By IANS,
Shillong : An email attributed to terror group Indian Mujahideen Thursday threatened to eliminate leader of India’s main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Lal Krishna Advani, using suicide bombers during his scheduled visit to Meghalaya next week.
The Meghalaya police said they have tracked the cyber cafe from where the threat mail was sent to various media outlets in the state.
“The cyber cafe has been traced. It is located in the Laban area in the heart of the city. Investigations are on and we are interrogating the cafe owner,” a police official said, declining to be named.
“We have vowed to kill Advani on his visit to Shillong Sep 29. We have already convened a meeting of field commanders,” read a statement emailed to journalists and newspaper offices.
The email was received from an ID [email protected] and was sent by Ali Hussain Badr, who said he was a field commander of the Indian Mujahideen in the northeast India.
Advani is due to arrive in Assam’s main city of Guwahati Sep 28 and then visit Meghalaya’s capital Shillong the next day.
The opposition leader in the Lok Sabha is arriving in northeast Indian states on a three-day visit as part of the party’s Sankalp rally, a countrywide campaign resolving to win next year’s general elections.
“We are not taking the threat email lightly and we believe it is not the work of some pranksters as the content of the mail is well drafted and bears the tone and tenor of radical fundamentalist groups,” said the police official.
The statement accused Advani and the BJP of the demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, in 1992 and of the recent attacks on churches across India.
“Advani’s Hindutva demand seems to push India into a fascist mould and, as is well known, the proclaimed and identified main enemy of the architects of Hindutva (are) the Muslims and the Christians,” said the statement, claiming to be from the Indian Mujahideen.
“Apart from the Babri Masjid demolition to the Gujarat massacre and the recent attacks on churches in Orissa, Karnataka, and some parts of Madhya Pradesh, Advani has always tried to portray the Muslims and Christians as inveterate enemies of the Hindus.”
The statement asked the authorities to restrain people from attending Advani’s scheduled programme in Shillong “to avoid casualties”.
“This will be history in the making in the state of Meghalaya when our suicide bombers will rock Shillong.”
“Stop us if you can. We have already set our foot in Shillong to kill Advani,” the statement said.
Badr claimed to have sent the email from a cyber cafe in Shillong. “Please do not disregard our mail or else we will not be held responsible for any casualties to civilians. And for your kind information, I am sending you this mail from a cyber cafe in Shillong,” the statement added.
Meanwhile, the Meghalaya government has taken the threat seriously and has convened a high-level security meeting to discuss the email.
“We would take all security measures to ensure Advani’s safety and this email should not dissuade him from visiting the state,” Meghalaya Chief Minister Donkupar Roy told journalists.