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WASHINGTON, D.C. (July 11, 2006) –
The Hindu American Foundation (HAF) expressed horror and outrage
over coordinated terrorist attacks on commuter trains in Mumbai,
India early today. Synchronized bombings on at least seven
different suburban trains killed nearly 200 people and injured
hundreds more. The attacks in Mumbai followed five bombings
in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir earlier the same
day that killed six others.
“Today, we join all Americans in condemning
the murder of hundreds of innocent victims in Mumbai, and
pray for a speedy recovery for the injured,” said Mihir
Meghani, M.D., President of HAF. “The brutality of these
terror attacks highlights the ruthless potential of foreign-based
terror groups operating in India, and the harsh reality that
India is a frontline nation in the international war against
terror.”
Though no group has claimed responsibility
for the attacks, Al-Qaeda affiliates operating from Pakistan,
including the notorious Lashkar-e-Toiba, are widely implicated
in today’s blasts due to their extensive coordination
in Mumbai and Kashmir. These latest strikes follow the pattern
of other recent attacks, including those on major Hindu temples.
The network of Al-Qaeda surrogates working
with Pakistani support is documented extensively in the second
annual Hindu human rights report released by HAF on Capitol
Hill in Washington, D.C. two weeks ago.1 The report
documents several attacks in 2005 on both Indian Hindus and
Muslims in Kashmir carried out by the Lashkar-e-Toiba and
other Islamist groups. The Lashkar is considered a Foreign
Terrorist Organization by the U.S. State Department.
“It appears that the people of India
may be once again facing the grim specter of Islamist terror
that they have come to know too well,” said Aseem Shukla,
M.D., member of the HAF board of directors. “We urge
the international community to stand with India in outrage,
solidarity and a collective determination to eradicate this
global evil.”
1http://www.hinduamericanfoundation.org/reports.htm#hhr2005
The Hindu American Foundation is a non-profit
501(c)(3), non-partisan organization, promoting the Hindu
and American ideals of understanding, tolerance and pluralism.
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