first hand report from varanasi by a foreign traveller (taken from another forum)
The city is in full chaos. The main ghat is closed so are many roads leading to it. According to rumours the police have also found and disarmed a bomb at dasawanmed ghat (main ghat), but i dont know how true these rumors are. People who stay near this area are adviced to keep to the narrow streets and stay alert. I will come back with more news as soon as possible!
<!--QuoteBegin-rhytha+Mar 8 2006, 12:12 AM-->QUOTE(rhytha @ Mar 8 2006, 12:12 AM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->Bhootnath, could you avoid posting other members posts. Kindly post your views on this plz.
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Rytha,
Are these ppl member of this board ?
Sometimes posting the content is enough , do you disagree with that ?
Rytha,
I am thankful to you & other admins for providing me the opportunity to post.
But if you think that I am out of line , pls delete my account and my post.
But I am not going to delete what I have posted. If honesty is my crime, then yes I committed it.
Thank you and no hard feelings if I am thrown out.
Conflicting reports are emerging about the number of blasts. Local police are telling our correpondent Neelanjana Bose that only two blasts have taken place, and that no blast has taken place on a train that had left Lahota Station and travelled 40 kilometres. CNN-IBN correspondent Abhishek Patni however says that the Lahota blast did take place and a railway track has been blown off ... but that there are no casualties. Official sources maintain that three blasts have taken place: one at the Sankatmochan temple, two at the Varanasi Cantt railway station. Besides this four bombs have been defused at the Dashaswamedh Ghat and two live bombs were recovered from a restaurant in Varanasi. The city has been cordoned off.
As of now variable reports are coming in about the death toll. Official sources confirm that seven people have died and around 20 are injured. Unofficial sources say as many as 20 may have died and between 50 and 60 are injured.
The UP CM Mulayam Singh Yadav has offered ex-gratia of Rs 5 lakh to the relatives of the deceased and Rs 1 lakh to the injured.
<b>Police are speculating that Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) were used in the blasts and that remote controls were use to trigger the bombs.</b>
<b>Intelligence officials are suggesting that part of a mixed group of twenty terrorists from groups like Lashkar-e-Tayabba and Jaish-e-Mohammed who crossed over from Nepal may be responsible for these attacks.</b>
<b>A Kashmiri militant was caught in Varanasi a few months ago .. but no action was taken at the time. Intelligence sources have also told SIT chief V K Shashikumar as well as Crime Bureau Chief Shiv Pujan Jha that information about such an attack was conveyed to the state government more than a month ago</b>
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Oh! so whole case is solved, they are pakistani. Give me a break, they should check Azamgarh, Mau etc for culprit they can find lot of home made bomb making factories.
Mahant Jitender from Varanasi has given detailed accounts of the blast in the Sankatmochan temple ... it seems that the temple doors have been used as stretchers.
<b>On television, Rajdeep continues to talk about this attack as an attempt to stir up the communal divide in the country. It is an opinion being reflected across the establishment. The fear currently is that the situation will escalate to one where polarised communities may resort to direct action.</b>
p-sec festival in full swing.
Post Godhara reaction he is talking or he want to blame Hindus for this act.
<!--QuoteBegin-Mudy+Mar 8 2006, 12:29 AM-->QUOTE(Mudy @ Mar 8 2006, 12:29 AM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->Mahant Jitender from Varanasi has given detailed accounts of the blast in the Sankatmochan temple ... it seems that the temple doors have been used as stretchers.
<b>On television, .................... resort to direct action.</b>
p-sec festival in full swing.
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u-no-who secular list, they are underground, smell dead rat.
<b>Uma says she warned Mulayam that something like this could happen. She agrees that its a time for all communities to stand together, when asked a direct question by Rajdeep. But she says the government is primarily responsible for not controlling certain people. When asked who, she names Muktar Ansari ... calling him an "unsocial element." </b>
I also suspect him, he is behind, police should check his den in Mau.
