A “crude” bomb exploded at the 17th century-era Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad during Friday prayers, killing five and seriously injuring at least 25 others (Thanks, Red Snapper and Tamasha):
Minutes after the blast, Muslims angered by what they said was a lack of police protection began chanting slogans — a situation that quickly devolved into mobs throwing stones at police, who responded with baton charges and tear gas.
Some reports I’ve read state that the tear gas was used to clear the area, to help ambulances rush to and from the scene.
The bombing and ensuing clash between worshippers and police raised fears of wider Hindu-Muslim violence in the city, which has long been plagued by communal tensions and occasional spasms of religious bloodletting.
Many of those injured in the explosion at the 17th-century Mecca Masjid were severely wounded, and the city’s police chief, Balwinder Singh, warned the death toll could rise.
Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh state, where Hyderabad is located, appealed for calm between Hindus and Muslims.
Reddy called the bombing, which killed at least five people and wounded 25, an act of ”intentional sabotage on the peace and tranquility in the country.” [NYT]
Mecca Masjid, so named because some of its bricks were brought from that holy city, took 8000 masons almost eight decades to complete; it is the largest mosque in Hyderabad.
Developing…
I’m sure Rajiv Gandhi felt very safe after his trip to TN.
Moornam (#5):
Analysis… within just a few hours of the blast…
hmm, I think I’ll wait for the 12-hour “analysis” to make up my mind, thanks very much.
“I’m sure Rajiv Gandhi felt very safe after his trip to TN.”
Rajiv Gandhi’s death is attributed to the LTTE, not to Muslim extremists.
However, I agree that no place is really safe.
hey Chutiya: for #42, yes is the answer. You shud start looking outside the box.
Any evidence of that? Why would Muslims get their ass beat if they had the Muslim mafia on their side and participating?
Chutiya-ji,
Your statements would have much more credibility if they were to reference situations where folks other than muslims have been targetted. As you point out, policing and intelligence are specially weak and vulnerable to manipulation at the state level. This isn’t a hindu-muslim issue, it is fundamentally a governance and rule-of-law issue.
In addition to the Gujarat 2002 murders, I would point to the systematic ethic cleansing of the kashmiri hindus in the late-80s and early 90s (state govt didn’t give a damn about it) and the more recent violence against bihari workers and traders in Assam (state govt wrings its hands and then quietly collaborates with the killers).
ACM,
First, let us focus on Hyderabad. I really like the Charminar-Mecca Masjid area. I have been there 4-5 times in last few years. It is the heart beat of India.
However,
You are missing the central point in Bombay riots of 1993. In December, 1992, there is Babri Masjid (in my opinion should have not happened at all, but they are no deaths), there are series of riots in Bombay in December – January (what is the role of Bombay Mafia (also Shiv Sena and others) in it, you think they (Bombay Mafia) are sitting on their hands, or sucking thumps. Who is supporting whom? Who is instigating whom? Who wants to up the ante?), and then comes the kicker – March 12, 1993 bombings led by Dawood Ibrahim and D-Company. Now he lives in Pakistan and his daughter’s wedding is the social event of the year.
Is this too complicated?
I’ve been there too a few times – it’s more like the armpit of India.
To each his own.
M. Nam
Moor, I was there in that Mecca masjid area just last year. It is quite a nice place. Very alive and vibrant. One muslim boy ran up to me and tried to sell me knickknacks, so I bought one white muslim cap from him for six rupees. Then I gave him my camera and he clicked few pictures of me in the white muslim cap. Very fond memories. He also guided me to a very tasty biryani shop.
otoh, the very first time I went to buy Naan from a sabzi mandi in Iselin. Place was crowded with desi aunties and one of them knocked over my wife and she was quite stunned by their rudeness and failure to apologize. She said even in India she hadn’t seen such a mad rush for Naan. That night at dinner we opened that Naan packet and it was full of white fungus on the inside. They had used a clean Naan on outside to deceive the patrons. That is the true armpit of USA, that Iselin market. These days we just buy the Hispanic tortila from Walmart and pretend it is just like Naan, after coating it with few spices.
You are missing the central point in Bombay riots of 1993. In December, 1992, there is Babri Masjid (in my opinion should have not happened at all, but they are no deaths), there are series of riots in Bombay in December – January (what is the role of Bombay Mafia (also Shiv Sena and others) in it, you think they (Bombay Mafia) are sitting on their hands, or sucking thumps. Who is supporting whom? Who is instigating whom? Who wants to up the ante?), and then comes the kicker – March 12, 1993 bombings led by Dawood Ibrahim and D-Company. Now he lives in Pakistan and his daughter’s wedding is the social event of the year.
