| Submit your comments on this article |
| Afghanistan/South Asia |
| Three of Ayodhya Militants Were âForeignersâ |
| 2005-07-10 |
| At least three of the five militants who attacked a disputed religious shrine in Ayodhya were Afghan or Sudanese nationals. The other two could be either Pakistani or Indian, investigators said yesterday. Initially, it was assumed that the attackers, all of whom were killed by the security forces, were from Jammu and Kashmir or Kashmiris from Pakistan. A police team from Jammu and Kashmir that was invited by Uttar Pradesh police to help in the investigation concluded that the language spoken by three of the militants was either Pashto or Arabic. Kashmir police officers initially played Kashmiri language tapes and asked Rehan, the driver, if that was the language he had heard them speaking. He replied in the negative. The police then played some tapes in Arabic and Pashto and Rehan said they sounded like the language he had heard. âFrom the facts gathered from Rehanâs statement, it is presumed that three out of the five terrorists were either (from Afghanistan or Sudan) while two were Indians or Pakistanis,â a police source told IANS. While Rehan could easily follow the Hindustani (a mixture of Urdu and Hindi) spoken by two of the militants, conversation carried out by the other three was unintelligible to him. He also confirmed that the two who spoke Hindustani appeared to be quite fluent in the language spoken by the other three. Police have found nothing incriminating against Rehan in whose vehicle the attackers had arrived at the site, but he will remain in detention for a while, a top officer said. âSo far, the investigation agencies have found nothing against Rehan, but being one of the only two witnesses who saw the militants, he is an important source,â Uttar Pradesh police chief Yashpal Singh said. âIn any case, we cannot take any chances and he has to be kept under watch for sometime,â Singh added. |
| Posted by:Fred |