Two militants from Babbar Khalsa have been arrested and charged with the Jo Bole So Nihaal film bombings. Two others are still being sought:

… the Delhi Police today arrested two activists of the Babbar Khalsa militant outfit allegedly responsible for the crime and claimed to have recovered one kg RDX, Rs 2.94 lakh cash and two kgs of gold… [Outlook India]

The extremist group, previously thought to be nearly defunct, was accused of planning the Air India bombing in 1985 and assassinating Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh with a suicide bomber in 1995. The U.S. added Babbar Khalsa to its list of terrorist groups only last year:

Many leaders of the Babbar Khalsa, who are on India’s most-wanted list, are now based in Pakistan… [NDTV]

The militants had been in constant touch with Wadhwa Singh, the Pakistan-based chief of Babbar Khalsa International… [Outlook India]

The suspects seem to have learned from Al Qaeda tactics. They allegedly used plastic explosives to evade metal detectors and cavities in running shoes to smuggle the easily-molded explosives. Like the 9/11 hijackers, they allegedly plotted in a country away from the target, one perceived to have lax security. And there’s the ubiquitous Pakistan connection:

Balvinder and Jaspal had travelled to Bangkok on April 22 and met one Shahid to discuss about terrorist activities to be carried out. Though it was not yet clear which group Shahid was affiliated with, several militant groups operating in Jammu and Kashmir had been using Bangkok as a base lately. [Outlook India]

Police Commissioner K K Paul said they smuggled in the two detonators, two timers and wires in their underwear while the plastic explosives were carried in sports shoes. The explosives, possibly RDX, was in the form of four sheets wrapped in polythene which were kept in sports shoes which they had bought specifically for the operation…

On the day of the attack… the foursome came to the Liberty cinema hall in two cars, a Tata Sierra and a Hyundai Santro… The Sierra had special cavities to hide the explosives… Jaspal, Balvinder and Vikas entered Liberty while Jagannath waited outside. Jaspal prepared the bomb inside the toilet and gave it to Balvinder and Vikas who placed it under a seat in the front stall. Jaspal left the hall before the interval and the other two just afterwards. All four then went to Satyam where Jaspal and Jagannath went inside and placed the bomb in the toilet before exiting, Paul said. [Outlook India]

How the suspects were identified:

While the two suspects of Liberty blast had left the cinema hall even as the movie was on, the suspects of Satyam explosion had been sighted near the toilet carrying a black bag. [HT]

More than 200 policemen had been devoted to the investigation who chased leads in the city, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab… Paul said the entire scene of the crimes had been reconstructed with the help of inputs from wounded persons and cinema hall employees. “Individuals were identified as to how they were seated. We also tried to find out whether tickets had been purchased singly or in groups,” he said. [Outlook India]

One of the suspect’s families says he was about to get married:

Balwinder’s family denies any involvement with any banned outfit. They say he had been trying to go abroad… “We were making preparations for his wedding. The Delhi Police beat his in my presence. I don’t believe he did anything wrong,” said Bhajan Kaur, Balwinder’s mother. [NDTV]

Pakistan allegedly boosted its support for militants after Kargil:

… as the border tension between India and Pakistan escalates over Kargil, the state most affected is Punjab where reviving militancy is one of the ISI’s main tasks. The Nawaz Sharief government set up the Pakistan Gurdwara Prabhandhak Committee early this year in an attempt to woo Sikhs in Pakistan. The PGPC is now headed by Lieutenant General (retired) Javed Nasir, who earlier headed the ISI in Islamabad.

In the last two weeks, intelligence agencies and the Signals Intelligence Department of the army have intercepted several telephone calls made by ISI agents… to leaders of the militant groups in India. Official sources said the ISI has made contact with extinct militant groups in Punjab like the Khalistan Zindabad Force, Khalistan Command Force and Babbar Khalsa International. Calls have also been made to the outlawed insurgent outfit United Liberation Front of Asom and religious fundamentalist groups in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. [Rediff]

Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is employing new strategies to revive militancy in Punjab and putting pressure on the remaining militants to “undertake some sensational terrorist actions”… A Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF) activist Keval Singh Rajput… reportedly told his interrogators that he was sent with instructions to cause explosions at public places in Punjab… Intelligence agencies have also discovered recent emergence of narco-terrorism with growing nexus between people involved in smuggling of drugs and Punjab militants…

Pointing out to the appointment of former chief of ISI as President of Pakistan Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (PGPC) [Sikh temple committee], the sources said “the brazen move has obviously undermined the prestige of Sikh clergy in Pakistan who actually had the right to assume the job.” [Deccan Herald]

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