Kush: I am not speaking from my ass 🙂
I have done some research on sectarian violence (especially Hindu-Muslim) in India and the role of the Muslim mafia during the Bombay riots was minimal at best. In fact there is some evidence that the Shiv Sainiks and other Marathi newspapers incited the people with phantom reports of ‘Muslim mafia men with AK-47 roaming the streets and killing Hindus’
I am not contesting the involvement of the Muslim mafia in the bomb blasts and I have already stipulated to that point. However you have implied that the Muslim mafia was involved in the riots in some significant way or at the same level that Shiv Sena was involved on the other side. I have never heard that before or saw it reported. Granted, the fact that I have not seen it does not mean that it did not happen. So I asked you to refer me to a source which will confirm that. I am quite willing to believe that the Muslim mafia played a significant role in the riots. I am just not aware of them playing any significant role and the fact that the overwhelming number of deaths were Muslim gives credence to my scepticism.
Speaking of the Muslim mafia, a lot of their foot soldiers are actually Hindus and some are even shiv sena marathi sympathizers. Remember, the Chief Operating officer for Dawood was Chotta Rajan during the riots. Its only after the Bombay blasts that he split up with Dawood.
Speaking of the Muslim mafia, a lot of their foot soldiers are actually Hindus and some are even shiv sena marathi sympathizers. Remember, the Chief Operating officer for Dawood was Chotta Rajan during the riots. Its only after the Bombay blasts that he split up with Dawood.
I agree. That is why I have been using the term “Bombay Mafia“.
Overwhelming Muslim deaths, is just game of numbers because of their economic, and social vulnerability, and the core strength of Shiv Sena. Poor muslims living in ghettos are easy targets.
I do not think Bombay Mafia (or any entity) can match the strength of a militant wing of an organization (Shiv Sena and allied organizations in this case) that gets its recruits from the majority population of that place, be it India or any place on the earth.
In 1992-93, I used to live in US, and am not an expert on intricacies of what happened in December 1992-March 1993. Some Mumbaiker check chip in on the level of Bombay Mafia’s involvement during that period.
My point is that ISI got really vested in Bombay situation.
As you point out, policing and intelligence are specially weak and vulnerable to manipulation at the state level. This isn’t a hindu-muslim issue, it is fundamentally a governance and rule-of-law issue.
Yes, its more than a Hindu-Muslim issue. Its also a Hindu-Christian (Christmas Gujarat) and a Hindu-Sikh (84) issue. I think the Kashmir issue is different because the government was not actually complicit in the killings. And yes, you are right as to this being a rule of law issue.
Talking about the Bobmay 1992/1993 situation. The nationwide riots are provoked by the Advani’s rath yatra and subsequent demolition of the Babri masjid. The Shiv Sena and its rag Saamna added to the fire which led to the Bombay riots. There was a lot of criticism of the police action here too as Muslims took brunt of the policing action (same as in Gujarat). Then the Mafia/ISI coordinated the revenge bob blasts in Mar 1993.
ok that was the story but how does it apply to the Hyderabad situation today? In the past there have been instances where political interests in Andhra were accused of triggeting riots in Hyd. It was during the Cong rule during the 1990s when X instigated riots to bring down Y who was the CM. And who were X and Y? X and Y were hindus of the same caste from the same party. And i’m sorry that i have no source to back this up but i was living in India back then and that was the talk on the street.
But the polarization of the police in AP is not to the extreme as in some other states. Maharastra and Gujarat come to mind. The police in AP have their own worries with naxalites. But this is not to say that AP Muslims trust the police either. Hell no one in India trusts the police. And that was one of the reasons the Center set up a para-military force called the RAF – rapid action force dressed in blue camos (not the usual police khakis) to deal with riots and such. That was progress. The Army is trusted too but not in places where they have policed on a continous basis…Kashmir and the North east come to mind.
From wikipedia account on Bombay Riots:
Now the questions are:
1) Was Bombay mafia and ISI completely uninvolved (uninterested) in the first phase of riots in December, 1992.
2) Is there a credible reason to believe that Dawood Ibrahim (ISI through him) had no involvement in tensions prior to March 12, 1993, even though the biggest event happened on March 12th.
3) It is widely believed that Shiv Sena was on the fore-front of tensions. But who were other players.
Somebody?
Pakis blowing things up in India? OMG, it cant be so. Please step aside while I barf at getting political commentary from Anna and Beavis caste.
I doubt you will ever find a credible source or someone who lived in HYD during that time and disagrees with you.
word
wrong. Hindus trust the police in India and Muslims don’t. This is not something new. It is the same case in pre-Independence British India where in their respective majority regions, Hindus and Muslims trusted the police to protect themselves and if they are in a minority they did not trust the police. I read a report that after the bomb blast, 3 rioting people were actually killed in a police shoot out.
wrong. Hindus trust the police in India and Muslims don’t. This is not something new. It is the same case in pre-Independence British India where in their respective majority regions, Hindus and Muslims trusted the police to protect themselves and if they are in a minority they did not trust the police.
