A Dark Diwali

Delhi police circles are used to routine terror threats that always getheightened during any national occasion, and this time as the Diwali and Idfestive season coincides with the anniversary of the Delhi carnage of 1984, the fears of bomb blastthreats were said to be exceptionally high.

So when the news trickled in first about one blast in Paharganj which wasfollowed by news of a series of blasts from other crowded areas in a span offive minutes, Delhi Police's worst nightmares were beginning to unfold in thedying hours of dusk.

At first, when news of the Paharganj explosion came in at 5:40, the police,in an effort to avoid panic, was tight-lipped about the seriousness of the blastand the loss of human lives. Paharganj market, almost next to the New Delhirailway station, is one of the busiest places in Delhi at any time of the year,and this being the eve of Dhanteras festival, the market was even more thancrowded with shoppers.

Minutes later came news of explosions in the equally busy Sarojini Nagar market and Govindpuri area of Okhla in South Delhi.All these are places thronging and teeming with people and the casualty figuresare mounting as we write.More than 50 people are suspected dead and at least a couple of hundred injured.

As per Police Commissioner K K Paul, the explosive which went off in Paharganj was planted either in a motorcycle or a rickshaw.It is too premature to be able to pinpoint responsibility but high-placed DelhiPolice sources suspect these serial blasts to be the handiwork of banned Pakistan-based Lashker-e-Taiba(LeT) terror group, particularly because the Mohammad Arifalias Ashfaq and six others convicted in the December 2000 Red Fort attack casewere also slated to be sentenced by a special court today, but was eventually deferred till Monday. It is obvious thought that the blasts had been planned in advance andtimed strategically.

Delhi remains tense, with an alert asking people to be vigilant and to beparticularly careful about unclaimed and suspicious objects and to inform thepolice immediately.

Serial Blasts

Rumours flew thick and fast as soon as news of the Paharganj blast came in.There were rumours of a similar blast in Gole Market and defusing of a bomb inthe busy Chandni Chowk area. There were conflicting reports from Sarojini Nagar Market area, with some suggesting that the blast was caused due to a leak in a LPG cylinder.

But as the news of the Sarojini Nagar Market and Govindpuri explosions wasconfirmed, home minister Shivraj Patil, based on the information fromintelligence and police sources, was able to confirm that the three blasts couldnot be dismissed as isolated incidents and seemed to be part of a concerted andwell-planned effort to cause terror.

The toll from these blasts is likely to be high and it has been a sad day formany families across the country today, with the tragic train accident in AndhraPradesh where more than a hundred are reported dead and another bus accidentin Tiruchirappalli.

Nation on High Alert

Security at vital installations like bus stands, railway stations and other sensitive areas had been intensified with the deployment of additional force and checking stepped up atbarriers of the adjoining states.

"Buses might be used by escaping criminals to flee and we are keeping a special eye on this. All outgoing and incoming vehicles to Delhi are being thoroughly checked,"Haryana and UP police sources confirm. Patrolling has been intensified onhighways and, in Punjab and Chandigarh as well, the security agencies have been directed to maintain vigil over suspicious persons and objects in view of the incidents in the national capital and approaching festivals of Diwali andId.

For those who lost their loved ones in today's tragic incidents andall those still trying to recover from the tremors of the earthquake of October8, this festive season is going to be specially trying and tragic.