New Delhi, February 14
Has Pune become the nerve centre for terror activities in western India ? Intelligence agencies point out the increasing preference of “educated jihadis” to make a base in the city. The cosmopolitan culture provides for relative anonymity.

Be it the IT experts of the Indian Mujahideen (IM) or the dreaded David Headley, all have been or lived in Pune. Reports suggest that Pune was becoming the nerve centre of the IM, with the maximum number of modules functional in the state after Mumbai. In 2008, the IM used to sent out venomous e-mails to newspaper offices after each blast challenging the government. The police had arrested four IT-savvy members of the Indian Mujahideen for their alleged role in sending e-mails.

Among the four arrested were Asgar Peerbhoy, a Pune resident working for an American company in its India office. The second was Mubin Kadar Shaikh, another computer science graduate from Pune, and Asif Bashir Shaikh yet another engineer from Pune.

Pune and its Jewish Chabad House again figured prominently in David Coleman Headley’s visits to India. He was allegedly the mastermind behind the 26/11 Mumbai terror strikes. He had collected operational details about the targets to be attacked. Pune was one of the places reportedly visited by him frequently.

Records show that Rizwan Daware, the fund channeliser of the 7/11 serial train blasts in Mumbai was also linked to Pune.

Another Pune youth, Suhail Sheikh, was arrested for his role in the same blasts. Mohammed Ataur Rehman Shaikh, one of the main accused in the same case, had allegedly travelled to Pakistan and Jeddah on a passport that was issued from regional Passport Office of Pune.

Earlier, one Anwar Ali was arrested for his alleged role in the 2004 Mumbai blasts. He was a part-time lecturer at the National Defence Academy (NDA), the premier Armed Forces training institute.

The city gained notoriety for the first time in March 2002, when Abu Zubaidah, the then No. 3 to Osama bin Laden was arrested by the Pakistani authorities from Faislabad in Pakistani Punjab and handed over to the FBI. Zubaidah, a Palestinian, had studied computer science in Pune before crossing over into Pakistan and joining the Al-Qaida.

Just days before the latest blast, leaders of terror outfit Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) had warned that the city was “a fair target”.

JuD leader Abdur Rehman Makki was quoted in the media as having said, “Kashmir had become a cold issue ….. At one time, jihadis were interested only in the liberation of Kashmir, but the water issue had ensured that Delhi, Pune & Kanpur were all fair targets.”

Not only activists of SIMI or Indian Mujahideen, but also members of right-wing fundamentalists have been arrested from the city. The arrest of some local people in connection with the Malegaon blast has further given a jolt to reputation of the city. 

New Delhi, February 14
Stating that terrorism and talks could not go together, the BJP today asked the Centre to reconsider its ‘misconceived and adventurous’ decision to hold dialogue with Pakistan.

The core group of the main Opposition party held a meeting here to discuss the Pune blast. It said the government must introspect whether the intelligence inputs and security responses were still adequate. “How was a place ( near the Jewish Chabad house in Pune) visited by David Headley kept unprotected,” asked the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Arun Jaitley, as he spoke to reporters.

“The government in the past few days has announced some misconceived and adventurous steps... The BJP urges the government to reconsider allowing persons from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir to return and resuming dialogue with Pakistan,” said Jaitely.

“Terror and talks cannot co-exist. When terror threatens India, ‘not talking’ is a legitimate diplomatic option. The BJP has also opposed the recent Indian initiative to begin foreign secretary-level talks with Pakistan and accused the government of doing a U-turn even as nothing had changed in the neighbour’s attitude post-26/11,” he said

As long as the terror infrastructure in Pakistan is not dismantled and Pakistan does not stop sponsoring terror from its soil, composite dialogue should not resume, Jaitley said.

The BJP leader said the proposal to allow people from PoK to return to Jammu and Kashmir would amount to legitimising infiltration. He also said the offer to hold talks with Pakistan, irrespective of whether it stopped allowing its soil to be used for acts of terror against India, had made the utterances of Pakistani leaders and “jihadi” groups more belligerent.

“What has happened in Pune is a grim reminder to all of us about the fragility of our security and the traps we are walking into,” he said.

Pune, February 14
Union Home Minister P Chidambaram today said the Indian government was pursuing its case for having an access to American terror suspect David Headley, who is being tried in the US.

"We want an access to Headley for interrogation," Chidambaram said addressing a press conference after visiting the site of last night's blast here. However, there are legal difficulties in the matter, he said adding that the matter was being pursued by the government. Headley is believed to have stayed at the Osho Ashram, located near the blast site, German Bakery, during his visit to the city.

To a query, the Home Minister noted that Headley had visited India prior to 26/11 attacks and said there was always a scope for improvement in intelligence-gathering. On the trial of sole surviving 26/11 gunman Ajmal Kasab, Chidambaram said it was on a "fast track" and the recording of prosecution evidence was complete.

