Deendar attacked churches at ISI's behest

NEW DELHI, AUG. 20. Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) directed the Deendar Anjuman to attack churches in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh as the States were receiving massive foreign investments, official sources said here today.

The bomb blasts, plans for which were made last year during the visit of Pakistan-based leader of the sect, Zia-ul- Hasan, to Vijaywada.

He had given clear instructions to Deendar activists to carry out blasts at religious places immediately and had told them to exploit the religious sentiments of the minority community.

Sources said the ISI chose the sect as it had bases in South India, especially in Bangalore and Hyderabad.

The blasts at churches were aimed at driving a wedge between the Christians and the Government, which could later lead to a rift between Western countries and India, as well as to prevent foreigners from making investments.

An Indian Air Force official and two other sect members were arrested recently by Karnataka police on charges of being involved in the recent blasts.

One of them had confessed that he had been asked by the ISI to target the churches in the South. He admitted to collecting and forwarding sensitive information about location of various vital installations, defence establishments and railway bridges, among others, to contacts in Pakistan, the sources said.

Investigations have established that Deendar, with its headquarters in Hyderabad, had links at Mardan in Pakistan.

In all, 35 activists - 22 from Andhra Pradesh and 13 from Karnataka - have been arrested so far and some pamphlets titled ``stop conversions or quit India'' were seized from the offices of the sect.

- PTI

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