Mumbai terror strikes

REGIONAL ROUNDUP

The Mumbai blasts and their aftermath covered the front pages of most newspapers across the country through week. In the north, the Rajasthan Patrika had a flyer on page one, speculating over the involvement of Dawood Ibrahim. The lead on another day was the story about the possibility of more blasts "" the latest alerts given out by the intelligence agencies. Dainik Bhaskar lead with the PM saying that while Pakistan would be pressured to close its terror camps, there was no question of bringing back legislation like POTA. The story had a box on how the PM had seven meetings in 10 hours while he was at the G8 summit in Russia.

The Telugu newspapers dedicated almost half page each on their front pages to the serial blasts that rocked seven suburban trains in Mumbai, on July 12. Andhra Jyothi gave the headline "" Mumbai Massacre "" to its lead page-one story, besides splashing photographs of mangled bodies of passengers and survivors who were bleeding profusely, and other chaotic scenes. On July 13, all the three leading Telugu dailies carried editorials on the Mumbai blasts. Terming the blasts as a "dastardly act", Andhra Jyothi said that the terrorists' intention has not been fulfilled and that it could not make any impact on the sensex, nor could it hamper the secular values of Mumbaites. the newspaper editorially said. Eenadu and Vaartha, too, carried editorials on the issue on the same day.

All Marathi papers had a similar news treatment, including following the details of the investigations, as well as articles by retired police officers and military officials associated with the field of conflict management. All papers criticised the Gujarat chief minister's visit to the city and his attempt to flare up communal tensions through provocative speeches. Shiv Sena mouthpiece Samna did indulge in some rabble-rousing but unlike in the past, the hate messages given to the Sena cadre through the newspaper were of a lower key. The Marathi press also carried stories on the one-upmanship between the two top cops "" Director General of Police P S Pasricha and Mumbai Police Commissioner A N Roy, as well as groupism in Mumbai police. They also threw light on how rivals of Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil in the NCP were using the bomb blasts as an opportunity to target him and discussed whether the Sena and the BJP would able to revive the Hindutva plank in the aftermath of the blasts.

Tamil daily Dinamalar also carried a big report on terrorism and Al-Qaeda and provided some details about SIMI, Lashkar-e-Tayeba and the link between Osama and Dawood Ibrahim. Two more pages carried reports relating to Mumbai blasts that included visits of Sonia Gandhi, L K Advani and other political leaders. It dedicated a page to photographs relating to Mumbai blasts. The July 14 edition carried a report stating SIMI's handiwork was suspected in the Mumbai blasts and also carried two photographs of people, released by Mumbai police, suspected to have been involved in the blasts. It also carried a photo showing patrolling of an army vehicle near the India Gate following a bomb threat.