Posted on 05/28/2002 11:57:46 PM PDT by Axion
AHMEDABAD, India (Reuters) - Bombs exploded on Wednesday on three buses in the main city of India's Gujarat state, where almost a thousand people have been killed in some of the country's worst Hindu-Muslim violence, police said.
|
|
"It appears that the bombs... are crudely made bombs and intended to create a panic," a police officer told Reuters.
There was no immediate sign of who was behind the attacks and no further details were available.
A Reuters reporter at the scene of one blast said the damage was minor and was quickly cleared. Home-made bombs common in Gujarat are usually small pipe bombs.
Security forces in the state are on high alert following the recent violence.
Most of the victims of the religious clashes have been Muslims, killed by Hindu gangs in a rampage triggered when a Muslim mob attacked a train on February 27, burning alive 59 Hindus.
The official death toll from weeks of religious bloodshed is almost one thousand. But human rights groups which have carried out independent investigations say at least 2,500 people died, many of them women and children burned alive in a grim payback for the train attack.
Police and state government leaders have expressed fear angry Muslims could be drafted by Islamic rebels for revenge attacks.
The religious violence was largely contained to Gujarat, but the potential dangers of a Muslim backlash have been compounded by India's military standoff with Pakistan over the disputed Himalayan territory of Kashmir (news - web sites).
Both sides have massed a million men along their border since a December attack on India's parliament that New Delhi blamed on Pakistan-based groups and analysts say another major militant attack anywhere in the country could trigger war.
India accuses Pakistan of sponsoring Islamic groups fighting Indian rule in Jammu and Kashmir, the mainly Hindu nation's only Muslim majority state.
Pakistan denies the charge, but says it backs the "liberation movement" in Indian Kashmir and the right for Kashmiris to determine their own future.
To date, both Pakistan and India have failed to observe the UN "directive." Some believe Kashmir would opt to be independent, but Pakistan, India and China do not want an independent Kashmir. Playground for Al Qaeda and Taliban.
I only wish we had that same self preservation spirit. Instead when muslims murder thousands of our citizens we put on TV shows teaching their religion and honoring muslims.
Perhaps we do not deserve to survive.
I suspect, and hope, that this isn't the kind of incident that would trigger it, but there are terrorist elements who would just love to see war start.
I was referring to the burning alive of Indian Muslims, in the pogroms being carried out by some of the Hindus, which have absolutely no military value.
Sickening, isn't it? We have been brainwashed into such a state of self-loathing that we can no longer muster the will to defend ourselves.
When whites were "oppressing" blacks in South Africa and Rhodesia, blacks everywhere came to their aid. Now that whites are the victims of genocide in those two countries, we shrug our shoulders and say it serves them right for not leaving.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.