Uma Sudhir Monday, August 25, 2008 (Hyderabad)

On Monday, it will be one year after the twin blasts in Hyderabad that killed 45 people. And even as it mourns the victims, the city played host to a people's tribunal to say, we want the guilty punished but don't make innocents pay the price for belonging to a particular community. A mother from Gujarat remembers her son and says, "My son was innocent. He used to teach Quran to feed his family and widowed mother." Similarly, a father from Maharashtra has this to say when it comes to terrorism - "It is a dangerous time. We have to crush the head of this snake as soon as possible, so that we can all live in peace." A people's tribunal in Hyderabad has been set up to decide on the alleged atrocities committed against the minority community in the name of fighting terrorism. And it hears voices, not just of alleged victimisation and violation of law by the authorities, but of living in the shadow of fear and distrust. "Lot of boys have not come because the police went to their houses and said why are you going to this tribunal to depose," said Zaheeruddin Ali Khan, Managing Editor, Siasat. "There is a growing communalisation of minds in India. It is not confined just to the police, but in the judiciary, bureaucracy, there is a hatred building up against the minorities," said Shabnam Hashmi, a social activist. If there is a terror plan to break the county, it is probably happening. Not just because of bomb blasts but because there is another kind of time bomb ticking. With the police not getting a breakthrough, an entire community is feeling stigmatised and alienated from the mainstream.

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Hyderabad, August 24: Greater Hyderabad, which has become the second largest metropolitan area in India, will be developed as a world-class city and a model metropolis in the country, said Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy Sunday.

He asked officials of the newly constituted Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) to ensure a scientific and regulated development in the metropolitan region.

Last year 12 municipalities and several villages of the five surrounding districts were merged with Hyderabad to make it Greater Hyderabad. HMDA was formally constituted Saturday replacing Hyderabad Urban Development Authority (HUDA).

The chief minister Sunday launched HMDA and laid foundation stone for the central office of the new body, which will have jurisdiction over an area of 6,856 square km, making it the second largest metropolitan area in the country after Delhi.

The jurisdiction of the earlier body was 2,000 square km. The population coverage has also increased from 6.5 million to 7.8 million.

The government issued orders posting Indian Administrative Service officer K.S. Jawahar Reddy as the metropolitan commissioner.

The jurisdiction of HMDA covers 54 'mandals' (administrative blocks) in the five districts. It includes 16 'mandals' of Hyderabad, 10 of Medak, 22 of Rangareddy, two of Mahbubnagar and four of Nalgonda districts. As many as 849 villages of four districts were merged with Hyderabad.

As the city is growing by leaps and bounds thanks to the IT boom of last one decade and consequent economic activity, the government felt the need to merge the surrounding municipalities with the capital region to ensure planned development and provide better infrastructure.

The new international airport at Shamshabad, about 30 km from the city, the ongoing world-class 160-km Outer Ring Road (ORR) project, mega townships along the ORR, over 30 IT Special Economic Zones (SEZs), major real estate projects, new campuses of IT and biotechnology majors, metro rail and other infrastructure projects are expected to give further impetus to the growth.

The chief minister asked officials to ensure that there was no deviation from the approved plans for any construction activity. He assured that the government would take all steps to provide better road connectivity, 24-hours water and electricity supply and other infrastructure to all the areas falling under metropolitan region.

The missions of HMDA include promoting active participation of citizens in the process of planning and implementation of development plans, improve quality of life through planned growth and development and contribute to the creation of a cleaner and greener city.

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The explosives used in the August 25 twin blasts in Hyderabad are believed to have been prepared by Subhan Qureshi, a native of Thane in Maharashtra.

Qureshi is the ‘technical head’ of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and now the most wanted man who, if nabbed, would be the key in unravelling the bomb blasts that took place across the country.

Already, Qureshi has been named by Mufti Abul Basher, the alleged mastermind in the Ahmedabad serial blasts and the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) has launched a massive hunt for Qureshi.

In a related development, a police team from Hyderabad arrived in Ahmedabad today. They would be interrogating the Mufti to learn more about his and Qureshi’s role in the August 25 twin blasts here.

"The material used in the bombs in the blasts at Lumbini Park, Gokul Chat and in Ahmedabad and Jaipur are identical. Though the Mufti has disclosed that Qureshi was the technical brain behind preparation of the explosives used in Ahmedabad, he has dropped enough hints that the bombs used in Hyderabad were also prepared by Subhan Qureshi," a senior police official told to this website's newspaper.

In fact, the Mufti told the interrogators about the strong technical wing developed by SIMI over the years. "Once Qureshi is caught, only then it would come to light whether he travelled to Hyderabad to prepare the explosives. In the case of Ahmedabad, he had travelled to that place to prepare them," sources said.

Meanwhile, noose appears to be tightening around Moulana Abdul Aleem Islahi of Saidabad, who had provided job and shelter to the Mufti for two years.

In his confession before the Intelligence agencies, to which Express had access, Mufti has particularly named Islahi. He says: "I had gone to my village, Azamgadh when the Mecca Masjid blast took place on May 18.

When I returned later, Islahi told me that the police was searching for me in connection with the blasts. He asked me to flee the city immediately. Therefore, I went to Gulbarga and spent one month with another SIMI member Adnan." He said that Islahi paid him Rs 2,500 per month for teaching in the madarsa in Pahadishareef.

Police officials are still not clear whether the Mufti was involved in the Mecca Masjid blast as a mixture of RDX was used in the IEDs there while elsewhere the preparation of the bombs was different.

The Mufti further stated that he travelled extensively within the country and everywhere he went, he succeeded in brainwashing several Muslim youth and ensured that they took up ‘Jihad’ against the country.

"Till 2002, I used to study in a madarsa in Azamgadh. Later, I was greatly influenced by the speeches of Dr Rasheed Masood of the National Loktantrik Party and met Khaled, a SIMI member. I believe that the only solution is Islamising the whole world.

“I travelled to many places in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala and spread the message of cJihad among the youth," the Mufti said.

He also confessed that one of his five brothers — Abul Jar — was a SIMI member. With regards to Ahmedabad serial blasts, he said: "I was in Delhi when I heard the news of the serial blasts in Gujarat. Dil ko bahut sukoon mila."

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Hyderabad, August 23: : The sleuths of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Hyderabad City Police who had summoned Syed Ahmed Hussain of Saidabad on Thursday for probing into his possible terror links and was later released, was summoned again on Friday and grilled for several hours.

Police sources said that soon after the Friday prayers, Hussain was summoned by the SIT officials to an undisclosed location where he was grilled for the second time.

Hussain, a resident of Jeevan Yar Jung Colony, was summoned on Thursday after his name surfaced in the interrogation of the alleged mastermind of the Ahmedabad serial blasts, Mufti Abul Bashir.

It is being suspected that Hussain was working for the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) previously.

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