A Dubai-based criminal with connections to Pakistani intelligence has boasted his outfit was responsible for Tuesday shooting attack on the American Centre in Calcutta and has vowed to launch additional assaults.
Four people were killed in this attack. According to the Gulf Daily News, officials in Calcutta received a telephone call from Farhan Malik, who is based in Dubai and linked to the Harkat-ul-Jihad Islami, a Pakistan-based Islamic group fighting Indian presence in Kashmir.
"He admitted responsibility and threatened that similar attacks would take place by the group in Delhi and Gujarat," a home ministry official said.
Malik, according to the Bahraini newspaper, is supposedly involved in underworld crime and organised the kidnapping earlier this year of a Calcutta businessman for a 37.5 million-rupee ransom.
Indian foreign ministry spokeswoman Nirupama Rao said New Delhi might seek Malik's extradition from the UAE. Meanwhile, the Indian police arrested five Bangladeshis and detained three Indian teachers at a madrasa for suspected involvement with Tuesday's attack on the American Center, an official said Wednesday.
"We are verifying their links with Pakistan's spy agency and a Dubai-based mafia don, but we can't disclose details at this stage," Sourin Roy, chief secretary, told reporters.
Pakistan denied it was involved in the shooting, a foreign ministry spokesman calling the allegations "totally baseless".
Responding to a question regarding Calcutta incident spokesman Aziz Ahmed Khan said Pakistan condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.
When his attention was drawn to a statement of an Indian Minister making allegations against Pakistan, the spokesman commented these are baseless charges. He said Pakistan has cooperated with the international community in eliminating terrorism. To another question he said Pakistan has taken all measures to safeguard security of diplomatic missions. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
