Solidarity, Condemnations, Blame Game

A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, President, India:
" ThePresident has said such inhuman acts are condemnable outrightly and personsresponsible for this should be brought to book at the earliest." (A statementread out by Rashtrapati Bhavan spokesman S M Khan).

Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister, India:
"We will work to defeat the evil designs of terrorists and will not allow them tosucceed. The government will take all possible measures to maintain law andorder and defeat the forces of terrorism. The blasts (in Mumbai andSrinagar) are shocking and cowardly attempts to spread afeeling of fear and terror among our citizens. My heart reaches out and grievesfor all those affected by these blasts and who have lost their near and dearones. I condemn these shameful acts aimed at our peace-loving people. I amconfident that the people of this great city have the will and courage to facethe situation and withstand firm in their resolve to carry on their normalactivities without succumbing to threats of terror" (A statement read out byHome Minister Shivraj Patil).

V.K. Duggal, Home Secretary, Government of India
"No militant group has claimed responsibility for the attacks but I can tell you we know and we are going to getthem. These attacks are on softest of soft targets, aimed at disrupting the on-going peace process with Pakistan, but this would not happen." [Since IB is probing the link between the blasts at Srinagar and Mumbai, and also looking at possible link with PoKpolls, when asked by reporters, the home secretary was quoted on NDTV as having said that there is no link between the blasts in the two cities.]

Vilasrao Deshmukh, Chief Minister, Maharashtra:
"Prime MinisterManomhan Singh called me and enquired about the situation in the city. Heoffered whatever assistance the state needed from the Centre. The state has beenput on high alert and police have done nakabandi (blockade) at all exitpoints in the city. Private hospitals have beenasked to admit the injured. The state government would bear the expenses for thetreatment. A compensation of Rs one lakh would be given to the families of thosekilled and Rs 50,000 to those injured."

A.N. Roy, Police Commissioner, Mumbai:
"Our priority is also toensure that nothing untoward takes place as a result of the blast. Efforts werealso being taken to run extra buses along the Western Railway route so thatpeople could reach home. Western Railway route commuters could also take theCentral Railway route for going home. Obviously, a terrorist outfit would bebehind the blasts because a normal human being could not have done this. Extraforces have been deployed in the city to ensure that no more incidents takeplace. People should not to go by rumours but help police in maintainingcalm."

Sonia Gandhi, president, Congress Party:
"Dastardly and inhuman. We should collectively isolate such elements fromsociety."

Rajnath Singh, president, BJP:
"TheCentral Government's soft policies including repeal of POTA are responsible forthe spate of terrorist incidents across the country."

L.K. Advani, senior leader, BJP:
"Theblasts in Srinagar and Mumbai have put a question mark on the securitypreparedness of the UPA government and the state governments where the blastshave occurred. The government needs to understandthat they should give priority to security."

Uddhav Thackeray, executive president, Shiv Sena:
"Thisgovernment has no right to remain in power even for a moment. The government'sincompetence is solely responsible for today's incident. When the spontaneousreaction was there to desecration of late Meenatai Thackeray's bust, thegovernment blamed it on Shiv Sainiks. It should now tell us who is responsiblefor today's incident."

Prakash Karat, general secretary, CPI (M):
"The aim of this terrorist outrage is to foment disruption and this should befoiled. All efforts should be made to track down the culrpits."

Sitaram Yechury, polit bureau member, CPI (M):
"We would also appeal to the people not to fall prey to any provocation. Thewhole country must unitedly face the situation. While security should be beefedup across the country, efforts should be made on war-footing to provide medicalhelp and relief to the victims, he said."

D. Raja, national secretary, CPI:
"Wedemand a thorough probe into the incident and people should uphold peace andharmony. The attack in the financial capital of the country is intended toaffect the national economy."

Pervez Musharraf and Shaukat Aziz, President andPrime Minister, Pakistan:
" Pakistan strongly condemns theseries of bomb blasts on commuter trains in Mumbai, India. This despicable actof terrorism has resulted in the loss of a large number of precious lives. ThePresident and Prime Minister of Pakistan have also strongly condemned thisterrorist attack and have expressed condolences over the loss of innocent lives.Terrorism is a bane of our times and it must be condemned, rejected andcountered effectively and comprehensively. (Astatement issued by the Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson)."

Sean McCormack,State Department spokesman, United States of America:
"These are senseless acts ofviolence designed to strike at those innocent people who are just going abouttheir daily lives, people who are commuting home on a train. And so it was aterrible tragedy for the people of India and our thoughts and prayers are withthem at this difficult time. Today there were multiple terrorist attacks inIndia, in Srinagar and in Mumbai. We condemn these attacks in the strongestpossible terms. Many have lost their lives. And many more were injured. So ourthoughts and prayers go out to those who have lost loved ones or friends orrelatives in these attacks and we wish a speedy recovery to all of those whowere injured. We have been in touch with the Indian government concerning theseattacks and, of course, we will offer any assistance that they might request. Iunderstand that the investigation is ongoing as to who is responsible for theseattacks.

"At this point I wouldn't try to make any connectionthat - the anniversary of the London train bombings was July 7; this is July 11.But at this point, there's been no claim of responsibility, and I don't have anyinformation at my disposal that I could share with you as to who might beresponsible for these attacks. (On any connection between the blasts and eitherthe London train bombings anniversary or any linkages with the al-Qaeda).

"In the Srinagar attacks, there were two American citizens at this point that we know of who were injured, but we don't havePrivacy Act waivers, so we can't get into any other details at this time."

Hamid Karzai, President, Afghanistan:
"Thisterrorist act is shocking and despicable. It is aimed at killing innocentcivilians and I condemn it in the strongest terms. The Afghan people send theirsympathies to the people of India. Afghans havesuffered at the hands of terrorists for many years and understand the pain andsuffering that terrorism causes. My thoughts are with the families of thevictims and those injured."

Tony Blair, Prime Minister, Britain:
"I condemn utterly thebrutal and shameful attacks. There can never be any justification for terrorism.We stand united with India, as the world's largest democracy, through our sharedvalues and our shared determination to defeat terrorim in all its forms. Ourthoughts are with the victims and their families."