I agree 100%. You are spot on. Guess who trusts the police in Bangladesh? Its not the Hindus.
1) Was Bombay mafia and ISI completely uninvolved (uninterested) in the first phase of riots in December, 1992. 2) Is there a credible reason to believe that Dawood Ibrahim (ISI through him) had no involvement in tensions prior to March 12, 1993, even though the biggest event happened on March 12th.
The answers would be no and no.
Read the Srikrishna Commission report. Of course the Muslim part of the Mafia was involed in the riot and some of the bomb blasts accused also played a part in the riot. But the Mafia did keep out of the riot for the most part and the participation was marginal at best. It was however hyped by the Shiv Saina and local newspapers to incite.
Javed Dawood Taylor who was a lieutenant of Tiger Menom and Taylor did get shot in the foot during the riots. So that might be one of the revenge motives for Tiger Menom.
Generally, after this type of attacks, (it recurs like seasonal “gory” festivals) the police, intelligence agencies and the government of the day points out “ISI involvement” and there ends everything and life goes back to normal. What a pathetic bunch of officials?. Do these guys deserve the money they earn?.
That’s tricky, because they don’t earn much by any standards and have to “supplement” their incomes in other ways. My guess is the IPS/local police like to say “ISI” because it takes investigative responsibility off their plate. It could be the ISI but it could just as well be locals from either community.
Even if they earn just Rs 1000, do they deserve it. How many attacks in the past decade??. Even if it is ISI, isn’t it the duty of these guys to protect people?. next day, you’d hear from the media how the city X has defeated the terrorists by returning to normal life. is this a joke?. what could the residents of the city do?. drown in the nearby ocean/sea/lake??. Normally, you’d hear this about Mumbai. But I think people are getting sick and tired of this.
I understand your frustration, but look at it this way. An FBI agent or local cop in the US can lead a middle class existence…the same is not true in India. If we want people of similar quality we will have to lure people away from less dangerous/higher paying options. We all want the same things, to have a safe home, provide for our kids…we should expect some level of altruism from cops but to expect a sanyasin with a gun who chooses this life just for the good of humanity is expecting too much. If we want a professional police force, we’ll have to pay for it. Otherwise we end up with the goon squad.
It is not a matter of religion. How many of you would report some suspicious activity in your locality to police. I know of countless cases where those who report stuff have been harassed by police, esp if you are with female company and its after dark.
Given how much anonymity(you can live on cash, without any sort of ID and mingle in most parts of the country) India provides, it is a miracle that more of these don’t occur. Most intelligence leads are uncovered during normal police work, someone driving drunk, without license, without pollution control certificate. Imagine the bomber stopped for license getting away by giving 50 rupees.
Prevented attacks don’t make news. Intelligence at least knew that an attack was coming in this case.
ACD,
I read parts of Srikrishna Commision report – the ones I can access through internet. No doubt, Shiv Sena volunteers were hungry for violence, there was lot of rumor mongering, and senseless incite.
However, from very early on Dawood Ibrahim was not behind. On January, 9th, he had set in motion to put Bombay in pits. According to Tehelka***
*** Tehelka is one of the few respected investigative newspapers in India.
Also, Chote Rajan and Dawood Ibrahim had split earlier. He carries a Pakistani passport these days. Interesting, Tiger Menom’s brother became state witness.
All above is from Tehelka.
This all does not seem marginal to me. I am quoting from a national newspaper, not from some partisan website.
Kush: I dont know what Tehelka is (Hurricane?) but I will take your word for it being a respectable publication. I have read the link that you have posted. Nowhere does it say that this ammunition was used in the riot. It seems to me that he got the ammunition in anticipation of the riots after the bomb blasts. Here is a part of the article you linked to:
Wrong.. Government officials in India earn enough to lead a good existence. That’s why you see people who have master’s degree lining up to take police constable exams. There are thousands of people who can take the job if these folks resign due to economic reasons.
Recent reports on bomb crisis:
10 killed, 50 injured in Hyderabad mosque blast
Jaish hand suspected in Hyderabad blast
SIM card recovered
Wrong.. On official salary alone local low level cops won’t be able to lead middle class existence in cities. They are willing to take those positions because they can supplement their official salary with bribes.
You should first define “middle class existence”. I can tell you that there are literally hundreds of thousands of youth who can take the job with the same salary as it is offered now if these cops decide to quit for economic reasons. Do you know the pay scale?. http://cbi.nic.in/Recruitments/RecruitmentRules.htm
This is the Basic Pay, govt. employess typically get what is called Dearness Allowance (don’t know what that means) plus other allowances that would make a constable earn atleast Rs 8000 p/m. That’s pretty decent when you compare that with what others earn.
