Terrorist outfit behind Jalandhar bomb blast: Punjab police chief

An investigation conducted by the Punjab police has revealed that Ahl-e-Hadees, a terrorist outfit, masterminded the March 14 Jalandhar bomb blast which claimed seven lives and left 15 people wounded.

Punjab Director General of Police P C Dogra said Ahl-e-Hadees, founded following the demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya in December 1992, used a mercenary for carrying out the blast. Responsible for several blasts in Maharashtra, Dogra claimed the outfit was working at the behest of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence.

Dogra said the Lakshar-e-Toiba and Shora-e-Jehad, two other outfits, were also working at the ISI's behest but their activities were mostly confined to Jammu and Kashmir. One of these outfits was responsible for the April 6 bomb blast in a bus at Pathankot. The blast claimed two lives and left several passengers wounded.

While the Ahl-e-Hadees -- an all-India outfit with recruits from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh -- was operating in tandem with the Lakhmir Singh Rode group of the International Sikh Youth Federation, the Laskhar-e-Toiba and Shora-e-Jehad coordinated their operations with both the Babbar Khalsa International and the ISYF, Dogra said.

The DGP said the ISI was using these outfits to create a situation where anti-social elements and those lying dormant since the containment of militancy could be tempted to resume subversive activities.

The ISI, he said, was forced to fall back on this strategy because foreign-based leaders of Punjab terrorist organisations were not getting fresh recruits in the state. The ISI, he added, was also trying to rope in smugglers to resume operations in Punjab but had not met with any success so far.

The DGP said it had been conclusively proved that RDX was used in the Pathankot blast, while the Jalandhar explosion was triggered by a crude device. He said chemical compounds used in the Jalandhar bomb blast were available in the city and elsewhere in Punjab but no local purchase was made.

Investigations had led the police to believe that a Jammu-based smuggler's family could have provided some support in carrying out the Pathankot blast.

Recounting his experience as inspector-general of the Border Security Force in Jammu sector, Dogra said some smuggler networks operating in the R S Pura area of Jammu had carried out subversive assignments given by the ISI.

The DGP said the Punjab police's perception was that the ISI was trying to encircle India as indicated by its activities in the North-East, border states in the North-West, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

To counter the ISI threat, Dogra said the Punjab police was in touch with the police of Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.

UNI