<b>Mullah Yadav sounds like he is in shock .. says he is doing all he can ... and asks for everyone to stay calm ... and that maintaining peace is the most important thing</b>
<b>Jameel khan said...
Action replay by the SAFRAN TERRORISTS. Like Godhra they manupilated and planted the bombs in religious places to provoke sentiments of hindus to gain votes and come in power.</b>
Ban-eeerji must be smiling. Atleast some moron do believe him.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Terror shatters serenity at Varanasi </b>
Pioneer.com
Ramesh K Singh / Varanasi
*12 killed in four blasts * Sankat Mochan temple first target---- A series of bomb blasts in this holy temple town on Tuesday evening left at least 12 people dead and a hundred injured, many of them seriously. Seven bombs were later defused, including one that had been planted near the Kashi Vishwanath Temple.
The deadliest attack was on the famous Sankat Mochan temple where thousands of devotees had assembled to pay obeisance to Lord Hanuman around 6.05 pm. The impact of the blast was so powerful that many of the victims were blown to smithereens.
While scores of devotees were left bleeding by the explosion, several others were hurt in the stampede that followed. The blast sent shock waves across the city.
Even before local residents and the police could come to grips with the bombing at Sankat Mochan temple, a number of blasts rocked the Cantonment Railway Station in less than 10 minutes of the first explosion.
According to initial reports, a bomb exploded in the general compartment of Shiv-Ganga Express (Varanasi-New Delhi) which was about to chug out of the station. Almost simultaneously, another bomb went off outside the station while one exploded in the waiting room.
At least 50 people were injured in these bombings while no death was confirmed.
Late evening, a bomb went off on the railway tracks at Lohta, 30 km from Varanasi. Details are awaited.
The toll is bound to shoot up as crowded areas were specifically targeted in an attempt to create terror in this Hindu pilgrimage city. Police have sealed the city limits and the railway station has been evacuated.
<b>People who had gathered on the ghats of Ganga for evening rituals - including the famous aarti -- panicked when a bomb had was found at Dashaswamedh Ghat. It was later defused.</b>
<b>Four bombs were discovered near a restaurant in Gaodhulia area which were defused by the hotel staff and local residents.</b>
Going by the well-orchestrated plan in which the serial blasts were triggered, it is clearly the work of a terror organisation though no group has as yet owned responsibility.
In New Delhi, the Prime Minister condemned the bombings. Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil had left for Varanasi when the last report came in. The Centre has placed 500 CRPF personnel at the disposal of the Uttar Pradesh Government for deployment in sensitive areas to maintain law and order -- 200 personnel will be deployed in Varanasi itself. Mr Patil said the Centre has alerted all the States to be vigilant.
<b>Security stepped up, plea for calm</b>
New Delhi:The Centre on Tuesday night placed for deployment 200 CRPF personnel in Varanasi and another 300 elsewhere in Uttar Pradesh even as security at temples and vital installations in the state, Delhi and Mumbai was stepped-up.
New Delhi: Union Home Secretary VK Duggal told reporters after a meeting of the officials that the three blasts in Varanasi - one in Sankatmochan Temple and two in Cantonment Railway Station - took place within a gap of ten minutes of each other, a pattern adopted in the Delhi explosions on October 29 last year.
Rishikesh: Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Swami Dayanand Saraswati, Chidanand Muni and other saints from Rishikesh have strongly condemned the serial blasts in Varanasi while urging people to keep calm. <span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>Sri Sri Ravi Shankar also expressed dismay at the way the political parties are playing with the security of the people. "Today, Hindus feel completely unsafe in India. Terrorists are attacking especially the Hindu community. First it was Diwali, and now it is on the eve of Holi." </span>
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They are pro-SP or pro-BSP, swing or vote according to council of Muslim secret committee. Committee selects party or candidate according to payment they receive or who will promote there agenda.
Final decisions are passed to Imam around Mosque and worshippers vote accordingly.
Very well orchestrated dance they do before election.
