Before
the claim of responsibility, Mr.
Gill said on Wednesday, “The
intention obviously was to create communal disturbances.” Nothing of the sort
had materialized, he added. “It’s totally peaceful.”
India on Tuesday
had quickly blamed “foreign terrorists" for the bombings, a phrase that
usually refers to Pakistan, India’s
neighbor and nuclear rival. Pakistan,
however, offered swift condemnation.
The
blasts stand to test the peace process under way between the countries,
particularly under the stewardship of Pakistan’s newly elected
government. The Indian foreign minister, Pranab Mukherjee,
is scheduled to visit Islamabad,
the Pakistani capital, next week.
The dead
and wounded included both Hindus and Muslims.
The
police said – “nearly 40 funerals were expected on Monday, and the curfew was
imposed so that communal passions would not be inflamed.”
Onlookers
wandered through the lanes to gawk at the bloody remains, only to be chased
away when the curfew took effect.
“Hey,
brothers, why are you crowding around?” Ram Babu Agarwal, the member of a peace committee,
shouted.
Anwar
Shah, a burly member of the Johri Bazaar mosque committee, patrolled the
streets of this neighborhood, hectoring people to stay inside. “There is no
communal thinking, only human sympathy,” he declared.
No
foreigners were killed or wounded in the blast, according to police and hospital
officials here.
The
curfew kept foreign tourists off the streets. A Spanish tour group was
instructed to spend the day inside Le Méridien, a
hotel on the edge of town, before being taken by bus to another hotel in the
evening for dinner. David
Manzanares, a tour leader, said
the 104 people in his charge had been taking the events in stride. “We are
Spanish people; we are used to having these kind of events,” he said. “Enjoy
the pool. Have a samosa. See what happens.”
AUSTRALIAN
cricket stars Shane Warne
and Shane Watson are considering quitting the Indian
Premier League after terrorist bombings in Rajasthan killed scores of people.
The Prime Minister, Dr.
Manmohan Singh
while expressing grief over the loss of lives in the Jaipur serial bomb blasts
has sanctioned an ex-gratia of Rs 1 lakh from the Prime Minister's National
Relief Fund to the next of kin of each of the deceased. An ex-gratia of
Rs.50,000 has also been sanctioned to those seriously injured in the terrorist
attack