NEW DELHI, Nov 19: An Indian police probe into an army officer’s alleged role in the Samjhauta Express blasts among other terror attacks could harm talks with Pakistan, India’s main opposition party said on Wednesday.

The Bharatiya Janata Party described ongoing investigations by the Maharashtra state police’s anti-terrorist squad (ATS) as juvenile.

“Earlier the Congress regime was soft on terror, now they have turned juvenile,” BJP spokesman Ravi Shanker Prasad was quoted by the Press Trust of India as saying. “The juvenile investigations would encourage jihadi elements in Pakistan and would have an effect on the talks between the two countries which are due in the last week of this month.”

He said the move to malign the armed forces by claiming that the RDX for the Samjhauta blasts was provided by army personnel and then retracting the statement the next day was “very demoralising at a time when the ISI has been propagating the theory that the Indian Army supports terror in Jammu and Kashmir,” he added.

“There is a risk of Pakistan seeking a review of all the terrorist attacks in which India had alleged a Pakistani hand. In the Samjhauta blasts case, we had even provided to Pakistan a photograph of a Pakistani national who was involved,” Mr Prasad said. The morale of the Indian Army should be protected at all costs, he said.

“The ATS theory would give Pakistan an opportunity to prove that India is involved in sponsoring anti-Pakistan campaign on terror,” Mr Prasad said.

Meanwhile, PTI said, the probe into how Hindu outfits accused of terrorism had links with some armymen brought a few business houses under the scanner of the ATS and federal agencies investigating the finances of the group allegedly responsible for the Malegaon blast.

It said a check was being conducted whether the business houses were aware about the end use of funds. “We have questioned some of them and we are working to ascertain as to how much of money had been handed over to the saffron outfit,” a senior probe official said.

Opinion

Editorial

Solidarity with Palestine
Updated 29 Nov, 2024

Solidarity with Palestine

The wretched of the earth see in the Palestinian struggle against Israel a mirror of themselves.
Little relief for public
29 Nov, 2024

Little relief for public

INFLATION, the rate of increase in the prices of goods and services over a given period of time, has receded...
Right to education
29 Nov, 2024

Right to education

IT is troubling to learn that over 16,500 students of the University of Karachi (KU) have defaulted on fee payments...
A hasty retreat
Updated 28 Nov, 2024

A hasty retreat

Govt should not extend its campaign of violence against PTI and its leaders, thinking it now has the upper hand. Enough is enough.
Lebanon truce
28 Nov, 2024

Lebanon truce

WILL it hold? That is the question many in the Middle East and beyond will be asking after a 60-day ceasefire ...
MDR anomaly removed
28 Nov, 2024

MDR anomaly removed

THE State Bank’s decision to remove its minimum deposit rate requirement for conventional banks on deposits from...