Varanasi blast breaks terror lull
By Sudha Ramachandran
BANGALORE - The relative lull in terror attacks in India has been broken by a
blast at Varanasi in northern India on Tuesday.
A two-year-old child was killed and five others were injured in the explosion,
while about 20 people, including several foreigners, were injured in the
stampede that it triggered.
The blast, caused by an improvised explosive device (IED) placed in a milk
container, took place on the paved steps of the Sitala Ghat, adjacent to the
more famous Dashashwamedh Ghat and near Varanasi's famous Kashi-Vishwanath
temple. Another device
was reportedly found nearby. Indian Mujahideen, the local unit of the
Pakistan-based Lashkar-e Taiba, claimed responsibility.
The timing of the attack is significant. It occurred shortly after 6 pm on
Tuesday during the aarti on the banks of the river Ganga. The Ganga aarti
is a ritual where men holding lamps dance in unison to chanting of Hindu
prayers. The patterns that the flickering flames weave and their reflections in
the Ganga, India's holiest river, are spectacular and tens of thousands of
Hindu worshippers and tourists alike assemble every evening to watch the
performance. The Ganga aarti on Tuesday is a particularly huge draw.
The perpetrators of the attack timed it to cause maximum distress. Not only did
the IED go off at that time of the day when the banks of the Ganga were most
crowded, but also they struck on a Tuesday, a day particularly auspicious to
worshippers of Hanuman. One of the most important temples in Varanasi, the
Sankat Mochan temple, is dedicated to the Hindu deity.
The attack at Varanasi took place a day after the 18th anniversary of the
demolition of the Babri Masjid at Ayodhya. A 16th century mosque that was built
by the Moghul king Babar, the Babri Masjid was reportedly built after a temple
that marked the place of birth of the Hindu deity, Ram, was razed. The site was
therefore disputed. On December 6, 1992, Hindu extremists of various Sangh
Parivar (a family of Hindu outfits) organizations demolished the mosque.
That Tuesday's blast was linked to the Babri Masjid demolition and to a recent
court verdict on the disputed site is evident from an e-mail message that the
Indian Mujahideen sent to media outlets on Tuesday.
On September 30, the high court in Allahabad divided the disputed site into
three, awarding two-thirds to two Hindu plaintiffs representing Lord Ram and
the Nimrohi Akhara, and a third to the Sunni Muslim Waqf Board. The court ruled
that a Hindu temple had existed at the site since the 12th century and
maintained that the portion under the central dome of the mosque was the
birthplace of Lord Ram "as per faith and belief of the Hindus".
While the verdict was hailed by some as a compromise solution that gave
something to both religious communities, it was criticized too for basing the
decision in what was a property dispute not on evidence or facts but on the
more nebulous "faith and belief of the Hindus".
"Allahabad High Court's verdict of 'Aastha [faith] over Facts' is exemplary of
the bias[ed] judiciary although Ram is a mythical figure," the Indian
Mujahideen said in its e-mail. Accusing the judiciary of bias, it said the
"Supreme Court, the High Courts, the lower courts and all the Commissions have
utterly failed to play an impartial role regarding Muslim issues." Muslim
victims of "pre-planned riots, arson, rapes, losses of lives and properties are
still awaiting justice." Cases filed by Muslims who suffered in the 2002 pogrom
in Gujarat continue to drag in court, with many of the guilty still roaming
free.
In the e-mail, the Indian Mujahideen warned Muslim scholars and organizations
not to negotiate a compromise on the disputed site. "All India Muslim Personal
Law Board nor the Babri Masjid Action Committee nor the Sunni Waqf Board nor
any litigant has any right to alter or compromise on any of these aspects
whatsoever regarding the Babri Masjid. All sorts of bartering and bargaining is
totally unacceptable to Allah and thus to the Muslims", it said.
The e-mail warned that any attempt at building a temple where the mosque once
stood would attract attacks.
The Indian Mujahideen has claimed responsibility for several attacks since its
emergence in 2008. It was behind a string of serial blasts in various Indian
cities including Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Delhi and Jaipur in 2008, and in Pune
this year. As well as the Lashkar-e-Taiba, it is believed to have links with
the Students Islamic Movement of India.
The temple town of Varanasi has been the site of previous attacks. On March 7,
2006, at least 26 people were killed and over a hundred injured when blasts
occurred almost simultaneously at the Sankat Mochan temple and the Varanasi
railway station. As in 2010, the 2006 blasts at Varanasi were at around 6.20 pm
on a Tuesday.
Since the attacks in Mumbai in November 2008, terrorists have carried out only
two major strikes in India - one at the German bakery in Pune in February this
year and another in September when two Taiwanese tourists were injured in a
shoot-out by assailants on a motorbike near Delhi's famous Jama Masjid. The
attack in Varanasi was the first since the Ayodhya verdict.
By choosing Varanasi to protest the Ayodhya verdict, the Indian Mujahideen are
sending out a clear message to Hindu right-wing extremists.
Varanasi is not just another temple town on the river Ganga. It is the most
sacred town to Hindus. More importantly, it is the site of the Kashi Vishwanath
temple, among the most sacred to Hindus. Next to the Kashi Vishwanath temple
stands the Gyanvapi Masjid.
It is believed that the original site of the Kashi Vishwanath temple was the
land on which the Gyanvapi mosque now stands. The original temple was destroyed
in 1669 by Aurangzeb, Babar's great-great grandson and the rubble of that
temple was used to build the mosque.
Along with another temple-mosque site in Mathura, believed to be the birthplace
of the Hindu deity Krishna, the disputed site in Varanasi has been described by
the Sangh Parivar, the Hindu nationalists, as "future Ayodhyas". That is, these
sites like the one at Ayodhya were once the location of temples that were
destroyed and so the mosques that stand there now, can expect to face the same
fate as the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya.
Within hours of the court issuing the controversial verdict on Ayodhya, Sangh
Parivar activists were heard chanting: "Ayodhya ho gayee hamari, ab
Kashi-Mathura ki bari," meaning "Ayodhya has become ours, now it is the
turn of Kashi-Mathura". Kashi is another name for Varanasi. Parivar leaders
have called on Muslims to hand over the disputed land in Varanasi and Mathura
to the Hindus.
Tuesday's attack in Varanasi was the Indian Mujahideen's response to that call.
Sudha Ramachandran is an independent journalist/researcher based in
Bangalore.
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