Just so you know, I am in partial agreement. Whatever cops are paid, we should expect them not to steal, carry out vendettas based on their caste/religious affiliation, extort, harass women..this is a given. But for competency in handling things beyond the mundane(i.e. petty theft, domestic violence, homicide while drunk on country liquor)and handling something of national (and possibly internatl) import, recruiters will have to offer more than $2,400 per annum to draw people away from call centers & other BCOMM degree holder type jobs that are now offering upwards of $4k a year. I would like to see the same type of professionalism depicted in the TV show Dragnet….”Just the facts bhen/begum”. Basically someone with the demeanor of an IBM account exec but with a gun and lathi and some CSI type skills. Anyway this is a whole other thread, I hope state/central government/judiciary and handle this professionally and deliver justice for the victims, whoever the villain in this case may be.
question to beavis caste desis: when was the last time Hindus in Bangladesh threw stones and rioted at police?
I’ve done a bit of research on Hindu-Muslim violence in Hyderabad, and even though there’s always talk of ISI influence, there’s really very little evidence to support any of it. IMO, the vast majority is just baseless speculation by some Hindus who feel that the old-city Muslims do not identify with India or Hyderabad, but rather with Pakistan (and therefore must have ISI ties, as the reasoning often goes). There is, however, a decent amount of evidence that points to state and city-wide political elements as being responsible for starting them. Hyderabad was pretty riot free after independence, prior to the late 1970s… that was when politicians got involved in the religious festivals (e.g. Ganesh Chaturthi) and started organizing massive processions, instead of the traditional small ones, intentionally through the old city banging drums and shouting anti-Muslim slogans provocatively in front of mosques, etc. Meanwhile, Muslim politicians from the MIM (the Muslim-interest party that is today still in control of the Hyderabad parliamentary seat) started organizing their own processions to random festivals around the same time as Ganesh Chaturthi that had never needed processions before, and the result was confrontation and occasionally violence, often organized or abetted by the politicians themselves. During the period b/w ’78 and ’84, both the BJP and MIM gained massively at the elections at the expense of Congress and the Telugu Desam Party amidst a lot of rioting as both communities became more fearful of the other. This effect happened again after the massive riots in Hyd. in ’90…post #62 was right about the riots in ’90 – people believe that then CM Chenna Reddy’s rivals in Congress wanted to bring him down and intentionally caused trouble in the old city (one source for this is Varshney’s Ethnic Conflict and Civic Life)…but, the effect was that the MIM and BJP both gained at the polls and have finished one-two in the parliamentary seat elections ever since. Anyway, there’s a lot I can say about this topic if I get carried away…my point is, Hyderabadi history over the past 40 years points to political interests as being responsible for trying to polarize the public and get Hindus and Muslims to hate each other and vote in bloc (I have numbers that show just how effective this has been)… i don’t think there has ever been a bomb before, though, so this could be a break from the past…
and unfortunately, the attack still succeeded in this case partly because of the following:
Thats still not enough for a middle class existence in a city like Bombay. Most cops there live in slums and might have the local gangster as their neighbour or even a childhood friend.
It’s time for the authorities to stop blaming Muslims for everything and look at extremists within the Hindu community.
The situation is spinning out of control. I hope sanity returns ASAP. Last year following the Sankat Mochan Mandir massacre in Varanasi when scores were killed, groups of Hindus and Muslims visited one another’s shrines to join pujas and azaans. You then still had Bismillah Khan to lend a touch of peace, tranquility, and goodsense. And the Sankat Mochan purohit, a professor at BHU quickly dispersed reoublemakers and brought the entire situation under control. No such thing seems to be happening here. Unfortunate. The terrorists shd not be alowed to succeed
Here’s the Reuters report in the NYT Mob Stones India Police After Rites for Muslims Killed in Mosque Blast
HYDERABAD, India, May 19 (Reuters) — At least two policemen were injured here on Saturday when a mob pelted them with stones after the burial of victims of an explosion at a mosque and of violent clashes that ensued…Hundreds of people were returning Saturday after burying the dead when they started stoning police officers who had escorted them to the burial ground.
The officers fired eight rounds in the air and used tear gas to disperse the mob.
“Beat the police,” “Allah is great,” the protesters chanted…The police fanned out in Muslim-dominated quarters of the city to prevent a repeat of the riots that unfolded after the blast, when the estimated 8,000 worshippers in the mosque poured out and attacked anything that came their way.
It’s time for the authorities to stop blaming Muslims for everything and look at extremists within the Hindu community. Right!!!