly involved in planning, financ­ing and executing Malegaon, Sam­jhauta Express, Ajmer and Mecca Masjid blasts. He stated that var­ious leaders of Hindu communal organizations, including Bajrang Dal, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Ab­hinav Bharat, Jai Vande Matram and Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram were also behind these blasts.

In this connection, exposing the nexus between Bhartia Janta Par­ty (BJP) and the RSS, the then In­dian Home Minister Sushil Ku­mar Shinde disclosed on January 20, 2013 that organized training camps run by the fundamentalist parties, RSS and BJP were promot­ing Hindu terrorism. He also ex­plained that these extremist par­ties were behind the Samjhauta Express, Mecca Masjid and Male­gaon blasts. He added, “We will have to think about it (Saffron ter­rorism) seriously. Hindu extremist parties BJP and RSS were involved many times in Hindu Muslim vio­lence in India, especially Gujarat and Babri masjid incident.”

Despite the confessions of Swa­mi Aseemanand, instead of taking action against the culprits of the Samjhauta Express explosion, the Supreme Court of India accepted the bail of Swami Aseemanand af­ter the covert interference of the Modi-led authorities who changed the investigations in this respect in order to weaken the case.

And NIA court in Haryana State on March 20, 2019 acquitted four individuals accused in the Sam­jhauta Express bombing case. In this context, Pakistan’s Foreign Office had condemned the ruling of the court by remarking: “The acquittal of the four accused, in­cluding Swami Aseemanand makes a travesty of justice expos­es the sham credibility of Indian Court, it also belies the rampant Indian hypocrisy where India re­flexively levels allegations of ter­rorism against Pakistan, while protecting with impunity terror­ists who had publicly confessed to their odious crimes.”

Sajjad Shaukat
The writer focuses on international affairs and is the author of the book, “US vs Islamic Militants, Invisible Balance of Power: Dangerous Shift in International Relations”. He can be reached at sajjad_logic@yahoo.com