When on the evening of October 10, a bomb blast rocked the seven-century-old Dargah of Khawaja Moinuddin Chishti at Ajmer, Chief Minister, Smt Vasundhara Raje was away in Delhi to attend some important business there. Soon after getting the information about the incident, she did first thing was to cancel her all the meetings and rushed to Ajmer. Next day morning she visited the Dargah along with Home Minister Shri Gulab Chand Kataria and met all the leading personalities of this holy town to urge them to ensure that peace and harmony in the state in general and Ajmer in particular was not disturbed.
The police, administration and intelligence sleuths believe that precipitators of this crime have only one aim that is to create communal tension. But they could not succeed in their sinister design. Since the blast the CM kept monitoring the situation personally till the things became normal.
Much before the incident, the Union Home Ministry, after getting inputs from the intelligence agencies, had alerted the state governments, including Rajasthan, that some wellknown religious places or shrines would be the next target of terrorist outfits. Though inputs were of general nature and were lacking specifications, Rajasthan government beefed up the security in and around the Dargah, keeping in view the month of Ramzan, when large number of pilgrims from outside the state throng the place.
Though Rajasthan has no history of terrorist attacks, the intelligence agencies cautioned the state government that operatives of certain Muslim terrorist outfits may move and stay in the state as they found Rajasthan as a safe hideout for them. They may also try to have sleeper cells, which could be used latter for terrorist attacks.
Among the two killed in the blast one was Syed Saleem, who belonged to the notorious Toli Chowki area of Hyderabad. Initially it was found that he was an innocent victim of the blast, but later, when some articles were recovered from his person, it made the police suspicious. It was basically because the blast carried out in the Dargah was similar to the blast of Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad on May 21. He had been living single in Ajmer for the past seven years and was running a small cosmetic shop near the Dargah.
Rajasthan is one of the states, where a considerable number of illegal Bangladeshis are staying. Sometime back, on its own state government through the police conducted the surveys of Bengali bastis and identified a large number of them as illegal residents.
Through the Ministry of External Affairs, the state government did his best to deport the illegal Bangladeshis, but it could not succeed in its attempts for one or the other reason. The central intelligence agencies feared that Bangladesh-based terrorist outfit Harkat-ul-Jehad-e-Islamia (HUJI), which is suspected to be behind the Dargah blast, could easily recruit these illegal Bangladeshis as their sleeper cell, which could be activated anytime in future. Early last year, a proposal was mooted to extend the newly started Thar Express between two countries (India and Pakistan) on Munabao-Khokhrapar route up to Ajmer. This would have provided comfortable journey to those Pakistani citizens who wanted to visit the Dargah. But this was opposed by central as well as state intelligence agencies. They felt that bringing a direct train from Pakistan to Ajmer would help the notorious ISI of Pakistan in sending its agents and operatives easily in this part of the country. Presently, this train starts its journey from Jodhpur and on return it terminates its journey at the same station. On the insistence of central intelligence agencies the proposal was dropped.
The Union Home Ministry is regularly cautioning the state government to keep a watch on madrasas in the state. They are sure these madrasas may turn into nursery of Muslim fundamentalists and at the same time could be used as safe hideouts for Muslim terrorist elements.
Rajasthan has a long international border with Pakistan and districts like Sriganganagar, Bikaner, Barmer and Jaisalmer are situated on the border. Recently state intelligence had carried out a detailed study of these madrasas, the number of which is increasing rapidly. Till couple of years back, number of these madrasas in these areas was a minimal. But the latest survey shows that now even scantly-populated district of Barmer has over 100 such madrasas. It is followed by Bikaner, where the number of these madrasas is 97. Bikaner altogether has 86 madrasas and Sriganganagar has 24. Teachers and students in these madrasas are close to the Deobandi and Barelvi ideologies. The total number of students, enrolled in these madrasas, is about 25000 and number of teachers is about 750.
The survey also revealed that till recently most of the students in these madrasas were local. But of late, students even from far-away states like Bihar have been enrolled there. Majority of the teachers in these madrasas are from outside the state.
The police, administration and intelligence sleuths believe that precipitators of this crime have only one aim that is to create communal tension. But they could not succeed in their sinister design. Since the blast the CM kept monitoring the situation personally till the things became normal.
Much before the incident, the Union Home Ministry, after getting inputs from the intelligence agencies, had alerted the state governments, including Rajasthan, that some wellknown religious places or shrines would be the next target of terrorist outfits. Though inputs were of general nature and were lacking specifications, Rajasthan government beefed up the security in and around the Dargah, keeping in view the month of Ramzan, when large number of pilgrims from outside the state throng the place.
Though Rajasthan has no history of terrorist attacks, the intelligence agencies cautioned the state government that operatives of certain Muslim terrorist outfits may move and stay in the state as they found Rajasthan as a safe hideout for them. They may also try to have sleeper cells, which could be used latter for terrorist attacks.
Among the two killed in the blast one was Syed Saleem, who belonged to the notorious Toli Chowki area of Hyderabad. Initially it was found that he was an innocent victim of the blast, but later, when some articles were recovered from his person, it made the police suspicious. It was basically because the blast carried out in the Dargah was similar to the blast of Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad on May 21. He had been living single in Ajmer for the past seven years and was running a small cosmetic shop near the Dargah.
Rajasthan is one of the states, where a considerable number of illegal Bangladeshis are staying. Sometime back, on its own state government through the police conducted the surveys of Bengali bastis and identified a large number of them as illegal residents.
Through the Ministry of External Affairs, the state government did his best to deport the illegal Bangladeshis, but it could not succeed in its attempts for one or the other reason. The central intelligence agencies feared that Bangladesh-based terrorist outfit Harkat-ul-Jehad-e-Islamia (HUJI), which is suspected to be behind the Dargah blast, could easily recruit these illegal Bangladeshis as their sleeper cell, which could be activated anytime in future. Early last year, a proposal was mooted to extend the newly started Thar Express between two countries (India and Pakistan) on Munabao-Khokhrapar route up to Ajmer. This would have provided comfortable journey to those Pakistani citizens who wanted to visit the Dargah. But this was opposed by central as well as state intelligence agencies. They felt that bringing a direct train from Pakistan to Ajmer would help the notorious ISI of Pakistan in sending its agents and operatives easily in this part of the country. Presently, this train starts its journey from Jodhpur and on return it terminates its journey at the same station. On the insistence of central intelligence agencies the proposal was dropped.
The Union Home Ministry is regularly cautioning the state government to keep a watch on madrasas in the state. They are sure these madrasas may turn into nursery of Muslim fundamentalists and at the same time could be used as safe hideouts for Muslim terrorist elements.
Rajasthan has a long international border with Pakistan and districts like Sriganganagar, Bikaner, Barmer and Jaisalmer are situated on the border. Recently state intelligence had carried out a detailed study of these madrasas, the number of which is increasing rapidly. Till couple of years back, number of these madrasas in these areas was a minimal. But the latest survey shows that now even scantly-populated district of Barmer has over 100 such madrasas. It is followed by Bikaner, where the number of these madrasas is 97. Bikaner altogether has 86 madrasas and Sriganganagar has 24. Teachers and students in these madrasas are close to the Deobandi and Barelvi ideologies. The total number of students, enrolled in these madrasas, is about 25000 and number of teachers is about 750.
The survey also revealed that till recently most of the students in these madrasas were local. But of late, students even from far-away states like Bihar have been enrolled there. Majority of the teachers in these madrasas are from outside the state.
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