"He is the sole surviving terrorist of 26/11 attacks and it enhances our dignity that he is being given a fair trial in a court of law". It is a model trial and we must allow the judge to pronounce his order, Chidambaram said.— PTI

Pune, February 14
A day after a bomb ripped through an eatery killing nine people here, Pune's best known landmark, the Osho Ashram, turned into a veritable fortress.

Police commandos were deployed at the main gate of the sprawling ashram, which is hugely popular with foreigners and came up in 1974.

The Osho International Meditation Centre, as it is officially known, was founded by Osho Rajneesh. He taught at the centre until 1981 when he moved to the US. The two adjoining houses and six acres of land form the nucleus of the present day ashram that attracts a large number of foreigners every year. Most of them come from the West.

Police say that David Headley, a Pakistan-born American Islamist now in a Chicago prison, had visited the Osho Ashram in 2007-08 to see if it could be a possible target for Pakistan's Lashkar-e-Toiba group.

The German Bakery, where a bomb concealed in a backpack went off on Saturday evening killing nine people and injuring 57, is located close to the Osho Ashram. Many of its inmates regularly visit the eatery. Amid fears that the Osho Ashram could also be bombed, police barred visitors from entering the complex. The bomb site was also sealed off by the local police, the Riot Control Police and Maharashtra State Reserve Police. No traffic was allowed on the road on which the German Bakery is located.

Pune, February 14
"We are not afraid, these things can happen everywhere," was the refrain of most foreign tourists here Sunday, a day after a terror attack on a popular eatery frequented by foreigners killed nine people.

Looking visibly shaken and awaiting news of one of their friends who was injured in the blast, a foreigner couple outside the Sassoon Hospital said the bombing at the German Bakery Saturday evening had failed to scare them. "We were at the spot (German Bakery) at the time of the blast. We helped to get the injured into ambulances... but we are not afraid. Because if you are scared, you will not be able to go anywhere," the couple told reporters. "We are waiting for news of one of our friends who was injured in the blast," they added.

Another tourist, who said he has been coming to India every year for the past 10 years and is a regular to the German Bakery, told reporters: "I come to India every year for two months and visit the Osho Ashram (near the blast site). I am a regular at the German Bakery. So when my sister came down from Canada, I decided to show her around the place."

"We were walking around the area at around 3.30 p.m. when we crossed the bakery and I saw that it was full of people. The cashier saw me and waved - maybe it was his last wave, because I don't know if he was killed," he said.

"I messaged my daughter later, saying that I was not a part of the blast," he added.

An Indonesian tourist said: "I had come for breakfast at the bakery Saturday morning and when I came to know of the blast later, I was shocked. But I am not scared. There was a 9/11 in the US, there are blasts in Indonesia... So these things can happen anywhere," she told a reporter, not wishing to be named.

Nine people were killed in Saturday's terror attacks in Pune, of which six have been identified as Indians. In addition, 57 people were injured. — IANS

We condemn terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. We want the region to be free from this menace. We want to have good relations with India. We want talks to be meaningful,” Gilani told reporters here. The blast came a day after Pakistan accepted India’s offer to hold Foreign Secretary level talks. Clouds of uncertainty have surrounded the high level meeting, scheduled for February 25 in New Delhi. — ANI

Oct 29, 2005: Sixty-six people killed in three bomb blasts in New Delhi.

March 7, 2006: Fifteen killed in three blasts in the Hindu holy city of Varanasi.

July 11, 2006: Over 180 killed in bombings in seven local trains in Mumbai.

Sept 8, 2006: At least 32 persons killed in Malegaon town in Maharashtra.

Feb 19, 2007: At least 66 persons killed as two bombs explode on the Samjhauta Express train between India and Pakistan.

May 18, 2007: Eleven persons killed in a bomb explosion during Friday prayers at Makkah Masjid in Hyderabad.

Aug 25, 2007: Forty persons killed as explosions rock an amusement park and an eatery in Hyderabad.

May 13, 2008: Over 60 killed as seven bombs rip through the tourist city of Jaipur.

July 25, 2008: One woman killed and nearly two dozen injured as coordinated small bomb blasts hit Bangalore.

July 26, 2008: Forty-five persons killed and over 150 injured in 16 small-intensity bomb explosions in Ahmedabad in Gujarat.

Sept 13, 2008: At least 25 persons die as five bombs explode in crowded markets and streets in Delhi.

Oct 30, 2008: Guwahati, the capital city of Assam, is rocked by 11 bomb blasts triggered in quick succession, killing nearly 70 persons and wounding over 300 others.

Nov 26-29, 2008: Ten Pakistani terrorists sail into Mumbai and lay a terror siege on the financial capital of India, killing 166 persons and injuring 244.

Feb 13, 2010: Nine persons are killed and 57 injured in a bomb blast at a popular eatery in Pune. — IANS