New Delhi, January 11 (agencies): Days after Pakistan sought an update on the probe into the Samjhauta Express bombing, the government today ruled out sharing information at this stage saying it was “too premature”. Ministry of Home Affairs has informed the Ministry of External Affairs to convey to Islamabad that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has not completed its probe into the 2007 explosions in the India-Pakistan train which claimed 68 lives.
“It is too premature to share any information with anyone at this stage. The investigation is still on. When it is completed, we will take an appropriate decision,” a government official said reacting to Pakistan’s insistence on sharing information about the probe. “We have all along been saying that findings of investigations should be intimated to us. Now four years have elapsed, those who were the perpetrators should be brought to book,” Pakistan foreign ministry spokesperson Abdul Basit had told ‘The Indian Express’ last week from Islamabad.
Yesterday, India’s acting Deputy High Commissioner G V Srinivas was summoned to the Pakistan Foreign Office in Islamabad and told that information on progress in the probe should be provided by New Delhi “at the earliest”. The development took place in the wake of right wing activist Swami Aseemanand’s reported confession about the involvement of Sangh activists in the attack, in which most of the victims were Pakistanis. Aseemanand, 59, recently confessed to the involvement of Sangh activists in several terrorist attacks, including the bombing of the Samjhauta Express.
The NIA today announced a cash reward of Rs 10 lakh each for information leading to the arrest of Sandeep Dange and Ramchandra Kalsangra in connection with the Samjhauta Express blasts case. Besides the two, the NIA has also announced a cash reward of Rs 2 lakh for the arrest of Ashok, also wanted in connection with the same case. Swami Aseemanand, who has been arrested in connection with the case, has in his confession statement before a magistrate named Dange and Ramchandra as being instrumental in carrying out a number of blasts in the country including in the train. Pakistan has asked India several times in the past two years to apprise it of developments in the investigation. The issue was also raised by Pakistani officials and leaders with Home Minister P Chidambaram and External Affairs Minister S M Krishna when they visited Islamabad last year.
“It is too premature to share any information with anyone at this stage. The investigation is still on. When it is completed, we will take an appropriate decision,” a government official said reacting to Pakistan’s insistence on sharing information about the probe. “We have all along been saying that findings of investigations should be intimated to us. Now four years have elapsed, those who were the perpetrators should be brought to book,” Pakistan foreign ministry spokesperson Abdul Basit had told ‘The Indian Express’ last week from Islamabad.
Yesterday, India’s acting Deputy High Commissioner G V Srinivas was summoned to the Pakistan Foreign Office in Islamabad and told that information on progress in the probe should be provided by New Delhi “at the earliest”. The development took place in the wake of right wing activist Swami Aseemanand’s reported confession about the involvement of Sangh activists in the attack, in which most of the victims were Pakistanis. Aseemanand, 59, recently confessed to the involvement of Sangh activists in several terrorist attacks, including the bombing of the Samjhauta Express.
The NIA today announced a cash reward of Rs 10 lakh each for information leading to the arrest of Sandeep Dange and Ramchandra Kalsangra in connection with the Samjhauta Express blasts case. Besides the two, the NIA has also announced a cash reward of Rs 2 lakh for the arrest of Ashok, also wanted in connection with the same case. Swami Aseemanand, who has been arrested in connection with the case, has in his confession statement before a magistrate named Dange and Ramchandra as being instrumental in carrying out a number of blasts in the country including in the train. Pakistan has asked India several times in the past two years to apprise it of developments in the investigation. The issue was also raised by Pakistani officials and leaders with Home Minister P Chidambaram and External Affairs Minister S M Krishna when they visited Islamabad last year.
