Grieving families cremated the victims of twin car bombs in India's financial capital Mumbai yesterday as India revived accusations that Pakistan was not doing enough to curb Muslim militants.
Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani, touring the sites of Monday's bomb blasts, said Pakistan had been waging a "war of terrorism" against India for years.
But he stopped short of blaming Islamabad directly for Monday's blasts, which killed 50 people and wounded 148, saying he did not know who was responsible.
"Our neighbor's war of terrorism ... is against the whole of India," Advani told reporters.
Islamabad condemned Mon-day's bombings, which coincided with a thaw in relations between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan.
Advani said Pakistan should prove its sincerity by handing over suspects wanted by New Delhi for past bombings.
"Only then can we believe that they meant what they said yesterday when they condemned the attacks," he said.
Pakistan Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said India was indulging in "non-serious talk."
"We are not involved in the war in India," he said. "We don't need it and it is India's own problem."
Police have blamed the outlawed Students Islamic Movement of India working together with the banned Pakistan-based Kashmiri separatist group Lashkar-e-Taiba for the bombings.
India stepped up security nationwide yesterday to head off any religious violence but police said there were no reports of clashes between Hindus and Muslims.
Among the victims were eight men from western Gujarat state, where at least 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, died last year in revenge killings following an attack on a train carrying Hindu pilgrims from the northern holy town of Ayodhya.
The eight Gujaratis, whose bodies were being taken back yesterday to their home town of Surendranagar, were on a pilgrimage to a Hindu festival and were in Mumbai on holiday.
"They were all excited about the trip because it was the first time they were going to a place like Mumbai," said Kalubhai Motibhai Manguda, a 41-year-old milk-seller in Surendranagar, and nephew of three brothers who died.
The eight men had been visiting the Gateway of India, a huge British colonial waterfront arch and Mumbai's most popular tourist attraction, when the second bomb exploded. The first exploded in a gold and jewelry market.
In Mumbai, police raided slums and picked up people for questioning about the bombs, which were planted in taxis.
No one has claimed responsibility for the bombings. Police were questioning the owner of one of the taxis used in the blasts about a couple who hired him on Sunday for a tour.
Many in the city, which attracts thousands of poor migrants seeking a better life, said they were afraid.
"Every moment, I feel there is danger in Mumbai. But still, I have to put my life on the line and go out to work today," said Sheikh Abdul Sheikh, a 32-year-old tailor.
Gulzar Hussain, 28-year-old owner of a shoe shop near the site of the first blast, had to dig his uncle's blood-soaked body from underneath a dead customer but was unable to save him.
RSS