Author: TNN
Publication: The Economic Times
Date: July 4, 2007
URL: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/PoliticsNation/_Siddhivinayak_Tirupati_templ%3Cbr%20/%3Ees_under_jehadi_threat/articleshow/2172865.cms
The much-revered Tirupati shrine is on the
jehadi outfits' terror radar according to latest intelligence inputs which
also list Sai Baba's temple at Shirdi and the Siddhivinayak temple in Mumbai
as likely terror targets.
Intelligence agencies had last month forwarded
special inputs to the Union home ministry hinting at the plans of terror outfits
like LeT, Jaish e Mohammad and Harkat ul Jehad i Islami-Bangladesh (HuJi-B)
to target key Hindu shrines in Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh as part of their
agenda of stoking communal passions by striking at religious places including
mosques.
The inputs specifically mention Sri Venkateshwara
temple at Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh, the Siddhivinayak temple in Mumbai and
Sai Baba's shrine in Shirdi - which are visited by large crowds of devotees
every day - as shrines with the highest threat perception.
The major shrines to witness jehadi attacks
so far include the Akshardham temple in Gujarat, Sankatmochan temple in Varanasi,
Ram Lalla temple in Ayodhya, Raghunath temple in Jammu, besides a mosque in
Malegaon, Jama Masjid in Delhi and, more recently, the Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad.
All these attacks were mastermined either
by LeT with the help of Simi, Jaish or Huji-B. The latter two, according to
intelligence sources, work in tandem with each other.
These jehadi outfits strike at religious places
during festivals or special prayers so as to generate wide publicity and/or
maximise casualties. The MHA has taken the alleged threat to major Hindu shrines
in Maharashtra or Andhra Pradesh seriously and alerted the two states through
advisories asking them to step up vigil at the religious places.
Maharashtra followed up the intelligence warning
with heightened security levels at the shrines, including a bar on coconut
offerings. The state police also instructed its men in the field to keep an
eye on any suspicious movement around the shrines to screen out potential
terrorists.
